I have a 6 month old black shorthair and I cant seem to get him to behave. He likes to bite my hands and feet and I've tried disciplining him but nothing seems to get through. He's been fixed so that's not the issue. He bites me any opportunity he gets but especially at night. I dont know if he's bored at night because I try to go to sleep and I'm not giving him attention or what. I love him so much and I'm literally having panic attacks because of this. He is perfectly fine if I'm in my living room or my kitchen (maybe he'll try and bite once or twice) but it's as soon as I go to my bedroom he really becomes wild. Please help me I literally do not know what to do anymore.
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End Of My Rope
- Thread starter Masson99
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I gave my kitten a stuffed animal to wrestle, just a little smaller than she was. Just ONE toy designated for wrestling. She acted out like yours...biting and pouncing at inappropriate times, racing around at night when I wanted to sleep, harassing the older cat...when she gets too out of hand I redirect her attention to the toy, pushing it at her and making it seem like it's wrestling back. Then I leave her with it. She's gotten the message. The toy likes to wrestle more than anyone else in the house. She sneak attacks it, rolls around, claws the tar out of the thing...and everyone else gets blessed relief.
Another thing that helped when she was settling into a bedtime routine was to turn out ALL the bedroom lights. Lamp, phone, everything. She'd eventually settle down. A month in and she's so used to routine that she puts herself to bed.
Another thing that helped when she was settling into a bedtime routine was to turn out ALL the bedroom lights. Lamp, phone, everything. She'd eventually settle down. A month in and she's so used to routine that she puts herself to bed.
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One of the very first toys I got him was a toy he could wrestle. He seems to enjoy it but doesnt independently play when we're in my bedroom. I've figured out I need to have a toy with me when I'm in my room and we do have a routine.
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Thanks for the wonderful love you give your cat. Probably needs lots of play. Several sessions a day of about 20minutes or until he is panting. Puzzle feeders may help give him something to do at night.
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One of my kitties was a biter. Both play bites and love bites. She drew blood every day when she was a kitten. The way I dealt with it was just a quick, sharp, vocal HEY when she did it. She eventually outgrew it. She will still do it gently now only when she’s love drunk, but it’s not a problem any more.
I'm a cat foster so I have 8 cats in my house right now 6 months or younger. I know kittens. My advice:
1. Stop disciplining him! Cats are not dogs, and he's not doing anything that isn't expected for a kitten. His biting is "play aggression" which is turned toward you because he's wound up. This is completely natural. Drain this kitty's energy and he won't attack you any more.
2. Play with your kitten, a lot. Buy several wands and have him run around the house chasing them to get out his energy. Buy some battery-operated toys, like the butterfly toy and/or mysterious motion toy, so he can be occupied when you are at work, making dinner, etc. Play with him for a good chunk of time until he is exhausted right before bed, give him a snack, and I bet he will stop waking you up.
3. GEt to know Jackson Galaxy. If you don't know who he is...Jackson is a cat behaviorist who has a show on Animal Planet called "My Cat from Hell." He's amazing. Jackson has great resources online, especially on YouTube. Everything I learned to be a good foster I learned from Jackson Galaxy. In particular, search for "boil and simmer." Boil and simmer is Jackson's method of exhausting high-energy cats and kittens with play so they don't turn their play aggression toward you.
4. Consider adopting a young high-energy cat to be his friend. If your kitty had a buddy, he probably wouldn't be waking you up by biting you to play. He'd play with his new friend instead. I won't adopt out single kittens for this reason: a human can't play like a cat, we just cat. Two cats aren't twice as much work, they are half as much work, because they play with each other.
Good luck.
I've read some folks Hisss at unacceptable behavior, just like another cat would. Gypsy stops at NO but she is older. Be patient, keep us updated. Good luck
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I know that besides regular, fun and exhaustive playtime for kittens, what also helps are regular and well-timed (and multiple) meals. Kittens need a ton of food as they grow --and sometimes round the clock, lol!-- and making one of your regular and expected meals which he can come to rely upon is to feed him a fabulous meal right before you go to bed at night. Preferably after a play session. It might help for the long night ahead! Kittens can tend to get more "bitey" when they have the munchies.
we went through this for Sweet Gum's first year. Then one day i remembered and when she went for my foot I hissed. She immediately threw herself away from me and started fighting with her own foot.
A month later she went for my foot again. Again I hissed and she threw herself away. This happened one more time.
We realized she could attack my feet if and only if I were wearing my ankle high fussy house shoe boots. This is risky as not all cats can make the distinction of boot and not boot. And even more because I can't find another pair and am down to duct taping the soles onto the tops.
A month later she went for my foot again. Again I hissed and she threw herself away. This happened one more time.
We realized she could attack my feet if and only if I were wearing my ankle high fussy house shoe boots. This is risky as not all cats can make the distinction of boot and not boot. And even more because I can't find another pair and am down to duct taping the soles onto the tops.
Excellent point! It never fails to amaze me how much food my foster kittens shovel in. Masson should be free feeding him dry until he is one, but give wet food three times a day. At six months, he can easily eat a half of a small can at a time or more. Kittens MUST have wet food. All cats should have wet in their diets, but especially kittens.
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As in the notes above, PLAY PLAY PLAY (I had to play with my male kitten for 30 mins in AM and 30 mins before bed, running 90% of the time through the house- he panted like a dog during it and Loved it and then slept quietly). And HISSS. That is what mom, brothers and sisters do when kitten play gets over aggressive.
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I've got my older cat on a diet AND I need to tire the 4 month old out...S/O had the bright idea to tie a shoestring to the back of my pants the other day...I ran around the house like a cat on midnight crazies with two very excited kitties pounding after me until we were all out of breath! Good exercise for all of us!The silly things we do for our furry overlords
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We want video! lol!
