Cat Chat Feline Forum

I’m a first time cat owner and have a 4 month old kitten. We got him when he was 8 weeks (too early I know). He is confident and generally very friendly and very playful. He loves to cuddle and to be stroked and can be very gentle a lot of the time. We have never encouraged playing with our hands and have always redirected him to toys (mice, balls, wands, laser etc). We don’t rough play with him and never have done. We play with him a lot - especially given the time we have in lockdown... which may feed into behaviour issues itself as we are always around.

However he bites all the time. Sometimes it may be because he seems to be overstimulated from stroking so we stop. Similarly if it happens during play. But he will regularly pounce and bite us (usually always hands, sometimes feet) as we are sitting. He doesn’t just give a small nibble but can really try to hold on with his bite even as we move our hands away. He also does this in the morning to try to wake us. I don’t know if it’s ‘play aggression’ or not but it’s rarely provoked and he doesn’t hiss or growl but does put his ears back sometimes.

We try not to immediately respond to the biting with play and/or getting out of bed to not encourage the reward of the biting. We try to walk away from him (not possible from bed..), slowly move hands away (difficult with him trying to hold on/biting again) or put him out the room for a few minutes to calm down. However he is very persistent with his biting. It’s becoming a bit worrying as it can be very sore.

I guess I am looking for some advice on how ‘normal’ this is as I know he is young and will (hopefully) learn in time. Also any advice on how to try to stop this behaviour.

Kittens used to be homed at 6 to 8 weeks and they did just fine, recommendations have changed but you have him and I'm sure it's just fine.

What you describe sounds like the normal behaviour he would display when playing with his littermates, especially with ears back but no aggressive noise - just transferred to your hands! But he does need to learn that hands are not fellow kittens.

For overstimulation I would suggest you spot the subtle signs just before he does it and end the game and move away. For attacking out of the blue it's a little trickier, though you're absolutely doing the right thing by not encouraging or rewarding the behaviour. When you move your hands away though he may be seeing this as part of the game, so suddenly your hands become prey to be killed. Can you have your hands play dead? while saying No very firmly, but not moving at all? And move hands away once he has calmed down. Alternatively a sudden loud PSST noise if he won't listen to No yet. Do not wag your finger at him when saying no though, that's just an invitation to attack.

Maybe some big rustly chewy killable toys? Kong do a great range but there are others, things he can grab with his claws and bite and kick with his feet and generally fight with. Then when he attacks hands redirect him to those, it's not a reward it's Jackson Galaxy's No-Yes, No hands, Yes Kong. Offering an alternative.

From 4 to 7 months roughly he will be shedding his milk teeth and getting his adult teeth, so prepare for possible chewing!