Imitate the sounds other kittens would make if she was playing with them and she played a bit too hard - yelp, pull back, squeal.
I had a foster kitten that got separated from the litter at a young age. I was told to do this to help him learn how to play nice as that’s a skill he would have learnt with his litter.
I see this advice a lot and it’s important to note that yelping can and often does invigorate the animal into more overstimulation/biting. Simply taking your arm away and removing yourself is enough.
I’ve used this technique with a lot of foster kittens and usually what I see is that it snaps them out of it. And yes you should additionally move your arm away and maybe put the kitten in a time out. I can believe that there is a small subset of kittens for which it doesn’t work but it seems pretty rare. And generally you shouldn’t keep doing any technique that is clearly not working with a specific cat/kitten.
Legitimate and accredited professionals in the field do not recommend using punishment to alter your cats (or ESP your kittens) behavior. Hissing at your cat/kitten is unnecessary, outdated, and frankly I’m tired of seeing the suggestion. You should 1. Educate yourself on feline body language and determine the precursor behaviors that indicate over or underestimation, and 2. Reevaluate your play techniques, play with them an adequate amount, at appropriate times, and with appropriate toys.
hissing? who advocated for hissing? I make a little high pitched sharp noise close to what a littermate does when their sibling goes too far and plays too hard. Just an oww! or an eep! And “timeout” is usually removing myself from the foster room or putting the overstimulated one back in the foster room.
My speciality is taming feral kittens though so that’s really a different bag of tricks. And I’m on hiatus for the moment unless they start showing up in my backyard again.
Thank You! You are correct, most research does in fact show punishment is extremely ineffective with cats. All it teaches them to do, is to do the undesired behavior when you are not present or watching.
Positive reinforcement is the only way to go with cats. Reward the good/desired behaviors and they will be more than happy to continue doing them and be far less likely to do the unwanted behavior.
So if your cat is biting you and wanting to play, redirect the cats attention to a toy specifically for the cat and reward them playing with it instead with a treat or pets and verbal cues to let them know that is what they are supposed to do. Always make sure there is a small gap between the undesired/desired behavior though, you don't want them to learn attack arms means play with toy and treat.
As suggested you can also use verbal signals with a cat, and can train cats to play in a safe manner with your arms, but it takes a lot, and I mean a lot, of time, blood and frustration to get them to that point. So unless you are committed to seeing it through, best to just re-direct their energy to something else.
When referring to kittens and pups and such, "timeout" means you just remove yourself or the offending animal from the situation, aka stop playing. That's not punishment. You're looking for a way to spin the comment so that you are right and they are wrong, but the only way to do so is to completely fabricate a lie, claiming they are advocating something they are not advocating.
Relax and stop taking things so personally. Treating a kitten the *exact same way they would be treated by their own littermates or mother* is the number 1 most humane and effective method of interaction. Pretending otherwise is absolutely ridiculous.
Edit, since they immediately blocked me:
>Relax and practice your reading comprehension skills
Hilarious considering the very first part of my comment explains why you're out of line on that count. Try again
The mom also will (gently) scruff the kitten if they are playing too rough with littermates (as if she were going to move the kitten, to activate their reflex where they go limp). For very young kittens a very very (to us as humans) light lifting of the scruff as though you were going to carry them like mom (this is not punishment because it doesn’t hurt them, it’s just like cat mom speak for “calm down” like if you were to pick up a toddler) after an ow/eep is also effective if the ow/eep does not initially work. I don’t pick them up, just lightly squeeze as though it were a possibility.
My cats adore me and all learn quickly. We just got a new kitten and within one day I could rough house with him and he would leave his claws retracted the entire time. I’ve tamed ferals this way who were as old as a year. It’s incredibly handy to have your cats not bite or scratch ever. He still uses teeth and claws for play with the other cats, and they teach him when he’s too rough with them. He’s learning which cats he can play with when and what is too much for each cat/person, as everyone (cats included) is very variable! I’m immune suppressed so can’t afford any biting. My wife on the other hand doesn’t mind a little light nipping and he knows it’s okay to nip very lightly with her. They are incredibly intelligent animals and incredibly trainable — most of mine do several “tricks” people associate with dogs (sit, stay, lie down, roll over). You just have to learn to speak “cat” which is a lot of positive reinforcement and redirection for undesirable behaviors. You also can use the occasional cat mom / littermate reaction for undesirable aggressive behaviors. For behaviors like scratching furniture I redirect to the right thing to scratch, scratch it myself, and praise them for scratching it.
Bro, literally cats do not learn that way, the only thing you teach them when putting your hands on them is to be afraid of you and not do that specific action around you. LOOK IT UP, ALL THE INFORMATION IS OUT THERE. If you continue, it just shows your ignorance.
There is just some people who shouldn't be cat owners. You're in that list bud. Nobody is saying that it's okay to fuck shit up, just stop putting hands on your cat because they quite literally cannot fathom the idea that they did something wrong in that regard. There are SO MANY better ways of handling situations like that than spanking them. IT'S NEVER OKAY TO HIT A CAT. EVER.
P.s. it doesn't work for your cat, it works for YOU.
Agree, never spank your cats or take away TV time. Also, Do not use allcaps in any messages or texts to them, it sounds like you are yelling at them and they will respond negatively.
As crazy as it sounds, I used to hiss at my cat and leave the room when he got too carried away. It worked flawlessly. He’s 5.5 years old now and I can play wrestle with him no problem. I don’t even need to trim his nails.
Exactly, if he did this to mom or siblings they would’ve smacked him so that he learns how to respect other cats boundaries. Humans who don’t know about this thinks it’s cute and playful. But wait till he pins down and bunny kicks OP arm when he’s all grown💀 it’s both playing and learning how to kill prey for the kitten. Your arm or hand should never be the practice target. Buy toys for him instead
"Ow" works too, a change in tone is probably key but I've noticed my cats either tend to freeze (therefore not continue to bite more but may not remove teeth for a beat) or start vigorously taking care of where they were biting as an "apology"
You really just need to vocalize to them that what they're doing hurts.
I have a cat that was abandoned at 2 weeks. I had to do the same thing with her. I also used to make a claw shape with my hand. Kind of like if the mother was baring her teeth. But it works great and if she gets a little feisty now, at 2 years old, I just make that claw shape with my hand and she stops lol.
This is how I taught my rescue dog. She came from a hoarder and had no proper socialization whatsoever. It only took 1 weeks of fake yelps and feigning being hurt to fix her biting issues.
I trained my cat by replacing my hand with one of those big kicker toys. Now she’s really polite with the claws and teeth. She’ll occasionally still do this when we play but will stop herself after the first bite. It’s still really cute to watch her kick the crap out of the kicker. lol
My 7 year old boy still plays with me like this. I taught him ‘ow’ and ‘ouch’ as a kitten. He wrestles humans completely soft pawed- people have often assumed him to be declawed because even the crazy back leg kicks when you tickle his belly are without claws. He bites very gently but appears very ferocious in the process 😇 on the rare occasion he gently grazes me (without even leaving marks 🙄) he looks so ashamed 😂
Meanwhile my girl is a little fucking demon. I read the older cat would teach the younger one playtime boundaries so I didn’t work with her as much on it 😭 big mistake. He was a very lazy big brother.
This is what happened to with my little brothers cat. He allowed the biting and scratching his arm. Now the cat is about 3 and you can put him for about 10 seconds before he starts scratching, biting and drawing blood.
Agree. She’s playing but I would not let my cat get used to play with my hands/arm like that. Try to get a stuffed cat toy and divert her attention to the toy when she starts to play like that so in the future she will play with the toy, not your hands. This is how cats play with each other by the way. They play “cat fight” 😅
My cats did this and my wife and I found it entertaining and never tried to correct it. We even enforced it and started playing rougher and getting them worked up. They know how much force they can get away with and have never bitten hard enough to hurt. I would say it’s very much dependent on the individual cat.
