5 Month Old Kitten Biting - Hormonal????

[cmedeiros17]

Shalimar is over 5 months old now and I never had any issues with biting up until recently. Is this his hormones kicking in??? He is mostly biting things such as my comforter (tons of little pulls all over it now

), my couch, my jeans, hubbies foot when he's just wearing socks but mostly he goes to town on my comforter. Does he just have an obssession with cotton lol? Its driving me nuts. I've been shutting him out of our bedroom at night because I wake up to him destroying our comforter. But then he screams outside the door wanting to come in so bad (I usually give in and he ends up laying on my chest purring away as if he's a perfect angel

) He is not really biting our hands or being aggressive....though sometimes the way he goes to town destroying my comforter......he does look aggressive lol. He actually has an appointment to be neutered on the 14th (I'm sooo nervous about this too!!!!). Im hoping this issue is connected to hormones and will stop after the neuter? Or is this behavior typical??? I thought maybe he was teething but seems a little late for that???? Should I be spraying the things he's biting with bitter apple??? Its been sooo long since I had a kitten.

 

[northernglow]

Sounds like teething to me which is normal at that age, or has he already gotten his permanent teeth?
I had one of my boys (age 19 months) neutered today, 7 hours ago to be exact. Everything went fine, I just let him out of the bathroom few minutes ago and now he's wondering around and propably still a bit high from the anesthesia, atleast his eyes look like it. I'm sure Shalimar will be fine too.

 

[-_aj_-]

Thats a bit like what my mams cat was like when he was teething not long after that he was neutred so it could of been a little bit of both, I cant really remember what Sooty was like because he was and is still a very placid cat (only time ive heard him his was when flash was spayed)

I know that soesnt help much but if hes not being aggresive with biting fingers i think id go with what Northern Glow is saying with it being teething

 

[ldg]

You don't need to start with bitter apple. Kittens usually teethe around four months, but that's no hard and fast rule, just like with human kids, kittens develop at different rates. They vet will let you know when you take him in.

In the meantime, get him appropriate things to chew on. Whether it's teething or not, he wants to chew, and you need to let him know what's OK to chew on!

Buy a box of bendy straws, and scatter them everywhere. When he's chewing, hand him a bendy straw. If he uses it, praise the heck out of him!

 

[cheylink]

When he gets aggressive and biting, is it play but overly intense? Does he grab and kick with his back feet sometimes, or pin down and hold while biting?
It does sound more hormonal to me, but canine and molar teeth develop 4-6 months of age.
Don't be nervous about having him neutered, it will help his aggression. There are a few things you can do to help him recover. Here is a site that gives the basic do's and don'ts..
http://www.vetinfo.com/caring-kitten...r-surgery.html

 

[stephanietx]

Another vote for teething. I have an almost 5.5 month old boy and he's been teething and chewing on lots of things. He loves his bendy straws! When one end gets all chewed up, just cut it off until it's too short. He also has chewed on some cardboard boxes we've got for the kitties to play in and some soft toys such as stuffed mice and other things like that.

 

[cmedeiros17]

Thanks everyone for the advice. Perhaps he is just teething then. And if it is hormones that will be taken care of soon enough

I have been trying to distract him with toys which are a cottony material- little stuffed toys that he seems to like. Or the laser pointer....but of course the battery just died. But he does love that and it distracts him. I'll have to try the straws thing!!!