Kitten Aggression - 13 Weeks

iluvlucy15 and relienna These things do take time. I know its hard, but try to focus on the progress you're making instead of the bad days. Remember that they are still KITTENS. I know you'll both be able to work through this with them. Hang in there - it WILL happen :nod:

Hello,

I'm new here but i just wanted to promise you he will  grow out of it. I had exactly  the same with our kitten. It got to the point both me and my partner were considering we were not to best people for him. He would attack my feet constantly whenever and where ever i walked. He'd let us stroke him for a couple of minutes and then turn kung-fu kitty on us. We couldn't pick him up, he chewed through every wire we had. He was just an absolute nightmare and in some instances i think i actually resented him and regretted buying him, he was a far cry from the cute little kitty we bought. This all started at around 12 weeks old and lasted till about 20 weeks. 

I would suggest getting him neutered ASAP. We paid for him to undergo surgery at around 4 months to be done, we noticed a difference within a week or two. He is just being an over energetic kitten, i promise you it is not bad behaviour. We did however have to start 'hissing' at him, tapping his nose firmly or clapping or hands to 'startle him' and to ensure he knew he had gone too far. I spent about 8 weeks with cuts, scratches and bites all over my arms, legs and thighs it was an awful stage and non of my other friends who had cats seemed to understand how bad he was.

At about 6 months old he settled down, hes 8 months now and do not get me wrong he still plays rough but he no longer attacks anyones feets or legs, no longer has random outbursts of what i swear was rage.  It will get better, i promise.

AimeeLou said:

Hello,

I'm new here but i just wanted to promise you he will grow out of it. I had exactly the same with our kitten. It got to the point both me and my partner were considering we were not to best people for him. He would attack my feet constantly whenever and where ever i walked. He'd let us stroke him for a couple of minutes and then turn kung-fu kitty on us. We couldn't pick him up, he chewed through every wire we had. He was just an absolute nightmare and in some instances i think i actually resented him and regretted buying him, he was a far cry from the cute little kitty we bought. This all started at around 12 weeks old and lasted till about 20 weeks. 
I would suggest getting him neutered ASAP. We paid for him to undergo surgery at around 4 months to be done, we noticed a difference within a week or two. He is just being an over energetic kitten, i promise you it is not bad behaviour. We did however have to start 'hissing' at him, tapping his nose firmly or clapping or hands to 'startle him' and to ensure he knew he had gone too far. I spent about 8 weeks with cuts, scratches and bites all over my arms, legs and thighs it was an awful stage and non of my other friends who had cats seemed to understand how bad he was.
At about 6 months old he settled down, hes 8 months now and do not get me wrong he still plays rough but he no longer attacks anyones feets or legs, no longer has random outbursts of what i swear was rage.  It will get better, i promise.

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See this kinda concerns me. The rescue estimated Lucy to be 3-4 months when I got her. I figured she was at least 4. Last week the vet told me she's 5 months, which makes sense cause I've had her for a month, so that's 20 wks. And I see no end in sight, and I've been working pretty extensively with her. Hissing, clapping does nothing to this fearless (once feral) girl. The only way I can make it stop is to give her a time out. And even after that at times, she's back for more. But, Alas, I'll keep going in hopes that it will some day come around....

Hello,

See i do not believe it is because she is 'feral'. We have had a number of 'feral' and barn born cats who all acted this way and still turned out very friendly. I promise, she will grow out of it. It takes a little longer for some, but she will grow out of it. I promise you i was at my wits end and considering rehoming him. Although this is not helping at the minute, i promise you will sit back at some point and think 'phew'.

AimeeLou said:

Hello,
See i do not believe it is because she is 'feral'. We have had a number of 'feral' and barn born cats who all acted this way and still turned out very friendly. I promise, she will grow out of it. It takes a little longer for some, but she will grow out of it. I promise you i was at my wits end and considering rehoming him. Although this is not helping at the minute, i promise you will sit back at some point and think 'phew'.

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Yeah, I'm sticking it out with her now, for sure. Gotta see this through, plus I love her. I guess I use this as an outlet to vent a bit cause well, you guys know cats, I feel like my friends are sick of me talking about it haha, and.. I live alone, and doing this alone. Sorry to keep bothering with worrysome posts...