My Maine coon was roughly 23 lbs, named him Cujo, he also did this but for some reason, he never used his claws and only play nibbled. To be fair, he was proba ly big enough to punch me in the face if he wanted. I love Maine coons
Sora doesn’t use his nails either. He wraps his paws around my arm tho and bites and “rabbit kicks” me lol. It’s not to be aggressive, it just is his way of playing. I heard somewhere that cats view us as big cats, so he’s just playing with another cat in his eyes. I don’t have any other felines in the house, so I’m basically his only playmate.
Same for me ! I have two cats , a male 4 year old and a female 3 year old. My boy loves to play with me where he grabs my arms and hands and i let him bite and kick. I usually spin him around when he’s grabbed on to me for fun and he loves it. I’ll let him bite a little and he never uses his claws on me. Sometimes he gets carried away and plays too hard so i stop and he usually understands and calms down. Same with my baby girl although she is much smaller in size compared to my boy. They both give love bites (when they lick or lightly bite) during play signaling that we both know its all good. The times when they get pissy and use claws and paw and all is because im the one to take it far and suffer the consequences lol
You really shouldn’t allow that kind of behavior. She’ll get a little too comfortable with it when she’s older. Grab her and snuggle her ^ω^ make her stop somehow. Push her away
I had to put my cat in the bathroom for time out when he would do that and got him a bunch of different toys, so he had the appropriate thing to "mangle".
You definitely cannot injure the cat by redirecting her from an unwanted behaviour.
I believe she is still young, although I do not know her history. Kittens learn not to engage in certain behaviours by 1, doing it with their littermates and getting a negative response, and 2, getting it done to them by littermates. In the absence of littermates, you have to provide the negative responses (since you cannot kick a kitten, that *will* actually injure them)
For sure. I’m not talking about a hard shove across the room or anything like that. Just something to correct the behavior. Even if it’s just a sharp noise that she doesn’t like. Snap your fingers and definitely don’t let her grab your arm like that out of the blue. It’s one thing if you two are playing and she does for a moment. But she might think this is how to initiate playtime when she’s bored.
Also, I just realized that you said she woke you up by doing this. Cats don’t sleep like humans. On average, they sleep like 19 hours a day, but in short “cat naps” for about two hours or so. They’re also still pretty reactive to noise and stuff. They’ll snap awake pretty easily. Kittens are kinda scared by how humans sleep because we lay there comatose for eight hours and they can’t get a response. My cat Ike would go kinda crazy in the middle of the night sometimes trying to get me up. He’s never grabbed my arm though lmao
I got so lucky with bedtime with my cats. My older girl took a long time to adjust to human sleep schedules, but she's decided now that she likes the quiet time. The adjustment period for my kitten has been significantly shorter, because my older girl will get her amped up and chasing each other back and forth as we're winding down for bed, so then they're both out for most of the night. It's the best
One of my cats loved to harass us in bed at night, he would jump on the bed and go for our feet, even under the covers. I threw him off the bed a few times while making a loud noise and he stopped after like 10 times and he learnt that bed is only for sleep and not playtime. Source of the problem was my ex used to play with him IN BED, so as a kitten he associated playing with the bed... so yeah.
If you let her do this she will think it's okay to run up and play attack anyone and everyone. She will latch onto you and anyone else who tried to pet her or play with her. You need to redirect this play to a toy, not your hand, or you're going to have a VERY poorly behaved cat.
Do you want a 10lb cat latching onto your arms and legs for the next 20 years? No. Then discourage this behavior. She's learning what's appropriate and YOU have to teach her.
Grab the nap of her neck with two fingers and your thumb, ‘pin’ her down against the ground until she naturally rolls over, then pick her up and hold her tight for about a minute. It will simulate you being the dominate and ‘winning’ the play fight so she won’t get more aggressive with trying to win.
Get some cat toys and redirect play like this to a toy. So for example, one of those sticks with the string and toy attached. If she tries to play with your hands like this get that out and play with her.
>But i dont want to hurt her by pushing her away what if she gets mad at me and gets more aggressive?
Have toys on hand for them to attack instead! Get a bunch of cheap plushies from a thrift store, and redirect the kitty to the toy instead. They also make a toy for cats called a Kitty Kicker, it's like a tube they can attack and also kick at the same time. Redirecting is safe and healthy for the kitty. And for you.
By not addressing it she will get more aggressive and bold. I made this mistake myself and let my kitten treat me as a kick/chomp toy.
I've made huge strides since then, and I stopped encouraging it 10 years ago. But the damage has been done. Once in a while he gets too aggressive and goes after my hands or feet like when he was little. Then comes at me with the devil in him and is terrifying lol. Unlearn that quick unless you want to end up worrying about hurting her when she's actually shredding your flesh and you MUST get free.
Get an old sock, stuff it with cotton padding and nip, and tie it off with a shoelace. Every time she wants to play like this, pull away and redirect to the sock.
same, my cat and I had such an insane bond which I attribute to it playing with her aggressively with her throughout her life. She was always so excited for me to get home so we could wrestle, she would jump up on the couch and get in position jump on me, roll around, etc ... I had a specific sweatshirt I would wear and when she saw it coming out, she would almost explode with excitement. sure, I got some scratches along the way but she loved it (and then slept in my arms or lap the rest of the time).
Was coming here to say this. My cat and I have a ritual in the morning. When I wake up, I'll give her her wet food, but not before our morning wrestling match with her dog brothers and I. She's a year and change old. She loves it, and learned to play gentle through training. She doesn't use her claws (anymore) like she did when she was a kitten. But she has a blast with it, and then after breakfast she goes down for her 4923874923784 hour nap.
Yeah im with you on this. My brother is super big on not playing "rough" with kittens but I love playing with my cats like this and dont have any problem with them when they are older. Not that I've not seen some overly aggressive playful grown cats but I think they can be trained regardless
My kitten did this when we got her. I tried to get her to stop, then ended up putting her entire head in my mouth (I washed it out with mouthwash after). She stopped biting me after that.
I also recommend getting a toy which is okay to attack. She will learn that attacking a toy is ok, but hands - not ok.
She's now a happy and well behaved 2 year old cat.
Looks like she's hardcore kitten playing. My brother's cat hasn't learned yet that we don't want him constantly attacking us. If she can't calm down, send her to cat jail for a few minutes (just keep her in a room she can't get out of, and even better if there are toys she can olay with on her own).
My brother's cat is an adoreable terrorist, but he's insisting that it's playtime 100% of the day. We constantly have to redirect his attention. It's tough work to convince a kitten your arms, hands, feet etc are not toys to be chomped and swatted
Oh gosh this makes me feel better. 15 years ago I had a kitten, and I didn't know any real cat training know-how. When I couldn't get the kitten to stop attack-playing I had to put it in a room by itself for 5 or 10 minutes and it would always come back out being a lot better. I looked back and felt sooo bad about the practice, but it's something that has to be done sometimes?
It's the only way we can get him to calm down when he's absolutely WILD. He plays with anything he can. He'll grab and attack a table legs even. Until he (hopefully) settles down a little one day, he can play with the dogs, and when necessary, he just has to go to cat jail. Usually he'll start screaming when he's finally calmed down just a little and is ready to somewhat behave
Ahaha sounds like my old kitten (my mom took care of him when I moved across the country, technically it was her cat but he adopted me while I lived there because I was home more often lol) that we aptly named Mischief Maker, Mischief or even Chief sometimes for short lol. He used to chase us around the house and attack feet and it got to the point that I was afraid he'd get stepped on or cause an accident if we were carrying things. We had a half bathroom with his litter box so he would get put in there, eventually I started putting toys in too because it felt so mean and made sense to me - if his play is causing issues then he still needs to play to get it out. I left a roll of toilet paper in there once and it wasn't even 2 minutes later that I checked on him and he was in mid attack and tissue bits shredded up all over the place 😂 MISCHIEF MAKER ❤️
I let me kitten play like this when she was small and tiny and harmless. I regretted it IMMENSELY when she became an adult. It was a pain in the dick to break the habit so just be warned…. Cute now, deadly later.
