Kitten Bad Behaviour

[Elsie03]

Hi guys, I have been reading through this site for quite awhile since I just adopted a new kitten earlier this year March. Although I have tried most of the tips and advice posted online, it doesn't seems to solve my kitten bad behaviour. As such I have decided to get help by posting! This is my first time owning a cat, so everything is pretty new to me.

Btw my kitten is named as Pancake He is a mixed breed and he is currently at week 12 of age.

And this was when I first got him.

I adopted him at week 3 of age, which I know it's too young for him to leave his mother, but the owner has insisted in giving the kittens away. As a kitten from then till now, he has always been a very playful one and gets really hyper when he is excited. So recently, his biting behaviour has gotten so bad that my hands are filled with scars. He has also been showing some bad behaviours as he grows up.

1. He likes being carried and getting stroked at his cheek area but he would always start biting my fingers using his both paws to grab my hand before I even pet him. So in a way, if my hand is above his head, he would want to grab it and bite.

2. He hates it when I scruff him. I do that when he bites, but that would caused him to bite more aggressively. But if I do not scruff him, he tends not to stop biting. His bites hurt a lot since his teeth are pretty sharp.

3. He likes to pounce on my legs and bite me whenever I walk by. Sometimes he just pounce on me without biting. It usually depends on how hyper he is. However, when I'm sit on the floor near him, he would definitely pounce and bite my arms or legs.

4. He has jumped onto my family several occasions (kinda of like jump and climb on us straight from the floor) and he has done it to strangers too.

5. He's super greedy when it comes to food. Everytime when my family started having meal, he would come to kitchen and meow at us to give him some even tho he has just eaten. If we ignored him, he would find ways to jump on the dining table. When I feed him treats, he would try ways to grab the whole packet away and when I try to take it back, he would always growl at me. I feed him 4 times a day and I also monitor his tummy after each meal in order to feed him the right amount. I do not think he is being underfed.

6. He does aggressive biting when he does not get what he wants.

I have bought him to the vet several times starting on the week when I first adopted him. He has gotten his deworming and revolution. He's up for his first vaccination next week. The vet has confirmed that he is healthy, so I would ruled out any health issues. I always set aside time to play and interact with him using toys attached to a string in order to keep him away from my hands and legs. I do throw him toys to distract him when he tries to pounce on me too. I also do timeout session whenever he goes out of line. But all these doesn't seems to really work. I would say most of the bites are pretty much playful bites and it hurts only because of the sharp teeth. This is also partly due to him being separated from his mother and litter mates since young. But I would really hope someone can give me some advice on how to stop the biting behaviour.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and I apologise for the super length post.

Thank you

 

[elliesvictim]

1. Desex. No debate...desex

2. Clip nails regularly to reduce damage. Claws are a cats "go to" weapons. My cat was a feral kitten and a menace when she was younger.

3. Rather than avoid using hands I have found it better to use it as a training tool. My cat has learnt over time by my reactions to what level of biting, scratching is ok. React and ignore/scold if not ok. They need to know. Remember a lot of what you described is normal kitten behaviour and at times adorable. My cat will grab my hand with her claws and gnaw at it. It's affection and play. She's learnt over time MY pain threshold.

4. Yeah, so....you have a kitten. Let most of it go. Learn to communicate in a way that your cat understands. My cat has a naughty spot and if goes way to far gets a pat on the bum. I do this because she gets more upset if I get upset or scold her. The point is figure out what your cat understands

Good luck

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
Feed him as much as he will consume. He needs to eat a lot as a kitten, and at this point in time it's apparent he is working very hard to get more food.

Fill a metal can half full of coins. Watch and make sure you know when problem behavior is going to happen and shake it, hard, a couple times, to stop the pouncing or whatever. Alternatively throw a clanky noisy set of keys on the floor near to him. The point is to re-wire the brain into different thinking.

For the biting, scratching and aggressive biting, you need to fill the role of his mama. She would have taught him manners, so this is what you need to do, and literally HISS at him.

 

[KarenKat]

Since E elliesvictim and Furballsmom mom gave excellent advice, I want to play good cop and croon over how cute he is!! The thread title coupled with the picture where he looks like he is in kitty jail is too adorable.

Sorry you are having a rough time him. Hopefully these suggestions work and he grows out of it soon!

 

[Elsie03]

1. Desex. No debate...desex

2. Clip nails regularly to reduce damage. Claws are a cats "go to" weapons. My cat was a feral kitten and a menace when she was younger.

