How To Teach A Lone Bottle Fed Kitten Bite Inhibition

Meg&Cookie

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Hi there

I saved a kitten (now lovingly named Cookie) at 12 days old whose mother had sadly been killed by dogs.

She has been bottle fed and now (6 weeks old) fully weaned and using her litter box.

She is extremely playful however she bites (Hard!) on my hands and neck. I have been trying to re-direct her bite to a toy instead of my hands however she still bites extremely hard when given the chance. I know that she would usually learn this from her mother and littermates but of course there is only me to train her.

Should I continue with toys to redirect the biting behaviour? Can anyone give me any tips? I know that the time is now to train her as when older this can become a behaviour problem.

Please note I am not interested in any negative reinforcement only positive reinforcement training techniques as I want to build a bond with my kitten and clicker train her.

I have attached a picture of her when she was about 4 weeks old with my border collie mothering her :)
 

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catsknowme

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:welcomesign: Welcome to TCS! Congratulations on your two adorables :loveeyes:
My dogs (both now over RB) used to snuggle the kittens under their thighs, too.
To correct biting & excessive claws, I make a sort of screech sound. That is pretty much how both mother cats and littermates do a correction.
With a Border Collie as an older sibling, training should go well. I had a bottle baby who learned all the basics just by watching the dog get trained, including "roll over" :flail:
 

GoldyCat

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Hold her by the scruff of her neck and hiss at her, or make any kind of loud noise. This must be done immediately after she bites every time. Don't let her get away with even gentle bites.
 

Ardina

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Hissing worked best with Saipha when she was a kitten. I know you prefer no negative reinforcement, but this is universal cat language that she will understand. If that doesn't work, you can also pair it with ending the play session. Simply hiss, get up, walk away, and ignore your kitten for a few minutes. She'll quickly learn to stop. You'll actually be able to see that moment of decision on her face when she holds back from biting. When she gets to that stage, you can immediately give her a toy to bite instead, and then reward her with a treat and praise.
 

Kflowers

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Hissing worked with mine, first time. I did not have to scruf her or even lean over. She was biting my foot. I hissed. She threw herself away from my foot. She grabbed her own foot and bit it. She screamed. She did not bite me again.
 

maggie101

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She needs chew toys. I was just thinking about it today when I was in a waiting room for my doc. Guy next to me had a 14week old baby that bites. Perfectly normal. When Peaches was 5weeks I even went to the baby section at target and bought chew toys. Also baby blankets and chew toys I got at petco
 
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PushPurrCatPaws

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Hissing worked with mine, first time. I did not have to scruf her or even lean over. She was biting my foot. I hissed. She threw herself away from my foot. She grabbed her own foot and bit it. She screamed. She did not bite me again.
Maybe she was tired of biting me by then.
Either way, still lucky!! I envy you.
Plus, you may have taught her to scream!
Learning goes both ways! ;)
lol
 

1 bruce 1

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If hissing doesn't work, leaving or putting the kitten in solitary confinement for a few minutes (2 or 3 minutes is more than enough) can help underline that point that if Kitty doesn't play nicely, Kitty plays all by himself.
Sometimes kittens get rougher the more over tired they are, so if you do opt to leave the room or place them alone for a few minutes to cool down and come back to find them crashed into a dead sleep, you know they were behaving like a normal toddler :thumbsup:
Negative interactions would be hitting, slapping, kicking, etc. Absolutely don't do that! But hissing isn't negative, it's communication, and if it were that bad kittens would pack up and leave the first time Mother cat did that.
Cat speak is pretty cool. Hissing is speaking cat, but so is petting (in a way), blinking, nose touches, head butts, etc. Since kittens usually don't speak English, and since this little guy was on his own (aside from you!), speaking his language (even if he's being bad) is going to be easier and will form a better bond.
 

Kflowers

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If your kitten doesn't nap, he won't be happy. It's similar to when a human two year old doesn't nap. It's rare but it happens. Our Sweet Gum was one. Why yes, it did have something to do with her name. We finally discovered that putting a nice cushion, several of her toys and one large stuffed animal in her carrier gave her a nice nap time bed. Once the carrier is prepared put kit in, then cover it with a towel. Sweet Gum refused to sleep as long as she could see out. But once the towel was draped over the carrier she went to sleep.

Sweet Gum had a dog too. Dogs make great kit mums. They teach kits how to seriously drink water and to run and hide well.
 

1 bruce 1

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If your kitten doesn't nap, he won't be happy. It's similar to when a human two year old doesn't nap. It's rare but it happens. Our Sweet Gum was one. Why yes, it did have something to do with her name. We finally discovered that putting a nice cushion, several of her toys and one large stuffed animal in her carrier gave her a nice nap time bed. Once the carrier is prepared put kit in, then cover it with a towel. Sweet Gum refused to sleep as long as she could see out. But once the towel was draped over the carrier she went to sleep.

Sweet Gum had a dog too. Dogs make great kit mums. They teach kits how to seriously drink water and to run and hide well.
Gum and Baby Girl must be twins, because if she didn't sleep she was a nightmare and plopping her into her little pen and checking back in about 7 seconds revealed a kitten that was almost comatose, you could pick her up, scratch her chin, and she'd barely stir. They get cranky. Just like kids (and old people, but I'm only guessing :crackup:)
Baby Girl has a few dogs. They love her, and she slaps them around, and they don't dare fight back.
(I don't need to mention that the dogs are males and Baby Girl is female, do I? :crazy:)
 

catsknowme

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:clap: Yes, naps are really important for kittens. I also put mine to bed at 9pm and cover their carrier. They seem to like the schedule just fine. There might be a protest mew or two but they settle down much more easily than human babies or puppies. I do give a warm snack & a drink first & place puppy pads by the crate door in case they need to go during the night.
 
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Meg&Cookie

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Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for all the comments, we are making slow progress and she is just a wonderful playful little thing.

I also think she needs more chew toys, I actually gave her her bottle dummy from when bottle feeding to chew on.

Kitten does love to climb up my leg and also very curious as to what food im eating :p

She travels well in the car and sits with my border collies in the back seat like a tiny collie :p
 

catsknowme

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Thank you for the update! My dad used to give me pieces of doeskin for the kittens and puppies to chew on. I don't know where to get leather from nowadays, though.
 

Kflowers

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Perhaps a cobbler? If dogs can chew on shoes, perhaps cats can. would a vet have that answer? And if they can, then there is a chance a cobbler will have different sizes and weights of leather available.
 
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