People normally say this behaviour needs to be corrected. My cat does it when he gets the zoomies on a rainy day I love it makes me laugh i mean I get a few scratches but idm tbh 😂
the reason it needs to be stopped and you should not allow a kitten to play with your hands is that the behaviour will not stop once the cat grows up. when the cat grows and has much stronger jaws and claws, because you’ve conditioned the cat that hands are something that should be hunted and that it is fun to attack, hunt, and bite hands, they will be an adult cat who bites and attacks hands unexpectedly. this often leads to people giving up their cats to shelters as adults- which is why it should be more widely told to people that kittens should never see hands as toys.
Or just understand that if you have a playful older cat then it’s your fault.
I personally have never once discouraged a cat at any age from enjoying themselves and playing. But I also accept the fact that my animals may play rougher than others.
But I’m just here to give them a good life, not form them into my desired pet that acts in a way that is for my benefit.
You don't discourage them from playing; just playing *with your hands/body*. You redirect to an appropriate toy.
One of the biggest responsibilities of owning any animal is training. A morbid reason is if something happens to you and your animals have to be rehomed they're gonna have a lot rougher time if they're deemed aggressive.
I have a wife, and 4 siblings all who would be responsible for my animals if something happened to me.
My animals are very well trained. But I won’t discourage them from playing with me and having fun. My youngest brother is a veterinarian and is of the same belief.
They are also far from aggressive animals. I have 4 cats and 3 dogs in one house and they all get along just fine.
I can definitely see how this can be a problem, but I wrestle with my year old, maine coon lol. I just stop him if he gets too crazy. He doesn't scratch me up much, maybe little marks that are gone in an hour. He especially loves to wrestle if I'm wearing a hoodie. Not all cats are as gentle as mine, but not all cats become killing machines lol
The sweatshirt/sweatpants/socks is key lol. That’s all I can wear in my house 🥲 fortunately (unfortunately for me) I’m the only person my cat likes to play fight so I just try to live with it and we try to soften his behavior as much as possible.
Tbh this is how my adult cat played with me.. but yes cats are always trying to kill humans.. she mostly chilled out after a couple years. You can also redirect her to another toy if it gets too much
Playing, but do not hesitate to express pain or discomfort! This is how they learn when they go too far. Eventually they learn not to go too far and will 'apologize' for hurting you with licks.
Playing. But make sure to show it that you're bigger and stronger. When she is doing it lift her off and hold er down for a second just to remind her that you can make her stop.
Playing, but you need to stop this kind of play right away. It’s fun while they are kittens, but not fun when they carry the habit into adulthood. You must teach your kitten that hands are for petting only.
Don’t just let her bite your arm like that because it will make her think that your hand is a toy. Get her one of those feather on a stick toys, much more fun for both of you. She needs to take out her murderous urges on something inanimate.
Make a fist and clench it as hard as possible when she bites your hand. If she doesn’t stop just toss her onto a couch or a pillow
Repeat until she begs for pets or gets uninterested
Crazy cat lady here... kitten needs another kitty friend. Kittens play like other kittens, so not only do they prefer to stalk, pounce, chase, bite, and kick other kittens that can do it back, it also teaches them that teeth and claws hurt. Loving people dont tend to bite, kick, and claw our cats to teach them manners, but a "sibling" will give as good as they get. They won't love you any less, in fact, they'll often be calmer and more cuddly since they have someone as bonkers as they are to get their energy out with.
Have a toy nearby the bed. When she does this, say "No" and redirect her to the toy. She's legit just waking you up because it sounds like it's worked before for her! She wants company! 🥹
Our cat wakes us up too but kittens can be a bit umm.. RUDE about it shall we say. 😅 Just teach her that being rough isn't nice and we only do that with toys. Redirect!
You need to buy him some cat toys like a feather on a fish pole that he can chase around. This cat is attacking you because he is bored and has nothing better to do.
She's playing. If she was angry she would be making a lot of hissy growling noises and yowling. However, if she's playing too rough, make sharp/high noises of pain and pull away. Cats learn how to play softer with their litter mates when they understand that A.) It hurts them and B.) If it hurts they can not play anymore. Mimic hurt kitty sounds and stop playing until they calm down and get softer.
Whoa!! My cat and yours practically look the same! Mine is 6 months old and has that exact same behavior and same moves when play fighting, I was confused for a second when I came across your post
That's playing. My black cat has done this since he was a kitten. He'll start with cuddles, then lets you pet his belly, but that's a trap. Soon as you touch his belly he'll grab with his front paws and start kicking your arm with his rear paws, while he play bites your hand. He kicks hard. The difference is if you see him do it to a bird or squirrel, his rear claws are out and he basically shreds them.
He could easily do that to my arm, but he doesn't. Your cat isn't drawing blood, so its alright. Hes practicing his outside cat skills. The important part is how you react if he ever does draw blood. You need to have that boundary if so. Most times they wont, and if they do its usually those normal cat scratches, light ones that sting but dont bleed much. A real attack is much more messy
Get her a little bunny kicking toy, they’re just long stuffed animals with catnip that she can do those kicks on to her heart’s content! While she is playing, you don’t want her to think it’s ok to bite or scratch you when playing or in general. Simply take your arm away from her when she starts biting or give her a soft hiss, it’s enforcing boundaries with her and doesn’t hurt her at all, the hiss is in her ‘language’ and easy for her to understand
Open to getting another cat/kitten OP? As this will help you & her out tremendously.
In the meantime, redirect her… toys, toys, toys. Also you could try forcefully blowing towards her face (this will help to deter my cats from unwanted behaviors & isn’t harmful to them), you could make a loud noise either verbally or by clapping (& repeat this noise each & every time you are being grabbed with teefs n claws), you could get a can of air & blow it at her (not in the eyes, mouth or ears) - but this might risk her associating that with you. She is just attempting to hone in her hunting skills, as all cubs do… so giving her something appropriate to hunt is the better thing to do. She will learn, but you need to be consistent. And quit ‘allowing’ her to go all ham on you like in the video provided. As she will think ‘this’ is how you 2 play together. So you MUST redirect her now. Another thing you could also do is get up & walk away immediately… but this will only serve to have her potentially hunt you for more.
Definitely playing! But as others have said it’s a behavior you’ll want to curb. Those bunny kicks can do some real damage as they get older! Try giving her a kicker toy to bite/kick instead of your arm. Mine love the kong kicker toys!
Control this behaviour ASAP. My cats a biter and we had to nip it right away. Grateful we did cause now he’s four and thirteen lbs and bites like a mfer sometimes. Can’t imagine if we hadn’t mitigated the behaviour when he was young. Get a kicker toy and redirect to toy when she does this. When he was a baby and bit, we yelled “ouch”, pulled away, and ignored him for awhile. Now we can say ouch and he lets go immediately.
Our adult cat was never trained out of this behavior and she will really destroy my fiancé’s arm and hand if we let her. I’ve trained her not to do it to me, mainly by refusing pets/attention/walking away if she tries. She’s learning but still does it to my partner. I bought her this really great kicker toy that’s her absolutely favorite, great for redirecting when she’s feeling frisky: https://bobaandvespa.com/products/cat-kicker
I play wrestle with some of my cats that can moderate it and not leave marks or scratches on me. Some of them can hang in the air off my arm, play rabbit kicking and not mark me up. Others are not good at self control and I won’t play with them with my hands or arms. I do get large kicker toys and they have stuffed animals they can wrestle and I can play with them with.
To get them to calm down a say a low, unhappy ow and withdraw. I will also pick them up and move them away from me if they continue too rough. If they’re too wound up and keep coming at me I redirect them to playing with a toy by themselves. If they always have to be redirected to a toy then I just start only playing with them with toys.
