Kitten keeps biting and nothing works! Help!

[mnor0406]

I'm a first time cat owner (after having several dogs as pets) and I have no idea what to do! My kitten is a 13 week old male and he won't stop biting and scratching me. I have looked at every message board and website and tried just about everything and nothing works. First I tried diverting his attention with toys and he would just come back to bite me 5 minutes later. I've tried looking him in the eye and saying No or No Biting and all he does is swat at me. After all this I decided to try the spray bottle idea (in this case I bought a bunch of squirt guns and keep them everywhere). This worked for awhile, until he got big enough to jump into the shower and has found a new love for water. The squirt guns don't even phase him now. He'll be back to biting any part of my body where skin is exposed in a matter of seconds. I tried talking to other cat owners to get other suggestions. Scruffing doesn't work, he thinks it's a game...Putting him in a closed room for a couple minutes does nothing...one friend even told me to try putting pepper on my finger before he bites it which did seem to work but he doesn't just bite my fingers and I definately don't want to be covered in pepper 24/7.

So, basically I'm asking if anyone else has suggestions that I haven't tried yet. He's getting to the point where he draws blood now and I look like I got in a fight with 10 alley cats on a daily basis. My fingers are all puffy and have a poison ivy-ish rash on them from him biting them so much (bacteria in his mouth possibly? If someone else has experienced this problem and knows what it is please please please help me). I'm seriously considering taking him to the nearest shelter and giving him up for adoption but he does have his really sweet moments where he cuddles and licks me. I'm reaching the end of my rope here. Someone please help me out!

 

[trouts mom]

Wow, you have a rambunctious one on your hands!

My first instinct is to tell you that all kittens do that unfortunately

I am not sure how to stop them from doing that. I don't think he is trying to hurt you, but that is how kittens play.

When Trout hurts me, I push her off of me and ignore her. A few times of that and she gives up.

Please don't give your kitten up because of something kittens do

 

[anmccleod]

the best thying I've found to do is tell them "No" and move them away. Just pick them up and gently place them down somewhere else.
You might have to do it a few times but most times it does work.

 

[mnor0406]

The picking him up and moving him away doesn't work. He's relentless and will keep coming back. I've tried that too. He actually will wait in another room behind a door and surprise attack me the second I walk in. He's insane. He has toys everywhere...I made him a box house with a bunch of different holes, he has a toy mouse and balls that rattle, he has a bunch of wide ribbons and toilet paper tubes and highlighters (he likes to steal them from me while i'm doing my school work) scattered everywhere. I think he's ADHD haha. Oh and he also likes to play with outlets and anything plugged into them. He unplugs everything and i'm afraid he's going to electrocute himself one of these days. I try to hide most of them or put them up higher but now he's big enough to jump and get the high ones. There's no end in sight...he's getting worse every day instead of better

 

[EnzoLeya]

Tell them no and ignore them seems to work the best.

I just ended up getting a second cat for Enzo to play with so he would have something else to bite. Unfortunately Leya then started to bite.....but she got over that quickly thank goodness!

 

[iluvdevons]

Ares went through a phase of biting my feet, and I received a great tip from GoldenKitty45 to spray a bit of Bitter Apple on my feet. I did that for a few days, and he got the point. (I realize that your baby attacks a number of places on your body, but I have found that over a few days - it really is a deterent.) I would also spray all of your electrical cords with Bitter Apple, and place those baby-proof plastic inserts into the open wall sockets. I have heard of some people who really had problems detering biting actually biting their kitten back. (I personally could not do this to Ares.) Another solution might be to get another male kitten as a playmate. Hope this helps and good luck!!!

 

[kitte]

When I got a kitten in January of this year I spent several weeks nearly tearing my hair out for very nearly the same problems you're describing.. Spaz is female, but she was very very energetic, climbing the wallpaper, me, curtains, sofa, bed... me... every time she was awake.

Didn't seem to stop unless for food or for sleep.

So I decided maybe what she needed was a playmate, no amount of toys seemed to satisfy her.

So I went to the SPCA (society for the protection of animals - an animal shelter). I spent over an hour with the kittens they had there, talking to them, sitting with them and handling them until one little ginger man decided I was good to sit with, I watched how all the kittens interacted with each other and with me and other humans and ended up choosing the little ginger man (or maybe he chose me and I wasn't paying attention?)

He was placid, even tempered (even when I gently tweaked his tail and was playing with the pads on his paws!)... and George (the little ginger man) has calmed Spaz down tremendously. She no longer bites, tries to climb me or the curtains and no longer destroys everything else. She and George have a great friendship and play with each other instead of wrecking my home. (Although George does have a thing for toilet paper lol)

Bitter Apple or it's local equivalent does work, so does companionship for those hours you can't be there to entertain your little one.

 

[leila]

Along with all the great suggestions already posted, I'll add on a one that works with my kitten. He never bites much, but as far as I know he spent until 16 weeks old with his siblings which helped him learn how to behave. However when he has been feeling like having a bit of a wrestle with me I found "yelping" (just sounding like you're in pain) worked very well. He would immediately look startled, let go and then usually give the nibbled area an apologetic lick as if he just realised he was hurting me.

Another method I've heard is not to pull away when the kitten bites but instead push back at them - that does sound more painful but I have seen it mentioned several times for discouraging biting.

