Kitten Aggression

[whittwhitt]

Howdy guys! So my kitten Cooper is almost a year old, he's probably about 10 months at the moment. I wanted to get your opinion on behavior since it's been so long since I've been around or raised a kitten.

So when he's in his room (yes, he has his own bedroom with a queen bed, litterbox, food/water ), he's the sweetest thing. He cuddles, wants to lay in your lap, has never bit me - I think I've read somewhere when cats are in a confined area, like a room, they're less likely to act up or something? Just throwing this bit of info into the mix to let you know he's not always mean of course.

But anyway, when he's in the main part of the house - kitchen, living room, our bedrooms, basement, etc, he's mostly friendly but he has these, I'm assuming "teenage" outbursts where he bites me. It especially happens when I'm sitting on the floor with him (on his 'level' y'know). I used to sit on the kitchen floor with my previous cat and we'd always cuddle and I'd pet him while I was waiting for dinner to cook. It was our little private time we're he'd get tons of one-on-one attention, and I wasn't too busy, so I'd like to do that with Cooper too, but whenever I try to do that he immediately bites my arms or legs, hard.

I've been saying "stop" in a firm voice and he sorta gets the message, but I literally have to pull him off of me. I then usually stand up, and after he backs off he goes into that angry kitten stance, gives me the evil eyes, and just waits to pounce on me again. Which he will, he then attacks my legs. I'm assuming I'm doing something wrong and inviting him to play... help please?

Also side note, he'll do this with our dog too - if our dog boops him with her nose or something, he'll go into that angry teenage kitten stance, eye her up, and usually when she turns around he'll jump on her legs. He doesn't bite her though, at least not hard, I think he knows better than that.

 

[ArtNJ]

Cats playing agressively with humans is partly a habit thing. So they might play too aggressively with one human in the house but not others, or they might only do it in one room/situation. Sometimes the human is at fault because they have played roughly with the kitten, especially using hands or legs to play rather than a toy, but sometimes, its just something they start doing. Almost random, like why me and not my spouse? Those questions dont always have answers.

Unless you've played rough, I don't think you've done anything wrong. This is a sub one year cat still at the absolute peak of play drive. This is just a habit that formed. So don't beat yourself up, just treat it as a training/habit breaking task.

A loud "no!" can work, but I'd also recommend eliminating the specific situation the habit is associated with. Don't get down on the ground with him. Instead, call him up to the sofa, chair or bed to pet him. If that doesnt work, you can try holding him firmly, with one hand by the scruff and the other aroud the middle. The idea is simply to make latching onto you not fun.

I'll insert the obligatory play more with the cat (with toys) since if I didn't say it someone else would. And it cant hurt. But yeah, with a 10 month old, I know saying "play more" is like asking you to drain the ocean with a bucket! You might, however, have some success with timing play to be just before the time the attacks usually happen at, if that is a pattern you've spotted.

 

[whittwhitt]

Cats playing agressively with humans is partly a habit thing. So they might play too aggressively with one human in the house but not others, or they might only do it in one room/situation. Sometimes the human is at fault because they have played roughly with the kitten, especially using hands or legs to play rather than a toy, but sometimes, its just something they start doing. Almost random, like why me and not my spouse? Those questions dont always have answers.

Unless you've played rough, I don't think you've done anything wrong. This is a sub one year cat still at the absolute peak of play drive. This is just a habit that formed. So don't beat yourself up, just treat it as a training/habit breaking task.

A loud "no!" can work, but I'd also recommend eliminating the specific situation the habit is associated with. Don't get down on the ground with him. Instead, call him up to the sofa, chair or bed to pet him. If that doesnt work, you can try holding him firmly, with one hand by the scruff and the other aroud the middle. The idea is simply to make latching onto you not fun.

I'll insert the obligatory play more with the cat (with toys) since if I didn't say it someone else would. And it cant hurt. But yeah, with a 10 month old, I know saying "play more" is like asking you to drain the ocean with a bucket! You might, however, have some success with timing play to be just before the time the attacks usually happen at, if that is a pattern you've spotted.

Well thank you! I know he definitely hasn't been taught to play rough, or to play with hands, that's a definite no-no. He actually loves to carry things in his mouth which is absolutely adorable, so we play by me throwing things and him playing with them, picking them up, and then not bringing it back I'd love to be able to teach him to fetch one day. He also loves laser pointers, and chirps at them, so there's never any direct play that would've taught him that biting is okay. I was going to buy him a kicker toy but I haven't seen any for sale around here unfortunately! I feel like he'd love one of those. I'm guessing you could make one DIY too, maybe a sock filled with socks and catnip?

I'll stop getting on the floor with him, or if I do make it not fun like you said. I'd have to hold him like you mentioned as well because if he does go to bite me and I pull him off, he'll just come right back and jump on me.

But really it's only when I get on the floor with him! He attacks feet but it's very occasionally and that behavior doesn't appear out of nowhere - he'll do that after he's been playing and he's still hyped up.

 

[ArtNJ]

You can get kickers on Amazon for cheap enough. Be wary of the banana one. Its highly rated with like 20k reviews, but my 6 year old insta-destroys them. So I guess YMMV.