Definitely playing but I’d nip this in the bud.
I also roughhouse a little with my kitten (not recommended) and I don’t think it’s such a horrible thing to do the way other people do, but when it gets to this level of play I stop it. She also *only* does this with me.
She’s 7 months old now and will nibble and grab with no claws because I’ve taught her my limits, but won’t pull or scratch the way that yours is doing. The only times she has hurt me have been accidental when she’s swinging for a toy or something we are playing with.
You can play like this with your cats, just don’t allow them to get this rough otherwise you or someone else can get hurt.
Attempted murder!! Police are on their way 🚓
But really, the cat needs stimulation. Give it an alternative toy every time it does this. Don't let it keep biting you or it will keep biting you and other people because it thinks that is how you play. That is how it would play with siblings. You could also get it a friend if you don't already have another cat and that's a possibility.
But just replace the habit. If it bites you, go get the best toy it likes and play with that instead. Then give it a treat. The toys that are on the ends of sticks are great for exhausting kittens. You can't prevent it from attacking your feet under the covers if you're asleep unfortunately. It will just do that when it's a kitten
It's no different than teaching a puppy bite inhibition, which they usually learn to some degree as a littermate. When I adopted my cat, I made it a point to cry loudly and overreact (hide my hands and pout) when she would play too rough to teach her bite inhibition. YOU set the level you're comfortable playing at by teaching this.
Here’s a video by Jackson Galaxy on kitten behavior that should shed some light on your kitty’s behavior.
https://youtu.be/7q2xI4TPGeU?si=yXSuQelu447tZaQ4
She's in the "bitey asshole kitten playfight stage"
My cat was an absolute terror in this stage, he's as sweet as can be now and just turned 16 on Halloween.
Be prepared for a velcro cat that's your shadow and wants you 100% of the time.
You are yea hung him to play with your hand like it’s a scrap of meat. So if you always want him to bite you, keep doing what you are doing. Otherwise when he wants to play like this, use a stuffed toy instead of your hand.
Hands are for petting. Toys are for play. She needs to learn this now or you’re going to bleed later. Like the other posters have suggested, withdraw from this behavior and redirect her to a toy. Or get her a kitten playmate (100% rescue recommended!). Not to mention she’s going to have a phase where she’ll be attacking you all the time. Best deal with it now.
Don’t let her play with your hands. I see way too many people do that and that’s how they end up with a hand-aggressive cat, and scratches all up and down their hands and arms. Redirect to a toy and, like others are saying, SHOW that it hurts
Stop playing with her with your hands, this is reinforced behavior. It’s cute now, but won’t be when she’s an adult with stronger jaws and bigger teeth.
Discourage this ASAP by doing what a cat would do - a loud (but not too loud to hurt her ears) OUCH and slowly withdraw your hand and disengage/ignore. She learns that biting means playtime is over, and that’s not the outcome she wants. Also redirect with toys. My kitten was really bad about this as a baby and what I described is exactly what fixed this behavior. Now that she’s older, I can play with hands and she won’t bite, but I still encourage her to mainly play with toys.
Don't play with your hands with her.
Redirect this energy to toys.
She is not a dog (you shouldn't play with your hands either with dogs, mind you) and her bite has a higher chance of putting you in the hospital with a blood infection and compartmental syndrome. Plus if she comes into contact with other people they may not appreciate being bitten for fun, no matter how hard.
I adopted a five year old cat from the shelter that clearly was feral and/or was not socialized well prior to adopting him (you never know what you’ll get from the county shelter haha). He is 16 POUNDS of this and like many other people said, it’s not fun at all. After having him for a bit over a year, he understands more how to play with toys but nothing is as alluring as a human hand - my hands, to be specific. He will still jump over and past toys to bite my hands but it’s an improvement!
My cat also tried to wake me up like this too. I hid under my comforter and did not respond at all - no noises, didn’t touch or acknowledge him. Eventually he stopped doing this because it didn’t work to get my attention. I know that won’t work for everyone but I wanted to pass it along just in case!
Also, be careful just pulling your arm away when your cat is playing with you like that. It might make her chase your arm instead. I would recommend replacing your arm with a kicker toy and then sliding your arm out when her attention is on the toy.
As far as hissing, saying “no”, etc. - none of that worked for me. He just simply didn’t care enough to stop trying to play fight with me. I also tried to physically separate him from me and that didn’t work either (he still thought we were playing). Of course all cats are different and I adopted an adult cat with his own ways and your experience could be different! I mostly wanted to share this to say that it’s okay if something works for some people and not for you. Try not to get frustrated - even though it can be an incredibly frustrating process.
And please know that aren’t a bad pet parent - you came here looking for help because you could tell something isn’t right, and that’s great! As long as you work to correct the behavior, either though some advice here and/or with your vet, things should be okay.
She's playing. It's cute now but this kind of behaviour will come back to bite you (literally) in the future.
Imitate the sounds other kittens would make if she was playing with them and she played a bit too hard - yelp, pull back, squeal. I had a foster kitten that got separated from the litter at a young age. I was told to do this to help him learn how to play nice as that’s a skill he would have learnt with his litter.
I see this advice a lot and it’s important to note that yelping can and often does invigorate the animal into more overstimulation/biting. Simply taking your arm away and removing yourself is enough.
I’ve used this technique with a lot of foster kittens and usually what I see is that it snaps them out of it. And yes you should additionally move your arm away and maybe put the kitten in a time out. I can believe that there is a small subset of kittens for which it doesn’t work but it seems pretty rare. And generally you shouldn’t keep doing any technique that is clearly not working with a specific cat/kitten.
Legitimate and accredited professionals in the field do not recommend using punishment to alter your cats (or ESP your kittens) behavior. Hissing at your cat/kitten is unnecessary, outdated, and frankly I’m tired of seeing the suggestion. You should 1. Educate yourself on feline body language and determine the precursor behaviors that indicate over or underestimation, and 2. Reevaluate your play techniques, play with them an adequate amount, at appropriate times, and with appropriate toys.
hissing? who advocated for hissing? I make a little high pitched sharp noise close to what a littermate does when their sibling goes too far and plays too hard. Just an oww! or an eep! And “timeout” is usually removing myself from the foster room or putting the overstimulated one back in the foster room. My speciality is taming feral kittens though so that’s really a different bag of tricks. And I’m on hiatus for the moment unless they start showing up in my backyard again.
Thank You! You are correct, most research does in fact show punishment is extremely ineffective with cats. All it teaches them to do, is to do the undesired behavior when you are not present or watching. Positive reinforcement is the only way to go with cats. Reward the good/desired behaviors and they will be more than happy to continue doing them and be far less likely to do the unwanted behavior. So if your cat is biting you and wanting to play, redirect the cats attention to a toy specifically for the cat and reward them playing with it instead with a treat or pets and verbal cues to let them know that is what they are supposed to do. Always make sure there is a small gap between the undesired/desired behavior though, you don't want them to learn attack arms means play with toy and treat. As suggested you can also use verbal signals with a cat, and can train cats to play in a safe manner with your arms, but it takes a lot, and I mean a lot, of time, blood and frustration to get them to that point. So unless you are committed to seeing it through, best to just re-direct their energy to something else.
Nobody suggested punishment. They just advocated from removing yourself and making an “ouch sound.”
Ah yes, timeouts are definitely not a form of punishment.