3. Rather than avoid using hands I have found it better to use it as a training tool. My cat has learnt over time by my reactions to what level of biting, scratching is ok. React and ignore/scold if not ok. They need to know. Remember a lot of what you described is normal kitten behaviour and at times adorable. My cat will grab my hand with her claws and gnaw at it. It's affection and play. She's learnt over time MY pain threshold.

4. Yeah, so....you have a kitten. Let most of it go. Learn to communicate in a way that your cat understands. My cat has a naughty spot and if goes way to far gets a pat on the bum. I do this because she gets more upset if I get upset or scold her. The point is figure out what your cat understands

Good luck

I would definitely bring him for the spray when he is of age. Now he is still too young for it. I do trim his claws regularly, every 2 weeks. I also put him on time out when he misbehave because patting him on the butt or going anywhere near him would just make him wants to bite more. He does know that I'm upset when he bites me hard because once I ignored him, he would come looking for me and follow me around as to ask for forgiveness. But even so, he continues to bite hard.

All these are caused by his biting tho. There are countless times which draw blood and caused my hand to bruise. This is why I'm trying avoid using hand.

 

[furmonster mom]

Pouncing and biting are part of kitten play and development of the hunter instinct. The trick is to give him something he CAN tussle with, and differentiate it from your hands that are decidedly not prey material.

When my cats were kittens we had a stuffed animal, a little larger than themselves, that we would encourage tussling with. When they would grab our hands or arms instead we would freeze - full stop - and offer no response... which is no fun from their perspective. Also, unresponsive prey is "dead". Some kittens were slower learners than others, but they eventually got the idea.

edit to add:
We have also used hissing as a deterrent if the biting did not abate when play was stopped. A good loud hiss and walk away is a pretty stern message that they crossed the line.

 

[Elsie03]

Hi!
Feed him as much as he will consume. He needs to eat a lot as a kitten, and at this point in time it's apparent he is working very hard to get more food.

Fill a metal can half full of coins. Watch and make sure you know when problem behavior is going to happen and shake it, hard, a couple times, to stop the pouncing or whatever. Alternatively throw a clanky noisy set of keys on the floor near to him. The point is to re-wire the brain into different thinking.

For the biting, scratching and aggressive biting, you need to fill the role of his mama. She would have taught him manners, so this is what you need to do, and literally HISS at him.

Hi there, appreciate your reply.

I actually tried feeding him more once by feeding him whenever he ask for food and that didn't ended up well because he got so bloated that he has a hard time moving. And he couldn't stand properly. So I resume back to straight 4 meals per day and occasionally I would reward him with treats. Would this be sufficient?

I will definitely try out the mental can method!

 

[Elsie03]

Since E elliesvictim and Furballsmom mom gave excellent advice, I want to play good cop and croon over how cute he is!! The thread title coupled with the picture where he looks like he is in kitty jail is too adorable.

Sorry you are having a rough time him. Hopefully these suggestions work and he grows out of it soon!

Now that you mentioned it, it really looks like kitty jail

Thank you so much. I hope he grows out of it soon too!

 

[Elsie03]

Pouncing and biting are part of kitten play and development of the hunter instinct. The trick is to give him something he CAN tussle with, and differentiate it from your hands that are decidedly not prey material.

When my cats were kittens we had a stuffed animal, a little larger than themselves, that we would encourage tussling with. When they would grab our hands or arms instead we would freeze - full stop - and offer no response... which is no fun from their perspective. Also, unresponsive prey is "dead". Some kittens were slower learners than others, but they eventually got the idea.

edit to add:
We have also used hissing as a deterrent if the biting did not abate when play was stopped. A good loud hiss and walk away is a pretty stern message that they crossed the line.

I actually bought him quite a number of stuffed toys to play with as I know he is at the teething stage and there are toys which are larger than him and some would produce sound when he plays with it. When he bites, it's really painful so my first instinct is always to retract my hand so I guess that's trigger him to bite more.

I did try hissing before but he did not seems to react at it at all. However, I tried imitating growling voice yesterday and he gave me a shocked face. I wonder does that works too? Hahas

 

[furmonster mom]

Oh yes, growling definitely works as well, lol.

And boy do I know how hard it is NOT to pull the hand away when they grab it, because you are right - pulling away triggers that hunters instinct (ack! it's still alive! must kill now!!! rawr).

