Kitten attacking/biting/scratching HELP

Hello
Well we have had this kitten now for almost two weeks and just recently she has decided at nighttime that we are her play toy I guess. She has taken to attacking whatever part of our body she can get and she is so mean with her biting and grabbing with her claws. It can go on for hours and Ive tried hissing at her, saying No, removing her, giving her a toy and she still will attack. My husband who was against having a kitten to begin with is getting so stress out by her because you can not sleep without her getting you. I actually brought the kitten downstairs last night and put a gate up to keep her down with me and I slept on the couch. I dont want to continue having to do that, but Im unsure of what else to do. If I lock her in the bathroom she cries and if I lock her out of our bedroom she cries......continually. She just wants to be near us but then shes so mean. I know shes just playing but why does she choose night time to get us. During the day shes so good and will play with her toys and does not seem to attack like she does at night. Any advice anyone could give would be absolutely wonderful. She is going to be fixed in two weeks but I dont really think its because of that........I just dont know, but I know my husband will not let her be in our room if she doesnt stop. Im also guessing some of its just normal kitty behavior but its pretty bad. I have all sorts of battle scars from her biting. I just want to teach her that we are not to bite.
Thanks so much!!!
Oh she is now 7 weeks old...and we do totally play with her before we head up to bed around 10pm and I play with her in our room for a little while longer hoping to tire her out........and it usually works. Its the middle of the night attacks that are horrible. What a thing to wake up to at 1am....kitten chowing down on your hand/arm/leg/ FACE and she just wont stop.

I did read the above Sticky: Ouch!!! How to stop cat aggression toward people. And printed out the Play Aggression! Any other advice/opinions would still be greatly appreciated.

7 weeks old, so the problem is, she isn't socialized in good kitty manners. Normally kittens learn NOT to bite, scratch and soforth from their littermates and the mom cat. Your immediate problem is that she was seperated from her fur family waaaay too early.
You will now have to teach her yourself. It can be done. There are others on this board skilled at socializing kittens. I'm sure theye'll be along shortly to give you good tips.
Good luck!

Thanks Kai Bengals,
I kinda figured that she would have learned better manners if shed been in her litter longer BUT since she wasent.......... I know that many many many kittens leave their moms/litters early so??? Need to know how to teach good social habits.
The biggest thing is.......most of the attacks come when we are sleeping......so alot of the information in the Sticky isent going to work, for instance putting a toy in front of her before she pounces or not pulling away because truthfully when your awakened in that manner your first reaction is to pull away.lol
Ok thanks again........will wait patiently (lol)

Liz as you know she's only a baby and doing what babies do.

Sophie was exactly the same so i bought her those fishing rod toys and played with her and that way she couldn't catch my hands with either her teeth or her claws, plus the added bonus was that i made sure i did this 1 hour before going to bed because afterwards she was shattered and slept like a baby

Susan,
We do have a toy like that and we do play with her totally before bed and she will be OUT, but then she wakes during the night a few times. She doesnt sleep 8 hours straight or even six. I actually didnt think kittens slept like that anyhow. So when she wakes anywhere from 1am -4am she just starts playing......sometimes its not a big deal but these last two nights have gotten bad with last night being the worst. I figured its typical kitten behavior but I know there has to be a way to teach her not to bite US. Im just going to work harder on what I already know and see what happens. Thanks for all the info so far.

Cats LIKE to stay up all night. Our Toby was the same way. He started spending the nights in the laundry/bathroom when he was little. He cried a lot the first night, less the second and then quit altogether...just resigned himself to the fact that it was his bedroom.
2 kittens are better than 1 ...we now have 2. they are company for each other and then have someone they can wrestle with incl scratching and biting.
We have NEVER played with our kittens with our bare hands....always with a toy...and we do not have problems with them scratching and biting us. When they were small and would try it...the second it happened we would say "NO!" and then walk away and not play again for a few minutes. (Kittens will run away and avoid one another when one gets too rough...so , because they LOVE to play 24/7, they learn fast what NOT to do if they want to get to continue to play) So I treated them the same way they treated each other.
I`d think playing with your kitten in the evening should help tired him out a bit....but if you are not going to put him in his own room for the night, then I would not think playing with him IN your bedroom would be a very good idea...he`ll just want more of the same.
Kittens canbe a lot of work when they are small...just as are any other babies...but the almost constant work at first will pay off later when you have a well behaved cat.
They are sooo much fun...and are worth the work it takes to train them.
Linda

I agree two kittes are better than one because they can play with and attack each other.