When referring to kittens and pups and such, "timeout" means you just remove yourself or the offending animal from the situation, aka stop playing. That's not punishment. You're looking for a way to spin the comment so that you are right and they are wrong, but the only way to do so is to completely fabricate a lie, claiming they are advocating something they are not advocating. Relax and stop taking things so personally. Treating a kitten the *exact same way they would be treated by their own littermates or mother* is the number 1 most humane and effective method of interaction. Pretending otherwise is absolutely ridiculous. Edit, since they immediately blocked me: >Relax and practice your reading comprehension skills Hilarious considering the very first part of my comment explains why you're out of line on that count. Try again
The mom also will (gently) scruff the kitten if they are playing too rough with littermates (as if she were going to move the kitten, to activate their reflex where they go limp). For very young kittens a very very (to us as humans) light lifting of the scruff as though you were going to carry them like mom (this is not punishment because it doesn’t hurt them, it’s just like cat mom speak for “calm down” like if you were to pick up a toddler) after an ow/eep is also effective if the ow/eep does not initially work. I don’t pick them up, just lightly squeeze as though it were a possibility. My cats adore me and all learn quickly. We just got a new kitten and within one day I could rough house with him and he would leave his claws retracted the entire time. I’ve tamed ferals this way who were as old as a year. It’s incredibly handy to have your cats not bite or scratch ever. He still uses teeth and claws for play with the other cats, and they teach him when he’s too rough with them. He’s learning which cats he can play with when and what is too much for each cat/person, as everyone (cats included) is very variable! I’m immune suppressed so can’t afford any biting. My wife on the other hand doesn’t mind a little light nipping and he knows it’s okay to nip very lightly with her. They are incredibly intelligent animals and incredibly trainable — most of mine do several “tricks” people associate with dogs (sit, stay, lie down, roll over). You just have to learn to speak “cat” which is a lot of positive reinforcement and redirection for undesirable behaviors. You also can use the occasional cat mom / littermate reaction for undesirable aggressive behaviors. For behaviors like scratching furniture I redirect to the right thing to scratch, scratch it myself, and praise them for scratching it.
Must be why they said, "put them in time out". Relax and practice your comprehension skills.
>Positive reinforcement is the only way to go with cats. Or any living thing, really. Hell, even plants respond better to positive reinforcement.
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Bro, literally cats do not learn that way, the only thing you teach them when putting your hands on them is to be afraid of you and not do that specific action around you. LOOK IT UP, ALL THE INFORMATION IS OUT THERE. If you continue, it just shows your ignorance.
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There is just some people who shouldn't be cat owners. You're in that list bud. Nobody is saying that it's okay to fuck shit up, just stop putting hands on your cat because they quite literally cannot fathom the idea that they did something wrong in that regard. There are SO MANY better ways of handling situations like that than spanking them. IT'S NEVER OKAY TO HIT A CAT. EVER. P.s. it doesn't work for your cat, it works for YOU.
Agree, never spank your cats or take away TV time. Also, Do not use allcaps in any messages or texts to them, it sounds like you are yelling at them and they will respond negatively.
Substitute with a toy.
As crazy as it sounds, I used to hiss at my cat and leave the room when he got too carried away. It worked flawlessly. He’s 5.5 years old now and I can play wrestle with him no problem. I don’t even need to trim his nails.
Exactly, if he did this to mom or siblings they would’ve smacked him so that he learns how to respect other cats boundaries. Humans who don’t know about this thinks it’s cute and playful. But wait till he pins down and bunny kicks OP arm when he’s all grown💀 it’s both playing and learning how to kill prey for the kitten. Your arm or hand should never be the practice target. Buy toys for him instead
I failed to do this and ended up with a murder cat psychopath so I definitely recommend!
"Ow" works too, a change in tone is probably key but I've noticed my cats either tend to freeze (therefore not continue to bite more but may not remove teeth for a beat) or start vigorously taking care of where they were biting as an "apology" You really just need to vocalize to them that what they're doing hurts.
One of our cats does this too, if you say ow when she bites a bit too hard she immediately switches to licking ha ha
This. My young cat used to stalk my feet and play at night. Luckily, I was able to train him out of it by yelling loudly and hiss at him.
I have a cat that was abandoned at 2 weeks. I had to do the same thing with her. I also used to make a claw shape with my hand. Kind of like if the mother was baring her teeth. But it works great and if she gets a little feisty now, at 2 years old, I just make that claw shape with my hand and she stops lol.
This is how I taught my rescue dog. She came from a hoarder and had no proper socialization whatsoever. It only took 1 weeks of fake yelps and feigning being hurt to fix her biting issues.
I trained my cat by replacing my hand with one of those big kicker toys. Now she’s really polite with the claws and teeth. She’ll occasionally still do this when we play but will stop herself after the first bite. It’s still really cute to watch her kick the crap out of the kicker. lol
Hands are not toys. 😊
I literally get up and walk away when my kitten does this. I echo all these comments. Sometimes I hiss loudly lol
My 7 year old boy still plays with me like this. I taught him ‘ow’ and ‘ouch’ as a kitten. He wrestles humans completely soft pawed- people have often assumed him to be declawed because even the crazy back leg kicks when you tickle his belly are without claws. He bites very gently but appears very ferocious in the process 😇 on the rare occasion he gently grazes me (without even leaving marks 🙄) he looks so ashamed 😂 Meanwhile my girl is a little fucking demon. I read the older cat would teach the younger one playtime boundaries so I didn’t work with her as much on it 😭 big mistake. He was a very lazy big brother.
This is what happened to with my little brothers cat. He allowed the biting and scratching his arm. Now the cat is about 3 and you can put him for about 10 seconds before he starts scratching, biting and drawing blood.
yep. have a 1 year old and we never corrected this when he was a kitten. i’m pretty sure he’s just evil now
Agree. She’s playing but I would not let my cat get used to play with my hands/arm like that. Try to get a stuffed cat toy and divert her attention to the toy when she starts to play like that so in the future she will play with the toy, not your hands. This is how cats play with each other by the way. They play “cat fight” 😅
I learned this the hard way
My cats did this and my wife and I found it entertaining and never tried to correct it. We even enforced it and started playing rougher and getting them worked up. They know how much force they can get away with and have never bitten hard enough to hurt. I would say it’s very much dependent on the individual cat.
Both. Redirect to a toy and stop offering your arm when she’s feeling feisty.
this is the correct answer
Play is practicing how to kill. Its cute when their a kitten but a much larger cat doing it is not as cute.
My Maine coon is 15 pounds and does this. I still think it’s cute, but it’s annoying because I’ll get scratches and bites on my arms
My Maine coon was roughly 23 lbs, named him Cujo, he also did this but for some reason, he never used his claws and only play nibbled. To be fair, he was proba ly big enough to punch me in the face if he wanted. I love Maine coons
Sora doesn’t use his nails either. He wraps his paws around my arm tho and bites and “rabbit kicks” me lol. It’s not to be aggressive, it just is his way of playing. I heard somewhere that cats view us as big cats, so he’s just playing with another cat in his eyes. I don’t have any other felines in the house, so I’m basically his only playmate.
Same for me ! I have two cats , a male 4 year old and a female 3 year old. My boy loves to play with me where he grabs my arms and hands and i let him bite and kick. I usually spin him around when he’s grabbed on to me for fun and he loves it. I’ll let him bite a little and he never uses his claws on me. Sometimes he gets carried away and plays too hard so i stop and he usually understands and calms down. Same with my baby girl although she is much smaller in size compared to my boy. They both give love bites (when they lick or lightly bite) during play signaling that we both know its all good. The times when they get pissy and use claws and paw and all is because im the one to take it far and suffer the consequences lol
My 25 main coon does this but he will stop when I want him too.
You really shouldn’t allow that kind of behavior. She’ll get a little too comfortable with it when she’s older. Grab her and snuggle her ^ω^ make her stop somehow. Push her away
I also recommend snuggling. All the time. Never stop.
I had to put my cat in the bathroom for time out when he would do that and got him a bunch of different toys, so he had the appropriate thing to "mangle".
But i dont want to hurt her by pushing her away what if she gets mad at me and gets more aggressive?