Its okay, we really do all understand. Me especially, i remember sat on the bed and he'd bitten and attacked me and persisted to hunt me and ambush me for around 2 full hours and i started to cry. I tried to pick him up and he lashed out at me and that was when i decided it was time for him to go. Non of my other friends who had cats understood as they didnt seem to understand how bad he was. I had a mobile hairdresser come out and he spent the entire hour biting her and irritating her and she was completely unphased because 'she had a little kitten who went through the same stage' and i actually got upset and told her i wanted to rehome him as he didnt like me. She told me she had been through exactly the same stage and showed me photos on her phone of the scratches and how her kitten used to behave. Hers was a female and she said it wasnt until she was about 7 months that she calmed down and was then ten months old. It might be easier to 'curb' a males attitude with the snip. I used to sit and work and everyone would be like "hows the cat?" and i would literally just tell them he was a (excuse my french) d$%$^$£d and then show them the latest bite. At one point i had bites all along my thigh that had got infected from him, i still have scars on my hand and arm from him which i dont think will ever go. I swear to you no matter how many times you hear 'it gets better' you genuinely cannot see that it will, and i think i forgot when it got better, there was just one day (when my avatar photo) was taken and he was curled up with me purring and started licking my hand and i was like "OH MY GOD SOMEONES PINCHED MY CAT!!!" And i swear to you, on his life, me and my partner genuinely thought we had let the wrong cat back in the house, there was 2 more identical to him on the road and the only difference was a tiny white patch/grey on him and we both picked him up to find the white patch. Looking back, it was all very comical. I'm tempted to get him a friend as he is now a house cat, but i genuinely don't think i can go through it again. I know this sounds awful, but a lady where i work gave me some really good advice, she told me to ignore him, and when he came to me to ignore him or even get up and walk away from him. She told me to do it for a full weekend while i was at home, so i did, and i saw a pretty noticeable improvement with him. She then told me to allow him ten minutes with me but then stop and walk away and if he perused me to make it obvious i didnt want his attention. i know this sounds rather silly, and maybe a bit unfair, but i did see a difference in this when we turned about 20 weeks..... He's 7-8 months old now, and he will still have the odd phase where he decides "hey lets go pick on mom because its just funny" and he will just swipe me for no reason, but now he gets a firm tap on the nose and a very loud and clear "no". If he continues i pick him up (sometimes not the easiest) and place him in our kitchen and go upstairs for fifteen minutes and then come and let him out and he settles down. I promise, its just her being a kitten  

I'm sure that's really what it comes down to. I didn't expect it, I'll admit it. And my friends whom have had kittens didn't really warn me haha this was a first time thing for me. I may try the ignore thing. I do that sometimes but not to that extent for that long of a time frame. But maybe this weekend I will try...thx for your advice and encouragement!

I'm not convinced that extended periods of ignoring are the best route - particularly with an ex feral. The bond you establish is so important when socialising and domesticating these animals. The last thing you want to do is break that trust. I know its hell right now, but it WILL get easier as she grows up. Some of what you're experiencing is simply down to age.

Update!

Gage has done better the last couple days!

He still tries to attack feet. This happens mostly in the morning, which I don't fully understand, but ok. Haha!

He will still bite you if you pick him up when he doesn't want to be. It has been mostly gentle, but we are still reprimanding to an extent. He gets the most feisty still when Zach tries to remove him from his desk. He has a weird obsession with wanting to be up there and play with all the cords. It's a no-no!

We still have to have him sleep in the bathroom at night because he goes coo-coo bananas even after play time before bed! He will run all over us and attack our feet. I'm hoping soon we can stop, because 5 months seems kind of old to have to keep isolating to the bathroom at night. Is it? Because I feel like he is still so troublesome. I still don't trust him to be in the living room unsupervised! I mean, he does ok in the bathroom. He mostly seems to sit in the window or play wit his mouse toys in there. He doesn't cry or scratch or show any indication that he really wants out. He just keeps to himself  

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We keep him in the bedroom for a large part of the day and let him out with us for a few hours at night. If one or both of us is home all day we go in the bedroom periodically to play with him or snuggle. I don't know if this is a bad decision or not? He is typically very snuggly when we first go in the room and then becomes playful. After playing with him for a few minutes he doesn't seem to mind if we leave. He just either plays with himself or goes back to napping. The living room is a case by case basis. Some days he comes out here, just sits on the window perch or by the sliding glass door and chases him mouse toys around. Other days he gets all over Zach's desk and attacks his hands while he types or tries to chew on cords or jumps on the kitchen counter and tries to mess with stuff. This is why until he calms down we have opted to keep him mostly in the bedroom. We do a lot of stuff on the computers and can't always watch every little thing he is doing. I don't know if this can contribute to his behavior?

