This normal??

I recently just got a kitten. Here are some pics





She's just about 6 weeks old that I got from a few friends. I've had her for a week.

She IS friendly. If I put my face to hers she doesn't bite or swipe and it and usually licks like she's kissing haha. She's already slept with me for a long time (as in come and either sleep on me or against me) and actually isn't afraid of a lot. Her name is Jesse but sometimes I think I shoulda names her "Dora the Explorer" because she LOVES to explore every nook and cranny haha.

The thing is though, many times during the day, when I go to pet her, she kinda bites at my fingers or layson her back and kinda wrestle with them. She doesn't bite really hard. She bites then follows with licking usually. She also likes going after my feet when I only have socks on. Sometimes she kinda climbs up to where I am sitting and kinda wraps around my forearm and bites at it.

What i'm basically asking is this kinda normal? I just want to make sure if I play with her back and let her do it and not do anything, then she'll be mean when she's older and I don't want that. She let's people come up and pick her up and everything (she's not a huge "I like to be held" kitten, at least not yet) and she does like to be pet, but often when you pet her, it'll turn to her playing.

So what do you think?

Yep, very normal. Expect it to continue as long as she is a kitten!

Very cute.. and I like the name Dora. It seems to suit her.

Oh, and if you are concerned that this will be a habit, you can redirect her play to toys. I say "Ow!" when my kitties do it, they seem to know to stop. Most of the time.

Originally Posted by Y4J

She's just about 6 weeks old that I got from a few friends. I've had her for a week.

She IS friendly. If I put my face to hers she doesn't bite or swipe and it and usually licks like she's kissing haha. She's already slept with me for a long time (as in come and either sleep on me or against me) and actually isn't afraid of a lot. Her name is Jesse but sometimes I think I shoulda names her "Dora the Explorer" because she LOVES to explore every nook and cranny haha.

The thing is though, many times during the day, when I go to pet her, she kinda bites at my fingers or layson her back and kinda wrestle with them. She doesn't bite really hard. She bites then follows with licking usually. She also likes going after my feet when I only have socks on. Sometimes she kinda climbs up to where I am sitting and kinda wraps around my forearm and bites at it.

What i'm basically asking is this kinda normal? I just want to make sure if I play with her back and let her do it and not do anything, then she'll be mean when she's older and I don't want that. She let's people come up and pick her up and everything (she's not a huge "I like to be held" kitten, at least not yet) and she does like to be pet, but often when you pet her, it'll turn to her playing.

So what do you think?

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It is normal. 6 weeks is generally a bit early to seperate a kitten from it's mom and siblings. Ideally you should wait until the kittens are 10-12 weeks of age.

I would highly recommend that you get her a companion kitten if you can. That way, she has a companion to "play" with and won't necessarily need to play so much with you. I would also not encourage her to continue this behavior with you..only because we have found that kittens that were not discouraged from playing with peoples' hands as kittens would carry that over into adulthood. Provide her with a feather toy so she can wrestle with it and not your hand.

Katie

She reminds me of a baby version of my Mallory. Long haired, gray and white. Anyway, it sounds like she's just being a kitten. Remember she is probably used to playing rough with littermates. When I brought Mallory home from the shelter, she always bit our hand when we pet her. She was an adult so it had to be discouraged - we just pet her gently until she bit. Then we stopped. She figured it out - hands were not for biting. Since she seems to want to bite at something and play rough, we just got her some appropriate cat toys. Have you thought about a second kitty? I've heard they do much better with a playmate.

First off thanks for the quick responses guys!

I really can't have 2 cats in my home. Landlord is already picky about pets

And I don't mind playing with her, it's just like some have said, this could lead to her doing it in adulthood.

I think i'll get her some nice toys to play with.

Thanks for the advice guys.

Oh btw.. One more thing.

Should I start trying to discipline her right now when she does bite when we are trying to be gentle with her?

y4J---- yes discapline NOW or it will only get worse. Just hiss at her or stop playing with her so she knows that is not accepted. you can replace your hand/leg or whatever she is biting at the time with a stuffed animal so she knows she can play with them that way but NOT you.

Always discipline with positive reinforcement - do not use water sparays and NEVER hit her. As suggested, just stop playing or redirect her attention. She will soon get the idea. But it is not a good idea to let her get the habit of biting or 'rabbit-kicking' hands.

Hey guys it's me again.

Lately it seems like my kitten has been a LITTLE more friskie than maybe she should be heh. I mean, yea she comes in my lap and falls asleep on me, or when I go to sleep she comes and cuddles next to me andcries if I take her away lol but during the day when she is awake moving around, it's different.

When I go to pet her, a lot of the time (if not MOST of the time) she will go to play and if you let her "grab" your hand, she bites. Not too hard, but she still bites. She knows my voice so when I say "NO" she does stop biting for a second. But she does kinda test to see how far she can go. She is usually just really hyper.

I know what you said is normal, but it seems like maybe she's a little too frisky lol. You think so? And if yes, any advice?

You need to redirect her play. When we got Lucy as a kitten, she was really a lot for our older cat to tolerate (though Much did really put up with a lot). Instead, I went to PetsMart and got her a big dog toy and when she was starting the rabbit-kicking, we would redirect her there.