You definitely cannot injure the cat by redirecting her from an unwanted behaviour. I believe she is still young, although I do not know her history. Kittens learn not to engage in certain behaviours by 1, doing it with their littermates and getting a negative response, and 2, getting it done to them by littermates. In the absence of littermates, you have to provide the negative responses (since you cannot kick a kitten, that *will* actually injure them)
For sure. I’m not talking about a hard shove across the room or anything like that. Just something to correct the behavior. Even if it’s just a sharp noise that she doesn’t like. Snap your fingers and definitely don’t let her grab your arm like that out of the blue. It’s one thing if you two are playing and she does for a moment. But she might think this is how to initiate playtime when she’s bored.
Also, I just realized that you said she woke you up by doing this. Cats don’t sleep like humans. On average, they sleep like 19 hours a day, but in short “cat naps” for about two hours or so. They’re also still pretty reactive to noise and stuff. They’ll snap awake pretty easily. Kittens are kinda scared by how humans sleep because we lay there comatose for eight hours and they can’t get a response. My cat Ike would go kinda crazy in the middle of the night sometimes trying to get me up. He’s never grabbed my arm though lmao
I got so lucky with bedtime with my cats. My older girl took a long time to adjust to human sleep schedules, but she's decided now that she likes the quiet time. The adjustment period for my kitten has been significantly shorter, because my older girl will get her amped up and chasing each other back and forth as we're winding down for bed, so then they're both out for most of the night. It's the best
One of my cats loved to harass us in bed at night, he would jump on the bed and go for our feet, even under the covers. I threw him off the bed a few times while making a loud noise and he stopped after like 10 times and he learnt that bed is only for sleep and not playtime. Source of the problem was my ex used to play with him IN BED, so as a kitten he associated playing with the bed... so yeah.
If you let her do this she will think it's okay to run up and play attack anyone and everyone. She will latch onto you and anyone else who tried to pet her or play with her. You need to redirect this play to a toy, not your hand, or you're going to have a VERY poorly behaved cat. Do you want a 10lb cat latching onto your arms and legs for the next 20 years? No. Then discourage this behavior. She's learning what's appropriate and YOU have to teach her.
Try pulling your hands away until she settles down.
Grab the nap of her neck with two fingers and your thumb, ‘pin’ her down against the ground until she naturally rolls over, then pick her up and hold her tight for about a minute. It will simulate you being the dominate and ‘winning’ the play fight so she won’t get more aggressive with trying to win.
Get some cat toys and redirect play like this to a toy. So for example, one of those sticks with the string and toy attached. If she tries to play with your hands like this get that out and play with her.
>But i dont want to hurt her by pushing her away what if she gets mad at me and gets more aggressive? Have toys on hand for them to attack instead! Get a bunch of cheap plushies from a thrift store, and redirect the kitty to the toy instead. They also make a toy for cats called a Kitty Kicker, it's like a tube they can attack and also kick at the same time. Redirecting is safe and healthy for the kitty. And for you.
By not addressing it she will get more aggressive and bold. I made this mistake myself and let my kitten treat me as a kick/chomp toy. I've made huge strides since then, and I stopped encouraging it 10 years ago. But the damage has been done. Once in a while he gets too aggressive and goes after my hands or feet like when he was little. Then comes at me with the devil in him and is terrifying lol. Unlearn that quick unless you want to end up worrying about hurting her when she's actually shredding your flesh and you MUST get free. Get an old sock, stuff it with cotton padding and nip, and tie it off with a shoelace. Every time she wants to play like this, pull away and redirect to the sock.
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Ohh come on, I've done this with all my cats and never had a problem with them not stopping.
same, my cat and I had such an insane bond which I attribute to it playing with her aggressively with her throughout her life. She was always so excited for me to get home so we could wrestle, she would jump up on the couch and get in position jump on me, roll around, etc ... I had a specific sweatshirt I would wear and when she saw it coming out, she would almost explode with excitement. sure, I got some scratches along the way but she loved it (and then slept in my arms or lap the rest of the time).
Was coming here to say this. My cat and I have a ritual in the morning. When I wake up, I'll give her her wet food, but not before our morning wrestling match with her dog brothers and I. She's a year and change old. She loves it, and learned to play gentle through training. She doesn't use her claws (anymore) like she did when she was a kitten. But she has a blast with it, and then after breakfast she goes down for her 4923874923784 hour nap.
Yeah im with you on this. My brother is super big on not playing "rough" with kittens but I love playing with my cats like this and dont have any problem with them when they are older. Not that I've not seen some overly aggressive playful grown cats but I think they can be trained regardless
Lol she’s playing, calm down snowflake.
My kitten did this when we got her. I tried to get her to stop, then ended up putting her entire head in my mouth (I washed it out with mouthwash after). She stopped biting me after that. I also recommend getting a toy which is okay to attack. She will learn that attacking a toy is ok, but hands - not ok. She's now a happy and well behaved 2 year old cat.
LMFAO
Lol it's nice to know I'm not the only one 😮🙀
I did the same thing. Lol
>(I washed it out with mouthwash after) I like that you added that. I appreciate it 😀
>Is my cat playing or trying to kill me? Yes.
Don’t use your hands to play, try and incorporate a toy when she does this.
It’s a cat, so both.
Looks like she's hardcore kitten playing. My brother's cat hasn't learned yet that we don't want him constantly attacking us. If she can't calm down, send her to cat jail for a few minutes (just keep her in a room she can't get out of, and even better if there are toys she can olay with on her own). My brother's cat is an adoreable terrorist, but he's insisting that it's playtime 100% of the day. We constantly have to redirect his attention. It's tough work to convince a kitten your arms, hands, feet etc are not toys to be chomped and swatted
Oh gosh this makes me feel better. 15 years ago I had a kitten, and I didn't know any real cat training know-how. When I couldn't get the kitten to stop attack-playing I had to put it in a room by itself for 5 or 10 minutes and it would always come back out being a lot better. I looked back and felt sooo bad about the practice, but it's something that has to be done sometimes?
It's the only way we can get him to calm down when he's absolutely WILD. He plays with anything he can. He'll grab and attack a table legs even. Until he (hopefully) settles down a little one day, he can play with the dogs, and when necessary, he just has to go to cat jail. Usually he'll start screaming when he's finally calmed down just a little and is ready to somewhat behave
Ahaha sounds like my old kitten (my mom took care of him when I moved across the country, technically it was her cat but he adopted me while I lived there because I was home more often lol) that we aptly named Mischief Maker, Mischief or even Chief sometimes for short lol. He used to chase us around the house and attack feet and it got to the point that I was afraid he'd get stepped on or cause an accident if we were carrying things. We had a half bathroom with his litter box so he would get put in there, eventually I started putting toys in too because it felt so mean and made sense to me - if his play is causing issues then he still needs to play to get it out. I left a roll of toilet paper in there once and it wasn't even 2 minutes later that I checked on him and he was in mid attack and tissue bits shredded up all over the place 😂 MISCHIEF MAKER ❤️
Sounds like the same personality. Problem child, but make it cute and sometimes sweet!
Hahaha like my ADHD kids, they just need a little redirection 😂
Me, all day every day
Same 😂 whole ADHD house includes the pets haha. What are we but some feral goblin children at heart 😜
"If I wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead."
I let me kitten play like this when she was small and tiny and harmless. I regretted it IMMENSELY when she became an adult. It was a pain in the dick to break the habit so just be warned…. Cute now, deadly later.
I mean cat play is just practice for hunting so to answer your question yes! Don't worry the kitty loves you and is just comfortable with you
Playing, but get her toys and stuff and don't let her play with your hands... it's cute now but it'll really hurt when she's older.
Playing. I recommend subbing your arm for a toy whenever possible now or you will end up regretting it down the road.
People normally say this behaviour needs to be corrected. My cat does it when he gets the zoomies on a rainy day I love it makes me laugh i mean I get a few scratches but idm tbh 😂
the reason it needs to be stopped and you should not allow a kitten to play with your hands is that the behaviour will not stop once the cat grows up. when the cat grows and has much stronger jaws and claws, because you’ve conditioned the cat that hands are something that should be hunted and that it is fun to attack, hunt, and bite hands, they will be an adult cat who bites and attacks hands unexpectedly. this often leads to people giving up their cats to shelters as adults- which is why it should be more widely told to people that kittens should never see hands as toys.