But, like I said he isn't constantly meowing or seeming emotionally affected when we leave him in there. Sometimes when I first get home from work or if I remove myself from the room mid-play session because he was playing too rough he will meow at the door. But, for the most part he doesn't show any indication that he is unhappy. (Although last night I came in to find he had knocked over his whole water-refiller jar bowl all over the carpet. I'm guessing this was out of boredom. The cat likes to play with water, he is weird. lol)

ILuvLucy15 said:

Yeah, I'm sticking it out with her now, for sure. Gotta see this through, plus I love her. I guess I use this as an outlet to vent a bit cause well, you guys know cats, I feel like my friends are sick of me talking about it haha, and.. I live alone, and doing this alone. Sorry to keep bothering with worrysome posts...

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You are doing a great job of sticking it out! 

I must say, even though I know it must be hard to be doing this alone, in some ways living alone is a good thing! You have no room mate or partner living with you to make you feel guilty or like you or the cat are being resented during this process! You are braving it alone and have more patience with yourself to try to teach her and show her that she is loved! And you are doing a fantastic job!

I love my boyfriend and he loves me, but let me tell you - there has been some awkward strain on our relationship through some steps in this process. I wanted cat, he didn't want cat. We agree to finally compromise and throw a cat in the mix - and now said cat viciously attacks  boyfriend's ankles and tries to ruin everything on his computer desk. lol! He and Gage do like each other. They will cuddle on occasion and I do find Zach making an effort to get up and play with him at least once a day. And when I prepare the wet food at night, Zach will get up and give it to him and give him pets while he eats in attempt to build a relationship. But, it took a lot for me to get him to work with me and get there. 

Anyways, feel free to vent to us! I totally know what you mean in one of your previous posts where you said you are sure your friends are tired of hearing about it. I'm pretty sure all of my co-workers want to duct tape my mouth shut at this point. Probably the veterinarians too!

But, I too am a worrier so I'm always trying to get the next opinion or next idea from anyone that will listen because I love this cat and want him to grow up to be a normal, lazy, slightly fat and sweet cat. lol

I hope that you have made some process with Lucy the last couple of days! Please give us an update! And maybe show a picture! We love pictures! Hehe 

Well, things are going OK. I do think she is coming around, slowly but surely. When she cuddles and loves, she loves hard haha which are great moments of bonding, for sure. I am just going to continue taking it day by day and hopefully everyone is right, the behaviour gets better as she gets older and keep on enjoying the snuggle times! Here is some updated pics

Relienna said:

Update!

Gage has done better the last couple days!

He still tries to attack feet. This happens mostly in the morning, which I don't fully understand, but ok. Haha!

He will still bite you if you pick him up when he doesn't want to be. It has been mostly gentle, but we are still reprimanding to an extent. He gets the most feisty still when Zach tries to remove him from his desk. He has a weird obsession with wanting to be up there and play with all the cords. It's a no-no!

We still have to have him sleep in the bathroom at night because he goes coo-coo bananas even after play time before bed! He will run all over us and attack our feet. I'm hoping soon we can stop, because 5 months seems kind of old to have to keep isolating to the bathroom at night. Is it? Because I feel like he is still so troublesome. I still don't trust him to be in the living room unsupervised! I mean, he does ok in the bathroom. He mostly seems to sit in the window or play wit his mouse toys in there. He doesn't cry or scratch or show any indication that he really wants out. He just keeps to himself  
. 

We keep him in the bedroom for a large part of the day and let him out with us for a few hours at night. If one or both of us is home all day we go in the bedroom periodically to play with him or snuggle. I don't know if this is a bad decision or not? He is typically very snuggly when we first go in the room and then becomes playful. After playing with him for a few minutes he doesn't seem to mind if we leave. He just either plays with himself or goes back to napping. The living room is a case by case basis. Some days he comes out here, just sits on the window perch or by the sliding glass door and chases him mouse toys around. Other days he gets all over Zach's desk and attacks his hands while he types or tries to chew on cords or jumps on the kitchen counter and tries to mess with stuff. This is why until he calms down we have opted to keep him mostly in the bedroom. We do a lot of stuff on the computers and can't always watch every little thing he is doing. I don't know if this can contribute to his behavior?

