Frankiestein

[MJO12]

Frankie showed up a few months ago. As I mentioned on another post, he put me in the hospital when he bit me at the vet. I understand; he was afraid. However he's home now, and he loves to scratch and bite. I have started calling him Frankiestein the monster cat.
He considers biting and scratching play. Last night I was playing with him (fishing pole toy). He had a great time, and then he started clawing and play biting. He gave me a deep scratch. So I have to be careful with my Frankiestein. The vet told me he is a very smart cat. He's not smart enough yet to know biting and scratching his food source is not a good idea. He is about one year old, so he's just growing out of being a kitten.

 

[Kieka]

How do you react when he bites or scratches you? He is likely not drawing the connection that biting and scratching are bad.

Cats are trainable when it comes to those behaviors. They honestly don't realize it hurts you unless there is an immediate constant reaction. The best way, I have found, is an immediate "ouch!" and facing away from the cat with no attention to them. Then continue playing after a few seconds. Keep repeating and they learn that scratch or bite means no more attention.

 

[MJO12]

How do you react when he bites or scratches you? He is likely not drawing the connection that biting and scratching are bad.

Cats are trainable when it comes to those behaviors. They honestly don't realize it hurts you unless there is an immediate constant reaction. The best way, I have found, is an immediate "ouch!" and facing away from the cat with no attention to them. Then continue playing after a few seconds. Keep repeating and they learn that scratch or bite means no more attention.

Thank you. I assumed he was not trainable. I will do what you suggest. If he is as smart as the vet says, he should learn .

 

[Kieka]

Keep in mind that cats don't do well with punishment. Positive reinforcement and ignore them when they do something you dislike.

 

[MJO12]

I started this morning. Frankie was having a great time in the crinkle tube. I walked up to the tube and his arm shot out and he tried to scratch my leg. I shouted NO and turned around and walked away. He is just a kitten. He tries to play with the other three cats, who are around 6 years old. Sometimes they will play with him, but most of the time they look irritated.

 

[Kieka]

Yay! Hopefully it leads to progress. Did you go back? I have found if you turn away say no, then go past again they will try again, repeat, and the third time it sticks that action equals reaction. After that it is only a few more attempts before they figure out that claws and teeth are the problem. Mine are all adults and I think I only got accidentally scratched once by one of them in the last year. And I did the same reaction of NO and turn away; he looked so sheepish when I turned back.

 

[Kieka]

As to the older cats, either he will mature and become less playful or they will adapt. It took my oldest a good 6-9 months before he started playing with the youngest. I keep a lot of toys scattered around and play with the two energetic ones when they start to annoy the older calmer one. But I also have two energetic ones so they keep each other occupied.

It does sound like Frankie is just a hyper kitten and doing whatever gets him attention. My boy (the highest energy one) can be terribly mischievous when he is bored. He is very smart too and will push every boundary. If your household can take it, he might benefit from a high energy cat around his own age. My boy got a lot calmer once we added in the girl who is near him in energy level. Those two will race around nearly every morning before crashing.

 

[MJO12]

Yes, he is a hyper kitten. My other cats were adopted when they were grown up. I'm not used to kitten ways. Yesterday he jumped out at me from behind a chair -- on his two back legs with his front paws spread out. It was the cutest thing. That's when I realized that I am dealing with a kitten entering adolescence. I'm just not used to it. He will be fine.