Kitten biting and scratching?

Question

my 3 month old kitten has started biting and scratching, especially my 7 year old daughter. my daughter is getting scared of her as she has recieved a few 'good' bites. does anyone know of any techniques for training or anything i could do to stop her from doing this? she is an inside kitten and has plenty of toys to keep her occupied. thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Hate to say it but it's honestly what kittens do, they're hunting animals, so to them its practice whether they get the real chance to hunt or not. Have you ever heard of a child having plenty of toys but still would rather chase you around the house? Same thing w/ animals. When the kitten does give a good bite tap it on the head firmly until the point is across, she needs to know that it isn't accepted. She will learn. If you play w/ the cat w/ your hands then that may be what's causing her to attack you instead of toys. If you want to play w/ a cat, or she w/ you, put a glove on or have your hand under a blanket or sheet, this way she won't start associating your body as a toy. Only use your hand to pet her or discipline her. It's kind of boring to you when you have to put it on everytime but it will be better in the long run. Give the cat a few more months, soon you'll be wishing she was still a rambuctous kitten.

Answer 2

Yea, your kitten has reached the dreaded puberty/adolescence stage where they get into all sorts of trouble just out of curiosity and boredom--they test their limits to find out what is ok and what they can get away with. First, teach your 7 year old to leave the kitten alone for the time being so she won't get scratched and bitten. Next, every time your kitten scratches or bites you (or someone else), FIRMLY say "NO" and GENTLY swat it (avoid the face and do it gently, it also has to accompanied by the "No") to emulate what the mother cat would do to discipline the kit. Do this consistently. You don't have to scream or yell, just make it firm and do this each and every time the kit misbehaves. A cat does learn and the sooner it learns the word "No" the better off you'll be. Also keep your kits nails clipped so it won't do as much damage--plus it is good for it to get used to having it's nails cut weekly now while it's still young (if you wait, it'll never get used to having it's nails cut and will not allow you to cut it's nails). As the vet to show you how if you don't know already. These are things an adult needs to do, not your daughter--your daughter is still too young to know when a swat become abuse. Once the kitten learns what No means, your daughter can start approaching him and using No when necessary. It won't be an immediate fix--it'll take a while for the kit to understand that it is not to use tooth and claw on humans, and you (and everyone else who interacts with the kitten) will ahve to be consistent and firm about training it. But they do learn.

Answer 3

If you watch kittens of this age playing together, you will see that they do an awful lot of roughhousing. They wrestle, bite, clutch at each other with claws out, and in general behave like wild little pocket panthers.

In biting and scratching your daughter, all your kitten is doing is playing with her the way it would play with another kitten. Some suggestions on how to calm things down:

1. Your daughter must never, ever play rough with the kitten. If she roughhouses with the kitten and invites rough play, she will get scratched and bitten. If she tries to pet the kitten or play with it and the kitten responds by getting rough, she needs to put the kitten down and back off-- very tough for a 7-year-old to do by herself, so it's a good idea for an adult to supervise.

2. Get your daughter a laser pointer and show her how her kitten will chase after the laser "dot". This is a great way to let kittens get rid of wild spirits without risking scratches or bites. It's also loads of fun for people. Once the kitten has tired out a bit, it will be more receptive to gentle handling and play and will be less likely to get rough.

3. Teach your daughter to use other toys, like a long peacock feather or a toy on a string suspended from a flexible pole or stick (a dressage whip with a short popper makes a great toy, if you have a horse supply place nearby) to play with the kitten so that the kitten can expend its energy on these.

4. If she wants to invite a little bit of rough play, have her put an oven mitt on and use this to play with the kitten. Her hands will be protected then.

I don't know how your daughter is playing with the kitten, but you need to make sure that she understands that the kitten is not a doll or toy, and that it may not want to be picked up and played with whenever she wants to. She needs to respect this, and if the kitten objects to being picked up or carried or otherwise handled, the kitten needs to be put down and let alone.

Personally, I think that it isn't necessarily a bad thing that a kitten or cat will teach a youngster not to be rough by clawing or biting. I learned when I was about your daughter's age that a cat's tail was not a handle; my cat Mingtoy taught me this with her claws when I tried to haul her out from under a chair by grabbing her tail. It's a lesson that stuck.

Answer 4

The kitten is doing what kittens all do. The child needs the training. If she is trying to restrain the kitten when it wants to get away she will be bitten. You need to keep the kitten's nails trimmed so there won't be scratches.

You need to have a cat dancer or feather toy and tell your daughter that is the way to play with the kitten - never with her hands.

Your daughter is probably pressing her attentions on the kitten too much. You need to get her to enjoy watching the kitten playing and use the interactive toy with it.

Go to: www.littlebigcat.com and read Dr. Jean Hovfe's article titled "Squirt Bottles, Punishment and Cat Behavior" Dr. Hovfe and her partner Jackson Galaxy are cat behavior EXPERTS. Their advice will the best you can get for training the kitten.

Answer 5

This is totally normal behavoir for a kitten, and is part of how they grow and mature. It'll taper off a bit when kitty is older.

However, you can try to train kitty to "play nicely".

Always be gentle with kitty, never roughhouse which encourages this behavoir.

When kitty plays too rough, stop playing with kitty. Ignore her until she stops. Even put her in a room by herself for a few minutes -- like giving a child a "time-out."

As kitty gets older and starts to learn what behavoir you encourage, and what behavoir gets a poor reaction, you will be able to very lightly tap kitty on the nose if she bites or scratches and tell her "No!" -- this is to surprise, not punish her. This light tap will get her attention just as someone tapping the tip of YOUR nose would do. Still, don't do this until she gets at least a month older, because she's still too young to understand it now and it might negatively impact the way she bonds with you -- you'll want a loving, trusting, cat as she grows up!

Answer 6

kittens lay and wait and then attack.. that is what they do by instinct. So apparently your daughter is the prey. I would suggest that you sit with your daughter and when the kitten behaves in that way you have to distract the kitten. Kittens are often aggressive that way when a child has carried the kitten around and played rough with the kitten or restrained the kitten from wanting down. Domestic kittens learn to be aggressive in order to protect themselves. Do you know for a fact that your daughter has not egged the kitten on and then you are called after an incident? If it continues keep them separated for awhile and I wish you well.

Answer 7

Make sure your daughter does not waggle her finger in front of the kitten encouraging it to bite and scratch. Once they learn it's ok, there's no stopping. Never hit a cat. It's not as easy to train a cat "no" as it is a dog. If the kitten begins getting nasty, perhaps it just doesn't want to play anymore. Or you could try distractions of toys.

Answer 8

You mentioned toys but do you have something for it to scratch on? Let out it's aggressions. You don't need one of those kitty condos with all the carpeting and floors. A simple cardboard box firmly in place might do the trick. You can't break an animal from it's primordial instincts (like climbing) so if you're going to keep it indoors the claws may need to go.

Answer 9

If you do not want your kitten biting and scratching then you've come to the right person. I have two cats that are always biting and scratching so I don't pick them up so much and now they stopped biting and scratching so you should try that.

Answer 10

you've got a long way to go, i have an 8 month old cat and she still bites and scratches, and as they get older, the more damage they can do, she even has toys and a scratching post but i think she likes biting people, coz she gets a reaction from them, i just put her outside when she gets too bad coz i don't have kids to worry about