Interesting Biting Issue

[puffycow]

Hello all,

This is my first post here and I am hoping maybe some of you have some ideas. My kitten is about 3 months old, I had her since she was 5 weeks. The cat has been free to walk the apartment for over a month, and for the past 3 weeks she has been free to walk it when we go to bed. I tried to ween her into having every room at her disposal.

Anyway, every once in a while she will get aggressive towards me. I live with my girlfriend and I am the only one being targeted. I could be sitting in a chair or laying on the floor and the kitten decides it's time to grab and bite me as hard as she can.

This morning she actually hopped towards me and swatted at my face. When she gets really bad I put her in "time out" for 15ish minutes. She meows and I ignore her. When I let her out she is meowing and purring and she'll climb onto my lap and purr and such. I'll speak to her calmly and everything will be ok for a moment, then she will start at it again.

I find this really odd. Does anyone have any experience with this? It can be really frustrating but I keep telling myself that she probably doesn't realize what she is doing so I don't get mad at her.

PS - I got some tactics from other websites, such as the time-out, telling her sternly but not too loud "NO," lightly blowing in her face, etc. Also, she listens to my girlfriend but seems to ignore me. Any help is appreciated

Frank

 

[farleyv]

It seems you are doing the right things. This will bump your post up and hopefully someone will come along with some better help.

IMO, I would be consistant with redirecting the kitty. Does she have a cat tree? Sounds like she needs to play more therefore using up her energy on other things besides you!

 

[snickerdoodle]

I'm just curious, I don't think it has any bearing on the subject but I may be wrong, has she been spayed yet?

 

[otto]

Hello and welcome to TCS!

Your kitten is treating you like her litter mate and trying to play with you. She needs more play time, and always always have a toy of some sort in your hand when you play with her.

A stuffed animal for her to wrap her paws around and bite and bunny kick, crumpled paper balls to chase, and a string on a stick type toy for chasing and leaping.

My kitten is four months old. She has three older doting cats who play with her as much as she wants, but she still needs several interactive play sessions with me every day. Kittens need a ton of interactive play time to work off their high spirits and energy.

When she jumps on you out of the blue and bites at you like that she is telling you she wants you to play with her. Play with her FIRST, before you do anything else. Give her a half hour of high activity, and then she will be more content to play by herself while you do your own thing.

She will need at least four of those intensive half hour play sessions a day. In the morning before you leave for the day, when you get home, before you sit down to read or on the computer or whatever, and before bed.

And as someone else mentioned make sure she has plenty of places to climb and be up high.

Also a card board box for a Box Fort and a paper bag (cut any handles) for a rustley fort.

 

[justjayde]

hehehe I agree, kitten wants to play! Burn some of that silly kitty energy off with her.

MY kitten is a bit of a lazy boy - he likes to lay around playing... so I have to get creative to play with him (( I am in a wheelchair so I can't get down on the floor with him )).

I have found a laser will ALWAYS get him going! I run the light up and down a long hall and even up the wall at the end of the hall to get him jumping!

I have used a remote control truck with a BALL attached to its antenna - for him to chase up and down the long hall.

I got bouncy rubber balls I can whip up the hall against the wall and he will chase that (( I do this with pingpong balls too, I buy them 50 at a time off ebay so I am not having to fetch it every 3 minutes LOL I go at the end of the day and find all the balls and put them in a box )).

I have plastic spring things that he LOVES to bat around and carry and chase.

When all else fails, give a good wrestle... but as said put something between him and your hand so he plays with the toy rather than turning you into a giant kitty toy

Cat trees are essential - they love to climb and play and just be silly on them when the insane kitty mood strikes.

One last thing, play hide and seek with your kitty. Don't leap out and scare the boogers out of him./her but go around a wall and make little noises at first, so kitty KNOWS you are there but when he/she comes out say "Gotcha!" in a soft voice. Once used to that - you can hide quietly and continue with the soft "gotcha" when he/she finds you. My mom plays this with him every time she is over. They both get into it. He runs around like mad trying to figure out which wall she is behind, finds her then he races away like a maniac. lol

 

[puffycow]

All of this makes a lot of sense. I recently got a laser pointer and she loves to chase it around. I just got done talking to my girlfriend about how I think she has a lot of energy which might be why she is biting me more often.

I'll just make sure it is a higher priority to play with her more often, especially when I get home from work after she's been sleeping all day. Thanks for the insight!

She doesn't have a tree, just a post. I let her on my furniture and such so she does climb that. I have an old beer box that I cut a hole in for her to play around with, which she does. I wanted to get a tree but the apartment is crowded as is. Once I get a bigger place, she will get her upgrades