- Joined
- Jan 4, 2016
- Messages
- 39
- Purraise
- 4
I have a 11 week old Russian Blue Kola, who has been with me for just over 2 week now. I work during the days but I spend time with him before and after work everyday. My housemate also comes to play with him a little most days too. He has lots of variety of toys and a great cat tree by the window.
Generally he's a very sweet boy and I haven't had major issues bar one that seems to be developing. I've never had a pet before and so need some advice please!
Now the situation is that I live in a studio type room and my mattress is on the floor. We had bit of of flea/mite problem so I washed his bed which was dry clean onlyso it got ruined and he hasn't had a official bed for a week or so now.
I've ordered a new one but it's gonna take some time to arrive. He sleeps on his cat tree and my desk chair when I'm not home and at night when I settle for bed, he usually settles in with me. Up to now this wasn't really disturbing my sleep and he was being really good.
Now the problem is that I haven't obviously set a few boundaries and even though I've been trying to in past few nights it's only confusing him and not really working.
The issue is that he's started to wake up & start with his new obsession of chasing his tail all over my bed at God knows what hour, continuously. I read somewhere before I got Kola for when a kitten disturbs you on the bed to swiftly and gently swipe him off the bed and then lay dead. Now I've been doing this but he seems to think this is play and will bite and play rough even more.
After a few times of doing that he will eventually go across the room to play but sure enough he'll be back soon. On top of which he's getting seriously too comfortable and biting me as "play". As I lay in bed currently typing this up on my iPhone he keeps jumping at my phone and hands to bite because he sees it as a toy. I keep saying "ouch" with a higher tone and withdrawing attention but it's not working. He'll just lie on top of my purring until I move my hand and phone again! In fact every time I say ouch when he bites he stops for a second and then continues no mater how much I withdraw attention.
Last night has especially been harder and he's been more biostrious than ever! He's jumping all over me, biting, playing rough, basically no boundaries. If I try hold him by the scruff of his neck and say "no" whilst removing him which is what I've been doing generally which behavioural things my hands get in the cross fire as he's moving around so much I don't even get to his neck and he starts rough play.
Now I can't move him into another room as I have no other room and I want to start setting the rules now before it gets worse as I see already he's getting more comfortable and naughty. I understand he's a kitten and he had lots of energy but until his bed arrives what can I do? I want to have a method which I can stick to from now on which isn't confusing as I think I've not been doing so well
I try to play with him and feed him before bed as much as I can which works in the sense that it settles him to sleep as same time as me, but since he's been waking me up constantly past few nights it would be good to know how to deal with the sleep situation and the biting with "positive reinforcement".
Many thanks. X
Generally he's a very sweet boy and I haven't had major issues bar one that seems to be developing. I've never had a pet before and so need some advice please!
Now the situation is that I live in a studio type room and my mattress is on the floor. We had bit of of flea/mite problem so I washed his bed which was dry clean onlyso it got ruined and he hasn't had a official bed for a week or so now.
I've ordered a new one but it's gonna take some time to arrive. He sleeps on his cat tree and my desk chair when I'm not home and at night when I settle for bed, he usually settles in with me. Up to now this wasn't really disturbing my sleep and he was being really good.
Now the problem is that I haven't obviously set a few boundaries and even though I've been trying to in past few nights it's only confusing him and not really working.
The issue is that he's started to wake up & start with his new obsession of chasing his tail all over my bed at God knows what hour, continuously. I read somewhere before I got Kola for when a kitten disturbs you on the bed to swiftly and gently swipe him off the bed and then lay dead. Now I've been doing this but he seems to think this is play and will bite and play rough even more.
After a few times of doing that he will eventually go across the room to play but sure enough he'll be back soon. On top of which he's getting seriously too comfortable and biting me as "play". As I lay in bed currently typing this up on my iPhone he keeps jumping at my phone and hands to bite because he sees it as a toy. I keep saying "ouch" with a higher tone and withdrawing attention but it's not working. He'll just lie on top of my purring until I move my hand and phone again! In fact every time I say ouch when he bites he stops for a second and then continues no mater how much I withdraw attention.
Last night has especially been harder and he's been more biostrious than ever! He's jumping all over me, biting, playing rough, basically no boundaries. If I try hold him by the scruff of his neck and say "no" whilst removing him which is what I've been doing generally which behavioural things my hands get in the cross fire as he's moving around so much I don't even get to his neck and he starts rough play.
Now I can't move him into another room as I have no other room and I want to start setting the rules now before it gets worse as I see already he's getting more comfortable and naughty. I understand he's a kitten and he had lots of energy but until his bed arrives what can I do? I want to have a method which I can stick to from now on which isn't confusing as I think I've not been doing so well
I try to play with him and feed him before bed as much as I can which works in the sense that it settles him to sleep as same time as me, but since he's been waking me up constantly past few nights it would be good to know how to deal with the sleep situation and the biting with "positive reinforcement".
Many thanks. X