My new kitten scratches and bites and is always in attack mode.?

Question

She's about 6-8 weeks old. I found her in my driveway. She has been examined briefly by a pet store employee and seems in okay health and I'll be taking her to the vet soon. In the meantime, she fiercely attacks me and anyone who comes over as they walk by, sit down, anything. I am covered in scratches on my legs, ankles, and arms. I have never raised a kitten by myself. Is this normal? Will it stop? When? Please help me, any advise on this and other new kitten topics will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

this is normal for her.
she is still young and going threw the kitten stage still.
as it gets older it will get bettter, although it is harded to train cats then dogs.
goodluck

Answer 2

We adopted a pair of kittens that were born in my alley. There were seven in the litter. We placed food on the kitchen floor and adopted the first two that were brave enough to come and get it. The rest went for adoption.

We never experienced that kind of behavior from our kittens. However, I was advised by an expert to adopt two instead of one. Two are not much more work than one and they wrestle and play with each other. It seems to have been sound advice. We have had none of the negative issues people often complain about.

The only time my cats display such behavior is if they are frightened. When we first adopted them, we did not try to handle them. We never left food out for them but instead would make sounds to signal that food was coming and they soon came to associate our presence with positive things. We eventually petted and started picking them up, always allowing them to escape and hide if they wished. Now they are both lap cats.

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Answer 3

Don't worry, this will pass....in about a YEAR! Lol! Don't worry, she's just a playful one!

What you need to do is try to play with her using toys, this helps her learn that she can psychotically attack toys, and not so much people! When interacting with her, always have a toy in your hand, don't play just with your hand. Also go get a lazer pointer to play with her, it'll keep the sharp claws away from you!

I used to have a cat that used to hide in the passageways and when she heard you, she'd pull a "Matrix" move, and run up the wall, kicking off and then madly attack your ankles.

She never really grew out of it completely, but it did slow down!

have fun!

Answer 4

This is not normal behavior for a kitten. The kitten is probably not used to people and afraid of you. To get your kitten to be nice, slowly and not to noisly approach her. Let her sniff you and then put a treat down and walk away. Work closer and closer each time (in about a week) and if she will eat out of you hand, slowly stroke her back lightly. Eventually she will trust you and not scratch you. Good luck!!

Answer 5

Hold and pet the kitten as much as possible . She might have been left to fend for herself and biting and scratching is all she's used to. So, once she feels comfortable in your house, which could take a few weeks, she'll calm down. In the meantime, pet her, play with her, give her treats, brush her, and just acclimate her to being around humans.

Answer 6

Biting or chewing? Izzy at 6 weeks was teething and developed a habit of chewing on my fingers. Now at 9 weeks, Mindy does the same thing. If this is the case, it will pass. (Iz finally stopped at 18 weeks, about 4.5 months)
The scratching thing...well, for your relief, try to trim kitty's claws. The earlier you get her used to this, the easier it will be during her life.
The attacking thing, you may have to teach kitty how to play nice. Mindy does this, only she attacks anything that moves. i distract her from me by dangling a toy in front of her.
Good luck with your new baby!

Answer 7

You can try clicker training. I prefer positive reinforcement training methods (as opposed to "aversion" methods) of training, as I believe they yield better results.

I'm using clicker training with my youngest cat to replace undesirable behaviors with desirable ones. It is working beautifully. If I can train a cat not to scratch and bite, you can too. Be patient. Be consistent.

NEVER use your fingers/hands/toes as play-toys with the kitten, or it will see body parts as acceptable things to claw/bite.

I've also included a few links on feline nutrition that you may find helpful.

Good luck!

Answer 8

This is how kittens "play" it teaches them to hunt and survive. Get a small beanie type toy and slowly introduce it to the kitten and encourage the kitten to attack the toy. (I did this with our male kitten and he replaced his "tiger" with his mom's newest kitten, a little girl we named tiger. The male is now about 15 months old and the kitten Tiger is about 4 months old. He is now a lush bug to use and when he gets a little fiesty, I just tell him OUCH and then, where's tiger? He gets the hint a settles down or walks away from me.) Kittens also like chasing string. I tied a foil ball to a piece of string and hung it from a tree limb, and also one from the porch rail. This gives kitty something to chase and bite at, and it's fun to watch them play with it. Hope this Helps!

Answer 9

This is perfectly normal. Its known as PLAYING. cats and even many dogs express their desire for fun and their love by fighting/play fighting. So don't worry , play with it.Since you have a cat your hand and arms are GOING to get scratched.
You should make it run after a string or a remote control car etc.etc.
This playing mood of the cat only lasts about two three years after which they tend to settle down a bit.
ENJOY IT WHILE IT LASTS.

Answer 10

You would have to talk to your vet about that but she should grow out of it as she gets older