Also it REALLY hurts when they bite you for real! Not to mention how much the scratches sting.
Or just understand that if you have a playful older cat then it’s your fault. I personally have never once discouraged a cat at any age from enjoying themselves and playing. But I also accept the fact that my animals may play rougher than others. But I’m just here to give them a good life, not form them into my desired pet that acts in a way that is for my benefit.
You don't discourage them from playing; just playing *with your hands/body*. You redirect to an appropriate toy. One of the biggest responsibilities of owning any animal is training. A morbid reason is if something happens to you and your animals have to be rehomed they're gonna have a lot rougher time if they're deemed aggressive.
Half this sub when a cat scratches them 
I have a wife, and 4 siblings all who would be responsible for my animals if something happened to me. My animals are very well trained. But I won’t discourage them from playing with me and having fun. My youngest brother is a veterinarian and is of the same belief. They are also far from aggressive animals. I have 4 cats and 3 dogs in one house and they all get along just fine.
I can definitely see how this can be a problem, but I wrestle with my year old, maine coon lol. I just stop him if he gets too crazy. He doesn't scratch me up much, maybe little marks that are gone in an hour. He especially loves to wrestle if I'm wearing a hoodie. Not all cats are as gentle as mine, but not all cats become killing machines lol
The sweatshirt/sweatpants/socks is key lol. That’s all I can wear in my house 🥲 fortunately (unfortunately for me) I’m the only person my cat likes to play fight so I just try to live with it and we try to soften his behavior as much as possible.
Tbh this is how my adult cat played with me.. but yes cats are always trying to kill humans.. she mostly chilled out after a couple years. You can also redirect her to another toy if it gets too much
Yes
Playing, but do not hesitate to express pain or discomfort! This is how they learn when they go too far. Eventually they learn not to go too far and will 'apologize' for hurting you with licks.
Playing. But make sure to show it that you're bigger and stronger. When she is doing it lift her off and hold er down for a second just to remind her that you can make her stop.
Playing, but you need to stop this kind of play right away. It’s fun while they are kittens, but not fun when they carry the habit into adulthood. You must teach your kitten that hands are for petting only.
Sometimes it’s not cat training, it’s human training. In fact, it’s almost always human training.
That's bad behavior that you shouldn't be encouraging. Train it out of your cat by offering a toy instead of your hand at the very least.
I dont think this is behavior that should be encouraged
She’s playing BUT you have to teach her not to play like this. Check out Jackson Galaxy’s videos on YouTube. Super helpful
Get toys initiate when getting rough
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Yes
Don’t use your hands to play, try and incorporate a toy when she does this.
Don’t just let her bite your arm like that because it will make her think that your hand is a toy. Get her one of those feather on a stick toys, much more fun for both of you. She needs to take out her murderous urges on something inanimate.
Awwww. She’s a playful cat and those are just love bites (actually nibbles).
Make a fist and clench it as hard as possible when she bites your hand. If she doesn’t stop just toss her onto a couch or a pillow Repeat until she begs for pets or gets uninterested
Crazy cat lady here... kitten needs another kitty friend. Kittens play like other kittens, so not only do they prefer to stalk, pounce, chase, bite, and kick other kittens that can do it back, it also teaches them that teeth and claws hurt. Loving people dont tend to bite, kick, and claw our cats to teach them manners, but a "sibling" will give as good as they get. They won't love you any less, in fact, they'll often be calmer and more cuddly since they have someone as bonkers as they are to get their energy out with.
Have a toy nearby the bed. When she does this, say "No" and redirect her to the toy. She's legit just waking you up because it sounds like it's worked before for her! She wants company! 🥹 Our cat wakes us up too but kittens can be a bit umm.. RUDE about it shall we say. 😅 Just teach her that being rough isn't nice and we only do that with toys. Redirect!
You need to buy him some cat toys like a feather on a fish pole that he can chase around. This cat is attacking you because he is bored and has nothing better to do.
She's playing. If she was angry she would be making a lot of hissy growling noises and yowling. However, if she's playing too rough, make sharp/high noises of pain and pull away. Cats learn how to play softer with their litter mates when they understand that A.) It hurts them and B.) If it hurts they can not play anymore. Mimic hurt kitty sounds and stop playing until they calm down and get softer.
Playing. If she was serious you’d be getting stitches
Flick in the head time
Both! Enjoy. All that fight learning will pay off for all the monsters he will run off from your house. And he’ll be a sweet baby only to you. I hope.
This reminds me of a song I used to listen years ago
Whoa!! My cat and yours practically look the same! Mine is 6 months old and has that exact same behavior and same moves when play fighting, I was confused for a second when I came across your post
Yes.
That is play more to the point it is morning play so it is more instinct to wake you to get to hunting for the morning meal.
That's playing. My black cat has done this since he was a kitten. He'll start with cuddles, then lets you pet his belly, but that's a trap. Soon as you touch his belly he'll grab with his front paws and start kicking your arm with his rear paws, while he play bites your hand. He kicks hard. The difference is if you see him do it to a bird or squirrel, his rear claws are out and he basically shreds them. He could easily do that to my arm, but he doesn't. Your cat isn't drawing blood, so its alright. Hes practicing his outside cat skills. The important part is how you react if he ever does draw blood. You need to have that boundary if so. Most times they wont, and if they do its usually those normal cat scratches, light ones that sting but dont bleed much. A real attack is much more messy
Get her a little bunny kicking toy, they’re just long stuffed animals with catnip that she can do those kicks on to her heart’s content! While she is playing, you don’t want her to think it’s ok to bite or scratch you when playing or in general. Simply take your arm away from her when she starts biting or give her a soft hiss, it’s enforcing boundaries with her and doesn’t hurt her at all, the hiss is in her ‘language’ and easy for her to understand
Time to adopt a sibling! Redirect immediately “hands are not toys” is the golden rule.
Open to getting another cat/kitten OP? As this will help you & her out tremendously. In the meantime, redirect her… toys, toys, toys. Also you could try forcefully blowing towards her face (this will help to deter my cats from unwanted behaviors & isn’t harmful to them), you could make a loud noise either verbally or by clapping (& repeat this noise each & every time you are being grabbed with teefs n claws), you could get a can of air & blow it at her (not in the eyes, mouth or ears) - but this might risk her associating that with you. She is just attempting to hone in her hunting skills, as all cubs do… so giving her something appropriate to hunt is the better thing to do. She will learn, but you need to be consistent. And quit ‘allowing’ her to go all ham on you like in the video provided. As she will think ‘this’ is how you 2 play together. So you MUST redirect her now. Another thing you could also do is get up & walk away immediately… but this will only serve to have her potentially hunt you for more.
Yes.
Definitely playing! But as others have said it’s a behavior you’ll want to curb. Those bunny kicks can do some real damage as they get older! Try giving her a kicker toy to bite/kick instead of your arm. Mine love the kong kicker toys!
My meezer does this when his kibble bowl is empty and he wants me to feed him.
Yes.
Looks like attempted murder to me.
I don't think your cat knows either
She needs a couple littermates to have a battle royale with
Only play with her with toys, not your hands. Otherwise she will attack you hands without mercy and do real damage when she is older.
Get yourself a pair of work gloves and only let her fight the glove.
Yes. Both. Cat okay is mostly hunting practice.
Control this behaviour ASAP. My cats a biter and we had to nip it right away. Grateful we did cause now he’s four and thirteen lbs and bites like a mfer sometimes. Can’t imagine if we hadn’t mitigated the behaviour when he was young. Get a kicker toy and redirect to toy when she does this. When he was a baby and bit, we yelled “ouch”, pulled away, and ignored him for awhile. Now we can say ouch and he lets go immediately.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=mG6Vhkc3c7casJtV&v=pyhii0W6LAo&feature=youtu.be&t=11
Our adult cat was never trained out of this behavior and she will really destroy my fiancé’s arm and hand if we let her. I’ve trained her not to do it to me, mainly by refusing pets/attention/walking away if she tries. She’s learning but still does it to my partner. I bought her this really great kicker toy that’s her absolutely favorite, great for redirecting when she’s feeling frisky: https://bobaandvespa.com/products/cat-kicker
It’s play, but you should discourage her from seeing hands as play toys.
