Biting kittens

ambrosia

ambrosia

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About 2 months ago my daughter found a bunch of kittens under the porch of an empty house and asked if she could save one. I said okay, brought her to the vet, she was about 5 weeks old then. Her name is Ninja and holy crap is she hyper. When she plays, she bites your fingers and hands, not hard, just playful, but I still want her to stop. Especially since she likes to do this in the middle of the night and wake me up. It been weeks now, anyone have any idea how to get her to stop, cats are not like dogs, they dont listen lol. I have like 0 experience with cats. I had one, Pepper, a few years ago. She followed me home from the kids bus stop one day, but she mostly hung around outside all day, only came inside to eat, then right back outside again.
 
Our 1 and 1/2 yr. old cat bites my foot/toes sometimes at night also....guessing the cat wants me to get up and give him a treat....or if my foot/leg moves around on the bed and lands on him. He's done it quite a while now, and I dunno "no cure" for this behavior....He's gotton "smacked" a few times for this tho' ....Cats are unpredictable, you know?....He's so finky too....and if his food/water bowl is empty...he'll knock the bowls all around the house. He's also a "night terror" while everybody is sleeping....gets bored (I'm guessing)...had to lock up the dog and cat treats....recently, he's gotton into the small sugar packets by the coffee maker....(found them all over the floor)....

We love the Cat regardless tho'...:giggle:...guessing it's something you have to put up with and accept.
 
*sigh* lol. When I left my husband I was leery of getting a 3 bedroom apartment, was afraid I wouldn't be able to afford it. So I got a 2 bedroom, my son and daughter each have their own room, I'm on the sofa. Good thing it's a comfy sofa!! So I can't shut her out of my "room". Gah, the other morning she woke me up about an hour before my alarm was going to go off, and then wouldn't leave me alone so I shut her up in the bathroom since we'd be getting up soon anyway. I wouldn't want to stick her in there all night though :(
 
ambrosia said:
*sigh* lol. When I left my husband I was leery of getting a 3 bedroom apartment, was afraid I wouldn't be able to afford it. So I got a 2 bedroom, my son and daughter each have their own room, I'm on the sofa. Good thing it's a comfy sofa!! So I can't shut her out of my "room". Gah, the other morning she woke me up about an hour before my alarm was going to go off, and then wouldn't leave me alone so I shut her up in the bathroom since we'd be getting up soon anyway. I wouldn't want to stick her in there all night though :(
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Well, keeping her food/water bowl/blankie/pillow in there should be OK whenever you get ready for bed....everybody needs a good night's sleep...even my boys complained about our cat at night whenever it would go into their rooms and wake them up...so they had to close their doors.....And what I have been doing is playing with the cat and doggie before bedtime, and brushing both of them....now they "expect" it every night.....
 
The cat is the queen/king. The cat is saying that you should not be spending money on alarm clock. The cat is saying spend money on me!!! You don't need alarm clock. Let me be your alarm clock.
 
I'm not sure how young the kitten has to be to develop this behavior, but I heard from a cat owner that kittens that are weaned too early will dig/knead and nibble soft things, like sofas, cushions, and people.
Or maybe she made that up to make me accept that her cat will jump on me or dig and bite my arms if I tried to pet her... but if this is true, maybe someone also knows a training technique to resolve it.
 
I also forgot to mention...that if the kitten was born "wild"...then this would be appropriate behavior....At one time we found kittens in the woods...brought them home, and they were really wild...hissed, bit and scratched whenever you tried to pick them up or pet them....I took them to the Humane Society...

And I'm not really sure if a "wild" kitten/cat can be tamed as a domestic....Might take some time, and since it's a kitten, seems to have a better chance of being tamed later on....Adult cats would be much harder...
 
Give the cat time out every time she bites your hand, even in the day. Do it immediately and don't fail to do it.
Putting her in the bathroom alone would work, but only for a very short time so she can remember what happened right before you put her in the bathroom.

Don't let her play with your hands at all in that way, because cats are not really smart enough to figure out when it might be ok.

When you get her out of the bathroom, play with her with a cat toy so she knows what she can bite.
 
