kitten biting-- need advise

My kitten is roughly 9 weeks old... in the past few weeks he has developed a habit of biting me all the time. I can hold him for a few minutes but then he'll start biting. He is biting really hard for a kitten. It seems like it's getting more aggressive... his ears are going back and he'll keep biting. He especially goes after my hands. Even if I hold a toy he goes for my hand. To stop it, one friend told me to flick his nose. This proves to be difficult and I usually end up getting his nose with my palm. I don't like doing this. I also tried the squirt bottle but that does not seem to do much. What is the best way to get him to stop biting people. I'm afraid this is something that will carry on to adulthood, but maybe I'm just being paranoid. I also am afraid that he's going to become afraid of me or my hands and keep up the biting out of fear. Anybody have any thoughts or advise??

You should never physically discipline a cat (this includes squirting water), and your worry about him becoming afraid of you is a distinct possibility.

I'm sure that someone will be along with more advice, but what I do when my cats are bold is give them a time out (shut them up in a room) for a few minutes immediately after they've done it so that they can make the connection between the activity and the loss of attention.

Now, he perhaps dont like you holding him that long. Few minutes IS rather long. Many cats dont appreciate petting when young. Our Muskis was content with a few strokes. To like be petted he did learned with time. He still dont like to be hold. He lay himself down - after it he lets himelf be petted at will.

Second. You should be grateful he is warning biting you. A real bite draws blood. But if his warning (or play) snapes are too hard, so you must teach him to take it more easy, as his mother or siblings would do.

Do hiss when he snaps too hard.

You may even squell a little, so he hears it is hurting = too hard. (when they play they dont want to hurt).

HI

My kitten does this as well. All my cats did this when they were kittens. If you move your hands they grab and bite on them. Anything that moves they want to play with. But you dont want your hands to be seen as playtoys.

I just stop petting or holding them altogether. When he starts to bite and curl around my hand I hold it very still and he usually lets go.. If he continues after that I put him down and stop petting and playing with him altogether.

I did this with my older cats and they learned that when they do this they dont get any attention or playtime.Also having a toy to play with when you are holding him or he is sitting on you takes his mind off your hands.

Please dont hit his nose as he will learn to fear you and nothing else.

When Gretta (16 weeks now) bites like that, I growl at her like another cat would, and if she doesn't stop, she gets put down and told "No bite!" and if she starts to come after me again, I growl some more and make it madder. It also helps to give her a stuffed animal then, too. I have an assortment of fairly large stuffed animals that I give her if she wants to play like that, and she can't see my hand when I give it to her (sometimes the stuffy has to "attack" and then she yanks it to the floor and gives it what for! If you could go to the Dollar Tree or something like that, and get a few to scatter about the house (like where you usually encounter the problem), it will help your kitty to get out her playfight aggression in a good way, and teach her to bite her toys instead of you. Gretta is getting this lesson pretty well now- the stuffies get beaten, I get the lovin'!

And I have taught her "no no" by flicking water with my fingers (like to get her off the counters-she's STUBBORN and putting her down everytime was not getting through) and she is learning REALLY quickly, but no danger of water sprayed in the eye, ears, etc. She now gets down with a "no no" most of the time-water flicking is not needed much now.

My kitten is almost 10 months old and only bites me. He seems to do this if he feels he is being ignored. Its only one nip and he keep rubbing against me for more attention. I think it quite strange but I always tell him firmly NO BITING!!

I agree with the posts above - I was having a terrible time and really worried about Astrid's biting. I got good advice here and learned to stop petting her when she was ready-and a firm "NO BITE" seemed to get the message across.

In only a few days, if she goes to bite I stop with the attention and tell her NO BITE she stops. I noticed that as of last night and today if she goes to bite she does NOT make contact anymore, just the gesture so I know. I am so grateful and relieved. I think being consistent is a key and good luck with finding out what will work for your kitten.

At 9 weeks, your kitty is a little early for teething - but it could be. But they're also naturally bitey. And when kitty does begin to teethe, it'll just get worse. For our kitties, especially when they were teething, we used bendy straws, and I recommend them to everyone. Get bendy straws and litter your house with them.

As everyone has pointed out, do not "train" your kitty with any flicking, hitting, water or whatever. The minute kitty starts to bite, if kitty is in your lap, set him on the floor and give a short, sharp puff of air in the face and say NO sharply and sternly and walk away. This is the equivalent of a "hiss" from mom, and they learn quickly that this means "no" and what the word "no" means.

If you are playing with kitty and he starts biting, again, immediately stop, put the toy down, blow a short, sharp puff of air in the face and say "NO" sharply and sternly, and walk away. If there's a bendy straw within reach, pick it up and give it to kitty before you walk away.

The idea is both to communicate to kitty in a language he understands, teach him your language, and totally discourage unwanted behavior - yet give him something that can satisfy his need to bite.

Kitties are bitey by nature, but especially when they're teething. It is also the only way they have to tell you "no." If they don't want to be petted or touched anymore, they only way they can tell you is to give you a "bite." After the "puffing" method of training, our cats now put a paw on our hands instead of putting their mouths on our hands. And we understand they don't want to be petted anymore and we simply stop since they asked nicely.

The "air puff" method is a fabulous way of training kitty - to not bite, to not jump on the counters or where you don't want them, etc. Shelly still jumps on the counters - but he knows he's not supposed to, and the minute we walk into the kitchen and if he's up on one, he's out of the kitchen like a shot. He definitely learned what "no" means, he definitely understand it - and he's just like a 3 year old. He'll push the limits, and then tries not to get caught, lol!