 

[Furballsmom]

that didn't ended up well because he got so bloated that he has a hard time moving. And he couldn't stand properly.

Hi - by chance, have you mentioned this to your vet? --Or try a different food?

Maybe in addition to what you're feeding add some kitten glop - there are recipes on the internet including these;
Kitten Glop Recipes - Supplementing Cats and Kittens with nutritious formula you make at home: presented by Bengal Cat breeder Foothill Felines.

The Essentials Of Kitten Nutrition
This article mentions not leaving food out for very long, however if you're in a cooler climate or air conditioned home you can leave wet food out for several hours.

I think that kittens do get big tummies when they're on mama's milk and then they sleep it off, your little guy is only 12 weeks old and is still in that age range, but maybe free feeding would help.
Try a few of these things and maybe have a chat with your vet.

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh and I've been meaning to say, I simply LOVE your furbabys name

 

[Elsie03]

Hi - by chance, have you mentioned this to your vet? --Or try a different food?

Maybe in addition to what you're feeding add some kitten glop - there are recipes on the internet including these;
Kitten Glop Recipes - Supplementing Cats and Kittens with nutritious formula you make at home: presented by Bengal Cat breeder Foothill Felines.

The Essentials Of Kitten Nutrition
This article mentions not leaving food out for very long, however if you're in a cooler climate or air conditioned home you can leave wet food out for several hours.

I think that kittens do get big tummies when they're on mama's milk and then they sleep it off, your little guy is only 12 weeks old and is still in that age range, but maybe free feeding would help.
Try a few of these things and maybe have a chat with your vet.

Hi FurballsMom,

I'm so sorry for missing out your post. Thanks for the advice, I have read thru it. Yup, I usually clear the food away once my kitten walks away and usually he finishes all his food at one go. There is no left over at all haha. I have been changing his food and monitoring his consumption as it goes along too.

But he seems to be getting tamer. Hahahas his wild behaviour has definitely toned down!

 

[Furballsmom]

No worries, I'm so glad you and your furbaby are doing so well!

 

[danteshuman]

1) Kittens at that age are like hyperactive 3 year old human kids. They need to learn how to play nice before they become teens. Also kittens like little kids have little stomachs. So they graze all day. I would be feeding a kitten that age 6 small meals a day (and maybe snacks) or free feed kitten dry food plus 2-3 wet food meals per day.
2) Kittens at that age I wouldn't bother trying to train beyond toys not hands & oh look a litter box. I'm a firm believer of keeping the adorable minions in one kitten proof room unless closely supervised. This comes in handy because when it is time to cook/eat you toss them in their room with a new toy and their food. You open the door when your meal is finished. Remember what may be cute at this age is annoying as heck 6-12 months down the line. *take 2 fingers and GENTLY touch/tap the side of his cute little muzzle when he bites you & hiss or say no/ow. Then walk away and ignore him for 15 minutes. Any claws or teeth ends playtime, every time.
3) Buy kitten chew toys now, it will come in handy when he teethes. I had one kitten that turned into a beaver that gnawed on the corner of my dining room chairs when he was teething!
4) Take lots of pictures, they grow up fast.
5) Kick his mama's owners behind! ..... well at least a long conversation explaining to them how kittens need to stay with mom for 12 weeks & should not be starting solids until 6 weeks. I'm glad he survived. Not all bottle babies do.
6) Since he was ripped from his family way to earlier you can always get him a play mate (or a teen cat that will kick his behind and teach him manners.) This helps burn off that extra energy & give him a pounce partner. If not assume he needs 5-15 minutes of play every hour you are awake & there. He can not get enough play!
7) Plan on lots of potty breaks. On kittens I like to give them a litter box in their room plus a litter box in the living room (so they can get there in time.)
8) Kittens love sleeping with you. At his age just accept that he will wake you up but try not to reward it. In a couple of months you can start kicking him out if he wakes you up. Or you can have him sleep in his room if you are doing that already.
* The penny can or clapping your hands works in a pinch. I used it on my boys when they counter surfed and charged the front door. Then again I don't let kittens out of arm reach until they are 4 months old & then I still watch them like a hawk. You would be amazed at what they get into & what they destroy!
*Now might be a good time to buy a kickeroo for him to bunnykick/bite. Also teaching him how to play fetch or soccer might help him keep his claws out of your hands.

 

[danteshuman]

*** Sorry I meant they can stop nursing at 6 weeks ... most kittens begin solids but still nurse at 4 weeks.