:wave::D Bott! You got there ahead of me:D

cats and dogs learn the same way, there's no magic to either one.
they learn by association and getting reinforced in both "good" and "bad" ways for doing what they do.
Kittens, like puppies, need to learn what is appropriate to bite/play with and what is not. Taking your hand away like Bott wrote, means the source of what the kitten likes - the "good stuff" goes away, therefore game ends - no fun! If kitty plays nicely, game gets to continue. But again, you will need to do that each and every time and all others who interact with her will ideally need to do the same thing. If -sometimes- she gets to play with hands by biting them and sometimes she does not, that is actually what's called a strong schedule of reinforcement, because it's like the slot machine- ya never know what you get! That is very rewarding and increases the chances she will defer to biting hands.
The other thing is, when you take your hands away, there's no extra "stuff" you do like no finger pointing, no "naughty kitty, now I won't play with you" etc- that is still contact or giving attention. Taking away hands works best if you do it immediately, calmly and fairly neutrally. Take away your whole self as potential source of interaction.
 
:ty:
bottesini and dogmom, I will give that a try and sit down with the kiddos so they do it too. I had heard about the weaning too early thing. I think I got her early enough that she's not too wild. She's doesn't scratch on purpose and when she's bites it's not hard, she's not attacking but playing.

I had a friend that rescued a n older kitten in the winter, she was awful. Every time I walked in her apartment she'd run up my leg and bite it, and bite it hard! Her name was Zeta but I called her satan.:giggle:
 
ambrosia said:
:ty:
bottesini and dogmom, I will give that a try and sit down with the kiddos so they do it too. I had heard about the weaning too early thing. I think I got her early enough that she's not too wild. She's doesn't scratch on purpose and when she's bites it's not hard, she's not attacking but playing.

I had a friend that rescued a n older kitten in the winter, she was awful. Every time I walked in her apartment she'd run up my leg and bite it, and bite it hard! Her name was Zeta but I called her satan.:giggle:
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You are welcome. This is what I did for work until retiring due to vision. I promise it will work.
 
i have a cat toy right outside my bedroom door (i keep hall way door(to the kitchen an rest of house) shut at night, a the ktty tray for their pee and poo, and a string tower scratching toy for them to play with... very morning SMoochy will wait then run past me on purpose, driving in the bottom of the scratching tower then stands up and scratch the tower of strings, showing off!...he does it often. also time to time he'd do same on the carpet mat in lounge which not supposed to be for him id 'say NO, he's stop quickly 0- like he KNOWS, just playing at me, cheeky bugger that cat...
so
Botti is half right...they not too bright, but sometimes, this Smoochy arent that dumb .... oh well he's a siamese, so um thats probably why, they are the smartest of the felines... they even know sit, up, off, bed, out, come, on commands, even come, wait follow me to neighbours houses...they actually follow me on commands like dogs!!...but not a 'sit' like dogs, not quite there i mean sit 'like come here sit' they jump up knowing they can curl and snuggle next to me while i watch tv or something...
but as for biting...train them out of it early!!,,,but do get them a toy, experiement which...
crumbled papers for them to 'play hunt' works well too (they do that), and it means they know not to touch fiddle with other things like my pen and rubber, batteries (and they do Steal it when im not watching...!)...now and then id find it missing for a month then its under a sofa that they pushed it under too far for them to reach it anymore while playing grrrr...but they are really hard cases and fun cats...

but do try experience show, with clear what ok to bite what Not Ok bite words like to dogs wont work too well with moggy cats...

cheers,
ps love this thread... :)
 
ambrosia said:
About 2 months ago my daughter found a bunch of kittens under the porch of an empty house and asked if she could save one. I said okay, brought her to the vet, she was about 5 weeks old then. Her name is Ninja and holy crap is she hyper. When she plays, she bites your fingers and hands, not hard, just playful, but I still want her to stop. Especially since she likes to do this in the middle of the night and wake me up. It been weeks now, anyone have any idea how to get her to stop, cats are not like dogs, they dont listen lol. I have like 0 experience with cats. I had one, Pepper, a few years ago. She followed me home from the kids bus stop one day, but she mostly hung around outside all day, only came inside to eat, then right back outside again.
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My cat Elliott, who currently lives with my mom, was the runt of the litter and admittedly we adopted him way too early but he has always been a biter.
The vet said that cats that are separated from their mom's and siblings tend to be biters because they don't et to play with siblings and be corrected by mom as much.
So the biting is probably a result of being separated from mom and siblings so early. 5 weeks is EARLY.

