Aggression or Age?

haleyds

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
576
Purraise
264
Location
North Carolina
So my kitten is 8 weeks old, I know this is young and I had planned on getting her at 12 weeks but due to some travel things it had to be earlier. Anyway, she plays literally all the time, if she's not sleeping, she's playing, no cuddles at this moment in her life. When she plays though, she's very very rough with her biting. She doesn't scratch hard at all, she prefers to use that mouth of hers.
Now I have read up on how to discourage and correct this, and the distraction with toys method works great while in actual play time, but when I'm walking and she attacks my feet and I had to resort to the squirt of water to the bum (I know it's awful but nothing else worked and she had continued getting harder) and now she barely shows interest in my feet.
Anyway, is this constant playing because of her age or is she maybe going to be an aggressive cat? She was a single litter kitty as her sibling died at birth, if that changes anything. And by constant playing I cannot stress the constant part enough!
I just hope that she wants to be with me without pouncing on my hand someday!
 

Ms. Freya

Advisor
Veteran
Joined
Sep 19, 2008
Messages
3,348
Purraise
123
Location
Ontario, Canada
Sounds like it's a mix of age and socialization.

At 8 weeks she would only be beginning to learn social play behaviours (and what you described absolutely sounds like kitten play) so her mom would still have been teaching her how to play politely.  You can find a bit about playtime aggression here: http://www.thecatsite.com/a/how-to-stop-playtime-aggression-in-cats.

Personally I found that giving a sharp hissing sound (like another cat would make) helped deter Sybil's kittens when they were having crazy moments, but I know others in the forums have been through similar stages and will likely have more ideas for you.

And yes, at her age I do think kittens only have two settings: playing and asleep.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

haleyds

TCS Member
Thread starter
Alpha Cat
Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
576
Purraise
264
Location
North Carolina
Okay awesome! I'll be sure to read that article, thanks so much.
 
Top