Sometimes my two kittens do wake me up by playing with my feet or tackeling each other on my bed. I simply get out of bed place them ouside my room and close the door. They then scamper off to torture each other somewhere else
but really it will get better as the kitten gets older, but because it happens while you are sleeping you may want to close your bedroom door at night. I know you may want her to sleep with you but this may be a good option for you.

On another note, I have friends and my Mom's cat thinks of hands and feet as play toys. I have three cats and none of them ever attack my hands and feet...... I think it has to do with how you play with them. I always use toys and I never use my fingers to dangle in front of their face as some people do. This is sending them the message that it's okay to attact your feet and hands and anything else that is on your body
I also think petting them calmy and soft makes a difference. My brother used to be rough with our cat (not mean just play rough) and he used to attack us all the time..... With some time it will get better

I know you'll get some good advice from this site. Good luck and keep us posted

I KNOW two kittens is not an option for us. My husband would never go for that.
I think we might just end up locking her out of our room at night. We just recently introduced her to our dog, face to face and we had thought maybe she was more aggressive because of that. She does bite the dog and the dog mouths her but I know the dog does not Hurt her like I know she is hurting the dog. But they have only lasted together for 5 minutes tops because the dog is just too rough for the kitten being five times her size. Daisy will nose her and sniff her and lick her and mouth her and its too much for kitty right now. But we had thought maybe thats what was going on. Who knows though.......Ill give her one more shot tonight but if she is attacking us in the wee hours of the night Ill just lock her out. I like having her in bed with us but I dont want her thinking its Ok to bite and claw us like that even though she is a kitten and will do kitten things. Im just not prepared at night when Im sleeping to deal with it.
Thanks for all the input.

Liz have you tried giving her a little food before bedtime as well because that helps!

Rosie Ill give that a try as well. I dont have a dish for water or food upstairs and Ive wondered if I should put one up there but I think shes ok. Ill just take her over to her bowl before I head up. I never have to take her up because she runs after me as fast as she can. She hates to be left alone hence why I really hate to have to lock her out of our room, but if she cant calm down at night Im going to give it a shot and see how she does.
I just had another session with the dog with her and I really wonder if that doesnt make her more aggressive. I really want them to get along so we dont have to have them separated for forever but I dont see it happening any time soon. Where the dog is not growling at Stormy, she has hissed and clawed at the dog. But Daisy just doesnt know her power over poor kitty.lol I She will put her paw on her to keep her still so she can sniff her all over and lick her. PRetty cute although Stormy does not appreciate it at all.
My husband has apologized for me having to sleep on the couch last night but really Id rather do that than have him stressed over the kitten. Its funny to me when hes all freaked out about the kitten attacking him, but I know its not really funny, if you know what I mean.
I just want this kitten to be a full member of the family without limiting her where she can go, INDOORS, she wont be allowed out. But until she gets older we will do what we have to I guess. How old are kittens before they seem to get it with biting their humans?? I mean I know with the dog its nonstop work so Im assuming it will be with her But at about 6 months old the dog "GOT IT" and she doesnt bite although she will mouth us, but as soon as we tell her to stop she does.
Ok thanks everyone for everything.......I so appreciate this site more than you guys know.

Well I just thought Id update from how last night went and the route we took was everytime she bit us during the night we would just put her out of the bed. We had to do it about 10 times but it was much better than getting frustrated with her and just saying "NO". So we are going to keep doing this and see if over a few days she gets the idea. Because she defiently LOVES being with us at night. Oh and I quit all play time in the bed. So we played on the floor before bedtime instead.
Thanks so much all