Ou can try to distract Ninja or focus her attention elsewhere when she bites.
As for hyperactivity...she is a kitten. They are like a light switch. Either OMG PLAY or sleep.
 
You need to teach your kids to avoid wild cars, or any aniaml really. Don't know about where you livebut rabies is common in wild cats. That is a reason it is unlawful in places to feed them too. Good you got it vet checked, but you could have run into a world of grief if the cats were rabid
 
ambrosia said:
About 2 months ago my daughter found a bunch of kittens under the porch of an empty house and asked if she could save one. I said okay, brought her to the vet, she was about 5 weeks old then. Her name is Ninja and holy crap is she hyper. When she plays, she bites your fingers and hands, not hard, just playful, but I still want her to stop. Especially since she likes to do this in the middle of the night and wake me up. It been weeks now, anyone have any idea how to get her to stop, cats are not like dogs, they dont listen lol. I have like 0 experience with cats. I had one, Pepper, a few years ago. She followed me home from the kids bus stop one day, but she mostly hung around outside all day, only came inside to eat, then right back outside again.
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I've had cats all my life and I tell you she's teething. First off, don't let her sleep with you. Shut the door when you go to bed or she'll keep you awake all night...just like my grown cats do. Being a little thing, she has a whole.....lot....of engery.

Second, toys, including a scratch post.

Lastly, get a water bottle and keep it by you. When she tries to bite, squirt her body - not her face, but her body. It's a gentle suprise she won't forget and she'll get the message. Don't ever hit because they bruise easily and they really, really last (according to our Vet).


Laura
 
I do - not - recommend using any kind of spray bottle/water as a way to deter the kitten. It doesn't teach them what to do instead and doesn't initiate trust, which is very important in teaching young animals in particular - especially in a situation where you have a kitten with a background as described.
As a trainer, what I want is to teach dogs or cats that people equal "good" or at least "neutral". It doesn't matter if you avoid her face or if you aren't actually causing any pain - in order for this to have an effect, among other things, at minimum she has to be uncomfortable with it or not like it. And it's not something you can actually explain or analyze to her, so why utilize that approach when there are other ways of getting the same results.
 
I know nothing about cat. biting kittens? oh my... guess that's why I have no interest in learning about cats :)
 
dogmom said:
I do - not - recommend using any kind of spray bottle/water as a way to deter the kitten. It doesn't teach them what to do instead and doesn't initiate trust, which is very important in teaching young animals in particular - especially in a situation where you have a kitten with a background as described.
As a trainer, what I want is to teach dogs or cats that people equal "good" or at least "neutral". It doesn't matter if you avoid her face or if you aren't actually causing any pain - in order for this to have an effect, among other things, at minimum she has to be uncomfortable with it or not like it. And it's not something you can actually explain or analyze to her, so why utilize that approach when there are other ways of getting the same results.
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All good points, but most people aren't trainers by profession and have little time in their day after they get back from work. Squirting a cat on the body was recommended by the Vet because it's a gentle way to get a fast result. To date, I've had eight cats over the years: five house cats and three strays. I've never had an issue with them not trusting (though never had to worry about the strays). Squirting them isn't something that you'll need to do for long and once their past the biting stage, it's all play from there...except those claws...that's another issue entirely. :shock:
 
most traditional vets actually know very little about current behavior or about nutrition.

No matter how you do it or how long you end up using it, squirting is still a method based on causing an animal unpleasant-ness or fear. That's why you get the fast result if used in a mechanically correct way. But it doesn't promote anything positive.

The average person who is not a "trainer" can still achieve what you want based on the way Botti and I described it.
 
I am happy to report that the short time outs in the bathroom worked. For awhile lol, she seems to have forgotten her lessons and has been a biter the last couple days. *sigh*
 
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