But, like I said he isn't constantly meowing or seeming emotionally affected when we leave him in there. Sometimes when I first get home from work or if I remove myself from the room mid-play session because he was playing too rough he will meow at the door. But, for the most part he doesn't show any indication that he is unhappy. (Although last night I came in to find he had knocked over his whole water-refiller jar bowl all over the carpet. I'm guessing this was out of boredom. The cat likes to play with water, he is weird. lol)

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So weird how our cats are similar and the same age. Lucy loves water too. I don't let her sleep with me at night but I don't keep her in a room. She has free range of the area, and my door is shut. She doesn't meow or scratch, so that's great cause it would make things harder for me. I'm not sure if keeping her contained to certain areas at this age is necessary. She should be discovering her home, I would assume. I only put Lucy in my room for a few moments if she's misbehaving or I can't get her biting under control. Otherwise, she goes where she wants... Maybe try a similar approach?

I think Gage could have more time in other parts of your place then just the bedroom, the bathroom at night, and supervised time in the living room. Or maybe at night, keep your bedroom door closed to protect your limbs from a cat attack, but let Gage roam the rest of the house. He'd probably benefit from feeling more ownership of your whole house. Or if he absolutely has to be in the bedroom for most of the day, then provide him with a lot of varied extra shelving and high places that he can lounge on. A cat tree helps, and it'd also help if the cat tree was close to another shelf which leads to the couch to another cat tree to the bed then to another shelf and so on, so that he has a lot of vertical space (it'd be amazing if he got a vertical space setup in most rooms of the house). If a cat is bothering you as you try do something (sleep, work on the computer, etc), they may be able to be redirected if you give him an elevated sitting area (a box, horizontal scratcher, cat bed, or whatever is available) close to where you are, like next to the bed or the computer desk or whatnot. I gave my kitty full supervised access to my house around 2 or 3 weeks after I found her as a stray (at 5 weeks old), and a couple of weeks after that, I let her be in the house alone. Granted, she doesn't chew on electrical cords, and she has always been a more careful kitty.

She'd get the kitten crazies and sprint around all over the place at night, which was great at expending some of her energy. She had play aggression, too. She never drew blood with her biting and her aggression was always playful (not fearful or unexpected) but it was pretty impossible to pet her without her trying to grab my hand, and bite and kick it. I'd even have two playtimes with her, one in the morning and one at night, for 30min to and hour each (however long it took for her to want to stop), and she still had a lot of play aggression. Nothing tuckered her out, and cues like hissing at her or withdrawing myself from the room whenever she'd start to bite didn't work. What did end up working was getting another kitten, lol. That stopped the play aggression against my hands and legs right away.

To me, it sounds like Gage is super bored out of his mind, LOL, has a lot of excess energy, and that he possibly likes the negative attention he's getting because at least it's some kind of attention/stimulation. Also, at 5 months, it sounds like he's teething, so he may need some alternatives to chew on. My cats love gnawing on cardboard boxes, and I've begun occasionally giving them raw (not cooked) chicken wings/bones to chew on.

fluffscruff said:

I think Gage could have more time in other parts of your place then just the bedroom, the bathroom at night, and supervised time in the living room. Or maybe at night, keep your bedroom door closed to protect your limbs from a cat attack, but let Gage roam the rest of the house. He'd probably benefit from feeling more ownership of your whole house. Or if he absolutely has to be in the bedroom for most of the day, then provide him with a lot of varied extra shelving and high places that he can lounge on. A cat tree helps, and it'd also help if the cat tree was close to another shelf which leads to the couch to another cat tree to the bed then to another shelf and so on, so that he has a lot of vertical space (it'd be amazing if he got a vertical space setup in most rooms of the house). If a cat is bothering you as you try do something (sleep, work on the computer, etc), they may be able to be redirected if you give him an elevated sitting area (a box, horizontal scratcher, cat bed, or whatever is available) close to where you are, like next to the bed or the computer desk or whatnot. I gave my kitty full supervised access to my house around 2 or 3 weeks after I found her as a stray (at 5 weeks old), and a couple of weeks after that, I let her be in the house alone. Granted, she doesn't chew on electrical cords, and she has always been a more careful kitty.

She'd get the kitten crazies and sprint around all over the place at night, which was great at expending some of her energy. She had play aggression, too. She never drew blood with her biting and her aggression was always playful (not fearful or unexpected) but it was pretty impossible to pet her without her trying to grab my hand, and bite and kick it. I'd even have two playtimes with her, one in the morning and one at night, for 30min to and hour each (however long it took for her to want to stop), and she still had a lot of play aggression. Nothing tuckered her out, and cues like hissing at her or withdrawing myself from the room whenever she'd start to bite didn't work. What did end up working was getting another kitten, lol. That stopped the play aggression against my hands and legs right away.