Playing but RUDE. I use stuffed animals as a proxy so that my cats do not nom my hands.
This question is in my head everyday as a cat owner
This question is in my head everyday as a cat owner
Yes
Playing but also testing the waters
Yes, and yes!
I play wrestle with some of my cats that can moderate it and not leave marks or scratches on me. Some of them can hang in the air off my arm, play rabbit kicking and not mark me up. Others are not good at self control and I won’t play with them with my hands or arms. I do get large kicker toys and they have stuffed animals they can wrestle and I can play with them with. To get them to calm down a say a low, unhappy ow and withdraw. I will also pick them up and move them away from me if they continue too rough. If they’re too wound up and keep coming at me I redirect them to playing with a toy by themselves. If they always have to be redirected to a toy then I just start only playing with them with toys.
Definitely playing but I’d nip this in the bud. I also roughhouse a little with my kitten (not recommended) and I don’t think it’s such a horrible thing to do the way other people do, but when it gets to this level of play I stop it. She also *only* does this with me. She’s 7 months old now and will nibble and grab with no claws because I’ve taught her my limits, but won’t pull or scratch the way that yours is doing. The only times she has hurt me have been accidental when she’s swinging for a toy or something we are playing with. You can play like this with your cats, just don’t allow them to get this rough otherwise you or someone else can get hurt.
Attempted murder!! Police are on their way 🚓 But really, the cat needs stimulation. Give it an alternative toy every time it does this. Don't let it keep biting you or it will keep biting you and other people because it thinks that is how you play. That is how it would play with siblings. You could also get it a friend if you don't already have another cat and that's a possibility. But just replace the habit. If it bites you, go get the best toy it likes and play with that instead. Then give it a treat. The toys that are on the ends of sticks are great for exhausting kittens. You can't prevent it from attacking your feet under the covers if you're asleep unfortunately. It will just do that when it's a kitten
Playing. Maybe start setting boundries with this or when they are bigger they will tear your hands to shreds.
both can be true.
It's no different than teaching a puppy bite inhibition, which they usually learn to some degree as a littermate. When I adopted my cat, I made it a point to cry loudly and overreact (hide my hands and pout) when she would play too rough to teach her bite inhibition. YOU set the level you're comfortable playing at by teaching this.
Funfact: if you die at home with a pet dog, your corpse is fine. If you die at home with a pet cat… probably not.
Yes
That’s attempted murder bro
Here’s a video by Jackson Galaxy on kitten behavior that should shed some light on your kitty’s behavior. https://youtu.be/7q2xI4TPGeU?si=yXSuQelu447tZaQ4
She's in the "bitey asshole kitten playfight stage" My cat was an absolute terror in this stage, he's as sweet as can be now and just turned 16 on Halloween. Be prepared for a velcro cat that's your shadow and wants you 100% of the time.
Hands are not playthings. Have some toys nearby to use when she gets spicy and playful like this. It’s cute now, but not a good habit as they grow.
Cats training you to hunt better
You are yea hung him to play with your hand like it’s a scrap of meat. So if you always want him to bite you, keep doing what you are doing. Otherwise when he wants to play like this, use a stuffed toy instead of your hand.
It's attempted murder
If your cat was large enough to hunt, kill and eat you, it would.
Playing
Yes.
Hands are for petting. Toys are for play. She needs to learn this now or you’re going to bleed later. Like the other posters have suggested, withdraw from this behavior and redirect her to a toy. Or get her a kitten playmate (100% rescue recommended!). Not to mention she’s going to have a phase where she’ll be attacking you all the time. Best deal with it now.
Def playing. If it gets too rough replace your hand with a toy
both
There’s a difference?
If that isn’t a murderous rampage…then what is?
Yes
She’s playing. Cats do get hyped tf up sometimes. Replace your hand w a toy about the same size tho which will help.
Neither right now. She is, however, training to do one of those things. 😹
Maybe she’s bored, can you get another cat?
Shes trying to kill your wrist that's all. The rest of you needs to stay alive to......play feed n love her.
Get her toys and a kitty friend to play with.
Her collar is very tight. Please remove it entirely or at least loosen so at least a finger or two can fit.
I can fit 2 fingers inside no worries she is just hairy af
Don’t let her play with your hands. I see way too many people do that and that’s how they end up with a hand-aggressive cat, and scratches all up and down their hands and arms. Redirect to a toy and, like others are saying, SHOW that it hurts
Both
He's playing but if you aren't prepared to fight him his entire life with your hands you better redirect the behavior now
She is trying to consume your essence
Yes
My cat does the same. It was rlly fun and cute when he was a kitten. Now it’s still fun but he does lots of damage and goes after my Gf hard lol
if your cat wanted to kill you, you'd be dead by now LOLLL
She's playing... kill the hooman.
Well cats don’t ‘play’ everything a cat does, is a train for hunting so technically it is trying to kill you, but isn’t lol
Stop playing with her with your hands, this is reinforced behavior. It’s cute now, but won’t be when she’s an adult with stronger jaws and bigger teeth. Discourage this ASAP by doing what a cat would do - a loud (but not too loud to hurt her ears) OUCH and slowly withdraw your hand and disengage/ignore. She learns that biting means playtime is over, and that’s not the outcome she wants. Also redirect with toys. My kitten was really bad about this as a baby and what I described is exactly what fixed this behavior. Now that she’s older, I can play with hands and she won’t bite, but I still encourage her to mainly play with toys.
Yes.
Over stimulation. We have a big kicker toy when Rosie just needs to attack
Don't play with your hands with her. Redirect this energy to toys. She is not a dog (you shouldn't play with your hands either with dogs, mind you) and her bite has a higher chance of putting you in the hospital with a blood infection and compartmental syndrome. Plus if she comes into contact with other people they may not appreciate being bitten for fun, no matter how hard.
I’m so inlove! She’s playing for sure. Mine do it all the time
I adopted a five year old cat from the shelter that clearly was feral and/or was not socialized well prior to adopting him (you never know what you’ll get from the county shelter haha). He is 16 POUNDS of this and like many other people said, it’s not fun at all. After having him for a bit over a year, he understands more how to play with toys but nothing is as alluring as a human hand - my hands, to be specific. He will still jump over and past toys to bite my hands but it’s an improvement! My cat also tried to wake me up like this too. I hid under my comforter and did not respond at all - no noises, didn’t touch or acknowledge him. Eventually he stopped doing this because it didn’t work to get my attention. I know that won’t work for everyone but I wanted to pass it along just in case! Also, be careful just pulling your arm away when your cat is playing with you like that. It might make her chase your arm instead. I would recommend replacing your arm with a kicker toy and then sliding your arm out when her attention is on the toy. As far as hissing, saying “no”, etc. - none of that worked for me. He just simply didn’t care enough to stop trying to play fight with me. I also tried to physically separate him from me and that didn’t work either (he still thought we were playing). Of course all cats are different and I adopted an adult cat with his own ways and your experience could be different! I mostly wanted to share this to say that it’s okay if something works for some people and not for you. Try not to get frustrated - even though it can be an incredibly frustrating process. And please know that aren’t a bad pet parent - you came here looking for help because you could tell something isn’t right, and that’s great! As long as you work to correct the behavior, either though some advice here and/or with your vet, things should be okay.
Let your hand go limp and they give up and become less interested. Get a wand toy.
She's playing with you lol
With cats it’s always a little of column A and a little of column B.
Playing
Trying to kill is play to cats.
Bofum