5 Month Old Aggressive Male Kitten

nadzg

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My wife and I are both new cat owners. We adopted Spike when he was 6 weeks old. His whole litter was being given away during a hike we had early September. Welcomed him into our home, struggled a bit getting him to eat solids but he was a playful and active kitten overall.

About over two months ago we started noticing more aggressive behavior on his end. Clawing, biting and scratching. He would climb up to our legs as if we were his scratching post. Now that he's about 5 months old with stronger teeth and sharper claws, he has been scratching and biting all of us (my wife and I including our 9 year old son). We could not even pet him most of the time because he would automatically attempt to bite. I feel like sudden movement actually triggers an "attack", usually when we would walk or even just fix stuff around the house and he sees our arm movements - not just a love bite but an aggressive attack. We have a lot of bite and scratch marks on our legs and arms - sometimes without a break in the skin but more often than not with it. We love Spike but this aggressive behavior is becoming very frustrating and painful for the entire family..... Any thoughts or suggestions on how we could go about this?
 

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Kieka

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Hello and welcome to TCS :welcomesign:

What you are describing is fairly common with kittens who leave mom too young (ideal age is after 12 weeks). Even though they can eat and move around independently they miss out on Cat 101 and Behavior 101 lessons with Mom and/or siblings. What you are reading as aggression is more along the lines of a kitten who doesn't have basic play manners. He doesn't know his strength, doesn't know teeth and claws hurt, and doesn't understand boundaries.

Look at it from his place. You guys play and your hand is gentle, it pets, it's soft. He goes to play and his hand is gentle and soft too. He doesn't realize that his claws hurt because you don't have claws. He doesn't realize his bites are too hard because he hasn't been bit. It's a disconnect. All he knows is if he does action A (jumping, biting, clawing, climbing) there is a reaction B that gives him attention. Cats really don't differentiate between positive and negative human reactions. Dogs have had thousands of years to adapt and adjust to human emotions and reactions, cats have only truly been house pets for 150 years so they haven't learned the finer details of human expression.

It's not hopeless though.

First step is anytime he jumps on you or claws or bites no matter how little or much you and your wife must react the exact same way. Every single time even with barely a touch of a claw or tooth. A loud sharp no and an impassioned removal ignoring. What he needs to understand is if he using tooth or claw he gets a shock (the loud no) and ignored. Not punished. Not yelled at. Not continued play. But a 100% withdrawal of all attention of any kind. The best way to gently remove him as you say No then leave the room. Count to 10 and return as if nothing had happened. You want enough time for him to Link the two but not so much time that his kitty brain moves on o something else. Within two weeks (if you do it every single time without fail) you should see a change.

I did this with all my cats. Now as adults they are extremely careful and it is rare that the humans in my home get more then an accidental scratch every few months.

Another thing is do not have your hand within a foot of a toy he is playing with. Wands toys or tossed toys only. You don't want your hand to be the source of anything that could rile him up. Treats, food and pets only outside of tossing a toy or waving a wand until he gets the idea.

Finally, start doing twice a day 15 minute play session at scheduled time (more is better, that is minimum). You want to really work his energy out and set him up to expect play within those times. Cats do wonderfully with routines. End play time with a meal to capitalize on their natural instincts that tell them to hunt, kill, eat, sleep.
 

Lari

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Has he been neutered yet? I hear when the hormones drop it helps with aggression.

I agree with the wand toys. It's a good way to get them panting and drain out the energy.

And Kieka Kieka is not kidding about the routines. Mine now expects playtime as soon as I get home from anywhere since it's the after work routine. She's lucky she's cute. :p
 
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