Good luck, with some perseverance he will soon learn to play nicely

 

[gailuvscats]

When he sinks his teeth into your arm, don't jerk and scream and pull away.
Gently push against his head between and above his eyes, on his forhead, and say huhuh, or no, or a sound, but not screaming or mean, and say the same thing all the time for when you want him to stop whatever he is doing.

The pushing on the head is the way the mother teaches them to stop, and if you do it with the same word consistanly, it will work without the head push after a while.
He will grow up to, that will help, but this is how I trained Spike to stop biting me, and he bit hard!
Now, all I have to do is go uuh,uhn,uuhnn and he will
stop whatever he is doing that I don't like, including chewing on his brothers. well, chewing on the brothers sometimes takes a hiss. You might want to try that too, but with a kitten, I would do the head push first.

 

[tsarinanikol]

Originally Posted by Iluvdevons

Ares went through a phase of biting my feet, and I received a great tip from GoldenKitty45 to spray a bit of Bitter Apple on my feet. I did that for a few days, and he got the point. (I realize that your baby attacks a number of places on your body, but I have found that over a few days - it really is a deterent.) I would also spray all of your electrical cords with Bitter Apple, and place those baby-proof plastic inserts into the open wall sockets. I have heard of some people who really had problems detering biting actually biting their kitten back. (I personally could not do this to Ares.) Another solution might be to get another male kitten as a playmate. Hope this helps and good luck!!!

My three mo old kitten has a pathological obsession with biting and scratching me, and I've done everything in my power to train her. As a point of interest, my fellow has tried the biting back technique...

... it hasn't helped!

I have made a small amount of progress with one thing though: when Annikki is playing too aggressively, biting or swatting enough to draw blood for instance (and she has!), I put her in her cat carrier for about ten minutes. I know some pets HATE their carriers, but my kitten is unusually comfortable with hers, she never fusses about vet visits... so it isn't a really horrible thing to do to her. Ignore the kitten if it starts crying. Ten minutes, no exceptions. When I take her out, she is usually much calmer, and I'll play with her--with a toy, far away from my fingers. =)

Good luck!

 

[katgoddess]

Originally Posted by mnor0406

He actually will wait in another room behind a door and surprise attack me the second I walk in. He's insane.

LOL, I have to laugh at this, sorry. Julius does it, too, and although it can be annoying at times, it's so funny to see. But thankfully, my dog and I both share his surprise "attacks" so I'm not the only one bearing it all

My dog puts him in his place though, so he knows better than to push her. But he's relentless, too.

 

[werebear]

Being used to dogs, you might have rough housed with him. Bad move. Now he thinks this is what you like, and when he wants attention, he sure gets it.

If he's an Alpha, and he sounds like it, that boundless energy can be too much for one person to cope with. What does he do during the day? Getting him complicated toys, like a puzzle box or puzzle cube that spews treats, will let him have something to do besides plot ambush.

He likes electronics because he knows they are fascinating and he was to figure it out. If you can, get him his own electrical object to play with, the more switches and knobs, the better. This does not teach him to play with electrical objects... this teaches him he has his own electrical object, and now he's expected to leave yours alone. Just telling them to get away from something fascinating doesn't work if he doesn't have something safe to fascinate him.

You are probably overstimulating him, and the only way he knows to stop it is to bite you. A cranked up cat can get that from from petting, if you think he's getting into it, so you pet more, and then bam.

If you are enjoying the cat, I heartily suggest you consider getting another. Another cat will administer advice in a way he understands. They will be an outlet for the boundless energy. They will be a companion when he needs it. Get another kitten as much like him as possible, so they can share interests. I know it sounds crazy at the thought of having two cats like this, but some of his problems are because he is left alone to his own devices, and he's picking poor ways to handle it because he has so few options.

 

[karebearcasey]

my kitten does the same thing. well, he doesn't sneak attack me, but my old man did when he was a baby. we got 8 year old damian when he was just over a year from family friends. they had him since he was a kitten. he was a true terror. he would rip around the corner, climb/claw up your back and then leap off your shoulder. they actually just called him satan because he was so psychotic. flash forward 8 years, and now he's just the calmest thing and cat naps all day. we lost our dog a year ago, but from day one introduction they were just the best of friends and played and wrestled with each other (the cat won, lol). when we lost chewy, damian was so depressed, and it took us all a year before we could bring ourselves to get another pet. in walks baby max and is now driving damian crazy with his kitten behavior.

 

[meatloaf]

I, too, have a kitten who attacks me - my arms are all cut up and right now I have 6 bandaids on just from today!  He can be extremely loving, but when he wants to play he bites me and I bleed every time.  I tell him no, remove him, put him down, out of the room - I am consistent about all of these things but he continues to play hard.   He has tons of toys and I redirect him with them when he bites me.  He was abandoned by mom at 3 weeks old, and I bottle fed him and he was so tiny and sweet!  But he plays rough, and now he is 9 weeks old and I am afraid to sleep at night unless I lock him in another room - I fear I will wake up without a face!  He has scratched my face and nearly blinded me when he got too close to my eye.  I am just hoping he outgrows it, because truthfully I can say 'no' until I am blue in the face and he just doesn't get it. He does calm down and then wants to be lovey and sleep on me, but meanwhile I am bleeding to death.  Good luck to you!