To me, it sounds like Gage is super bored out of his mind, LOL, has a lot of excess energy, and that he possibly likes the negative attention he's getting because at least it's some kind of attention/stimulation. Also, at 5 months, it sounds like he's teething, so he may need some alternatives to chew on. My cats love gnawing on cardboard boxes, and I've begun occasionally giving them raw (not cooked) chicken wings/bones to chew on.

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Our apartment is VERY small, the bedroom is literally almost half of it! Haha. We have a 3 tier cat tree in the bedroom with a dangle toy hanging from it. He has a large green crinkle tunnel and over 2 dozen mouse toys scattered throughout the place! He also has 2 stuffies to wrestle with and easy access to the big window! How he can be bored in here is beyond me! Lol

I do know for a fact that we can't leave him in the living room at night. I had to pull his teeth from Zach's monitor cable THREE times in the last hour before bed lol. But when he is in the living room with us - we have a 2nd shorter cat tree out there too that leads up to the window. He prefers Zach's desk. The little butt! Hehe lol

Sadly, a 2nd kitten is not an option. =[ wish it was, my life would be easier. Lol

I will try to let him be out in the living room with us more regularly so he can feel more part of the pack!

But I think the bathroom at night may still need to be a thing until the teething has stopped! Lol xD

ILuvLucy15 said:

Well, things are going OK. I do think she is coming around, slowly but surely. When she cuddles and loves, she loves hard haha which are great moments of bonding, for sure. I am just going to continue taking it day by day and hopefully everyone is right, the behaviour gets better as she gets older and keep on enjoying the snuggle times! Here is some updated pics

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Ahhhh she is so cute! I'm glad to hear you are also making slow progress! We can reminisce together when our cats become fat and lazy and ignore us! Lol xD

Relienna said:

Our apartment is VERY small, the bedroom is literally almost half of it! Haha. We have a 3 tier cat tree in the bedroom with a dangle toy hanging from it. He has a large green crinkle tunnel and over 2 dozen mouse toys scattered throughout the place! He also has 2 stuffies to wrestle with and easy access to the big window! How he can be bored in here is beyond me! Lol

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Oh yes, it sounds like he's very well cared for and spoiled all I know is that a lot of interactive play, where he doesn't know the toy's movements because you're controlling it, can be a large part of what expends a kitty's energy. Toys that he has to "activate" by himself, like the mice toys and danglers, don't get much energy out of a kitten, which is what I meant by "bored." It sounds like a bit of interactive playtime at night has helped a lot in addressing his behavior. It could help to add more playtime to his day, like a session in the morning, or to make them longer.

fluffscruff said:

Oh yes, it sounds like he's very well cared for and spoiled all I know is that a lot of interactive play, where he doesn't know the toy's movements because you're controlling it, can be a large part of what expends a kitty's energy. Toys that he has to "activate" by himself, like the mice toys and danglers, don't get much energy out of a kitten, which is what I meant by "bored." It sounds like a bit of interactive playtime at night has helped a lot in addressing his behavior. It could help to add more playtime to his day, like a session in the morning, or to make them longer.

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I agree! I might have to start waking up 20min earlier and playing with him! We do a 30min session every night of either laser pointer or some sort of teaser! I stop when he starts panting! He then gets a couple high protein treats and his wet food! After that he is mostly chill and ready for bed! When I'm home I try to do a couple 10 min crazy-play sessions throughout the day!

He is a tough cookie to wear out! Im anxious to see if neutering does wind up calming him down! =]

Well, mine has been spayed since I got her and she is still pretty wild, but best of luck with the neutering! haha I mean that seriously! Lucy was bad tonight. Just plain bad. I have sessions with her every night, she has interactive toys for solo play and her favorite is the fishing pole that I use with her. There is no tiring her, I've never really seen her pant to be honest haha... But afterwards she usually gets treats and she is still ready to go. Tonight, I'm a little disappointed with her. It's tiring when you have really good days and then bad ones. Today all she wanted to do was bite, and all I needed was love but she is who she is. She's never punctured my skin, so I feel like it is playtime to her but it's aggressive and she's persistent. The stern 'no', flicking of ear, forcing a bit of pressure back when she bites, water, nothing stops her.... Here's to tomorrow! Right now, I need to meditate haha