Extreme Aggressive Play

[mussen]

My friend adopted a kitten that her coworker for in the streets. He was only about 4 weeks at the time, so very young to be separated from his mom and siblings, but the mother was nowhere to be found and he was starving.

He was very sweet at first but the coworker used his hands to aggressively play wth the kitten all the time and now the kitten cannot he broken of his extremely aggressive playful behavior. He attacks hands and feet constantly. He has wand toys, scratching posts, balls, other toys, we’ve tried saying “no” firmly, we’ve tried disengaging, we’ve tried putting him in another room when the behavior begins (but it never stops), we’ve tried blowing in his face, we have even tried the spray bottle but nothing has worked and my friend has decided she cannot keep him if this continues. It’s incessant; all day and all night, no matter how much we play with him. There’s an older cat here who wants nothing to do with him, he doesn’t seem to understand that he can’t just constantly attack everyone and everything.

He’s been neutered already, and he’s 9 or 10 weeks so he’s had plenty of time to be broken of this behavior. We have tried everything we know of. I fostered many kittens so I know this isn’t just “normal kitten behavior”. I’ve never seen such incessant agressive play. Even if he’s sleeping and you try to pet him he thinks it’s time to play and jumps up out of his nap and begins rabbit-kicking and biting hands.

Please help, my friend is willing to give him a few more weeks, but she’s already begun looking to rehome him. I’m worried he will end up on the streets again if someone takes him in and can’t deal with his aggression. And please, no lectures about my friend not accepting the responsibility blah blah blah. She has this cat because the guy who rescued it got evicted and couldn’t kept him.

 

[rubysmama]

At only 9 or 10 weeks old, the kitten is still younger than the recommended age of 12 weeks to take kittens from their mom and siblings. So 4 weeks, was extremely young, but of course in his case there was no choice.

Here's a couple article that might have some helpful tips.

Teach Your Kitten How to Play Nice : The Humane Society of the United States
How To Stop Playtime Aggression In Cats

 

[mussen]

At only 9 or 10 weeks old, the kitten is still younger than the recommended age of 12 weeks to take kittens from their mom and siblings. So 4 weeks, was extremely young, but of course in his case there was no choice.

Here's a couple article that might have some helpful tips.

Teach Your Kitten How to Play Nice : The Humane Society of the United States
How To Stop Playtime Aggression In Cats

Thanks. Yes, we know he was separated young, but there nothing we can do about that. We’ve looked at a lot of articles, they mostly all have the same information, and we’ve tried all the stuff listed in them. We are out of ideas.

 

[rubysmama]

Hopefully some other members will reply with suggestions. Would you have a picture of the little guy you can post, so we can see him?
How To Add A Picture To Your Forum Post

 

[ArtNJ]

I would probably use the approach that older cats use and hold the kitten down with a careful measured amount of force until he calms down. I've never done this with a kitten, and you'd have to be very careful, but older cats do it, so it should work.

As you know, the coworker did exactly the wrong thing, encouraging this behavior initially. Is it any wonder its taking a little bit to extinguish it? I'm sure it will be fine with a little patience.

 

[mussen]

Hopefully some other members will reply with suggestions. Would you have a picture of the little guy you can post, so we can see him?
How To Add A Picture To Your Forum Post

Here he is while playing with his wand toy. This was about 3 weeks ago I think.

 

[mussen]

I would probably use the approach that older cats use and hold the kitten down with a careful measured amount of force until he calms down. I've never done this with a kitten, and you'd have to be very careful, but older cats do it, so it should work.

As you know, the coworker did exactly the wrong thing, encouraging this behavior initially. Is it any wonder its taking a little bit to extinguish it? I'm sure it will be fine with a little patience.

She’s had him for over a month so I thought it would at least begin to clear up but it seems to just be getting worse. I will suggest trying this though, it’s not something I came across in my research. Thanks!

 

[ArtNJ]

She’s had him for over a month so I thought it would at least begin to clear up but it seems to just be getting worse. I will suggest trying this though, it’s not something I came across in my research. Thanks!

Yeah, its not something I've seen mentioned, but you tried the usual stuff and it does work for older cats. Maybe the "No!" could be louder. The only other more normal suggestion I can think of would be to absolutely ignore the kitten while he is doing it, I wouldn't think the play biting/scratching would hurt much with a kitten that young. I've used the ignore method on my two year old, who decided that attacking my arm was a good thing to do if picked up. Now that was painful...but it did work. The logic of the ignore method is very sound...if it becomes boring, the kitten will stop. Its just a matter whether one can stand being attacked for long enough x however many attacks while remaining stoic -- not easy!

 

[Pjg8r]

Keeping the kitten’s claws clipped would help.

 

[rubysmama]

Awww... he's a cutie pie.

I just reread your first post and see there's another cat in the family. Do they interact at all? The older cat could probably teach the little guy some cat manners.

 

[mussen]

Yeah, its not something I've seen mentioned, but you tried the usual stuff and it does work for older cats. Maybe the "No!" could be louder. The only other more normal suggestion I can think of would be to absolutely ignore the kitten while he is doing it, I wouldn't think the play biting/scratching would hurt much with a kitten that young. I've used the ignore method on my two year old, who decided that attacking my arm was a good thing to do if picked up. Now that was painful...but it did work. The logic of the ignore method is very sound...if it becomes boring, the kitten will stop. Its just a matter whether one can stand being attacked for long enough x however many attacks while remaining stoic -- not easy!

It hurts quite a lot, he’s not tiny anymore and he’s not gentle. We were talking and I think he must be closer to 4.5 or 5 months now.

He is extremely agressive, and doesn’t seem to realize that we aren’t prey that he’s trying to kill, so he doesn’t hold back at all. He regularly breaks the skin. We’ve tried ignoring but he doesn’t care. WHen he attacks a foot or hand at full force, it’s really hard not to pull away because it hurts. The whole thing has just gotten very frustrating and he’s just not a good pet. I can’t imagine anyone would willingly take him in with this behavior.

 

[Tibby123]

When I play with my cat and he starts to bite i click my fingers at him a few times. I know it sounds odd but he seems to not like it and calms down. We also got him to stop climbing on the dining table by putting some pennies in a can and shaking it whenever he did it. maybe you could try one of those methods whenever your kitten bites you, and then leave him alone for a while. It might take a few tries but then hopefully he will relate his bad play with the unpleasant stimuli.