Kitten won't stop biting!

[BeccaT]

Hello! This is a very recent development and we're wondering if she's going through a phase or this is just who she is now.

We've had our kitten for over a month now and she's always been so full of energy. She's coming up on 4 months old and over the past few days, she's become very bitey and scratchy when she's hyper and in a playful mood. We try our best to negate this behaviour by either removing our hands and stopping playing with her, walking away or giving her a chew toy to bite instead. We think she's likely teething as when we first adopted her, she'd only occasionally nip using her front teeth, but now when she bites it's as if she's actually chewing on our fingers with her back teeth, and I read they start to teethe around this age. We did buy her a chew toy for biting/teething but she doesn't like it much, so we may need to look into other toys that satisfy her.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem like she's being mean or really aggressive with this, it's only when she's in a playful mood and it's hard to pet her without her biting us when she's in this mood, but she's totally fine when she's chilled out and sleepy. But it's sadly getting to the point where it's disturbing our sleep as she'll have a burst of energy in the early mornings and sprint around the bed and bite our toes through the covers! I also wanted to mention that since the biting started, her drinking has changed. She'll lap up some water and then make a "sucking" sound afterwards, which she's never done before and I wonder if it's connected if she is teething. I'm hoping that all of this is just teething or a phase she's going through, but I wanted to ask here just in case it could be a bigger problem that we can help with or if we need to take her to the vet.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Hello! This is a very recent development and we're wondering if she's going through a phase or this is just who she is now.

We've had our kitten for over a month now and she's always been so full of energy. She's coming up on 4 months old and over the past few days, she's become very bitey and scratchy when she's hyper and in a playful mood. We try our best to negate this behaviour by either removing our hands and stopping playing with her, walking away or giving her a chew toy to bite instead. We think she's likely teething as when we first adopted her, she'd only occasionally nip using her front teeth, but now when she bites it's as if she's actually chewing on our fingers with her back teeth, and I read they start to teethe around this age. We did buy her a chew toy for biting/teething but she doesn't like it much, so we may need to look into other toys that satisfy her.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem like she's being mean or really aggressive with this, it's only when she's in a playful mood and it's hard to pet her without her biting us when she's in this mood, but she's totally fine when she's chilled out and sleepy. But it's sadly getting to the point where it's disturbing our sleep as she'll have a burst of energy in the early mornings and sprint around the bed and bite our toes through the covers! I also wanted to mention that since the biting started, her drinking has changed. She'll lap up some water and then make a "sucking" sound afterwards, which she's never done before and I wonder if it's connected if she is teething. I'm hoping that all of this is just teething or a phase she's going through, but I wanted to ask here just in case it could be a bigger problem that we can help with or if we need to take her to the vet.

She very well could be teething, BeccaT . Experts like Jackson Galaxy say never to play with hands. Always keep something between your hand and your kitten's teeth. Wand-and-lure "fishing pole" type toys such as da Bird and/or Cat Dancer, available everywhere cat supplies are sold, are excellent for play and several play sessions a day, especially right before bedtime, can help to use up some of that healthy, happy kitten energy. It's GOOD that she's full of energy and wanting to play a lot! We treasure this early time in our cats' lives. Over time, she may well calm down. You may want to look at some of "Cat Daddy" Jackson Galaxy's videos on YouTube, watch his Animal Planet series, "MY CAT FROM HELL" and read his books. TCS also has tutorials on the subject: Playing With Your Cat: 10 Things You Need To Know – TheCatSite Articles which should be very helpful.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
In addition to the great advice above, you might consider a vet wellness visit, and also ask about spaying .

 

[BeccaT]

She very well could be teething, BeccaT . Experts like Jackson Galaxy say never to play with hands. Always keep something between your hand and your kitten's teeth. Wand-and-lure "fishing pole" type toys such as da Bird and/or Cat Dancer, available everywhere cat supplies are sold, are excellent for play and several play sessions a day, especially right before bedtime, can help to use up some of that healthy, happy kitten energy. It's GOOD that she's full of energy and wanting to play a lot! We treasure this early time in our cats' lives. Over time, she may well calm down. You may want to look at some of "Cat Daddy" Jackson Galaxy's videos on YouTube, watch his Animal Planet series, "MY CAT FROM HELL" and read his books. TCS also has tutorials on the subject: Playing With Your Cat: 10 Things You Need To Know – TheCatSite Articles which should be very helpful.

Thank you for this! I'll look into their videos. We try our best to keep a toy nearby to distract her when she tries to bite our hands. She has plenty of toys but still prefers to bite our hands whenever we go to pet her. The sad thing is that she always has so much energy when it's the wrong time for us. She'll happily sleep all day and laze around the house, and usually only play for a few minutes when we try to get her to, but during the early mornings/late nights is when she has the most energy and it's usually the times we have to go to bed, but otherwise we love her energy! I just really hope she is just teething in regards to the biting and that she'll grow out of it once her teeth stop hurting.

Hi!
In addition to the great advice above, you might consider a vet wellness visit, and also ask about spaying .

Thank you! She was actually already spayed when we adopted her though, which we were told was too young but sadly there was nothing we could do about that, nor did we know at the time of adopting that she was spayed too young. We adopted her at approx. 9 weeks old or a bit older.

 

[maggie101]

Hello! This is a very recent development and we're wondering if she's going through a phase or this is just who she is now.

We've had our kitten for over a month now and she's always been so full of energy. She's coming up on 4 months old and over the past few days, she's become very bitey and scratchy when she's hyper and in a playful mood. We try our best to negate this behaviour by either removing our hands and stopping playing with her, walking away or giving her a chew toy to bite instead. We think she's likely teething as when we first adopted her, she'd only occasionally nip using her front teeth, but now when she bites it's as if she's actually chewing on our fingers with her back teeth, and I read they start to teethe around this age. We did buy her a chew toy for biting/teething but she doesn't like it much, so we may need to look into other toys that satisfy her.

Thankfully, it doesn't seem like she's being mean or really aggressive with this, it's only when she's in a playful mood and it's hard to pet her without her biting us when she's in this mood, but she's totally fine when she's chilled out and sleepy. But it's sadly getting to the point where it's disturbing our sleep as she'll have a burst of energy in the early mornings and sprint around the bed and bite our toes through the covers! I also wanted to mention that since the biting started, her drinking has changed. She'll lap up some water and then make a "sucking" sound afterwards, which she's never done before and I wonder if it's connected if she is teething. I'm hoping that all of this is just teething or a phase she's going through, but I wanted to ask here just in case it could be a bigger problem that we can help with or if we need to take her to the vet.

Wide variety of chew toys you can buy on Amazon. When my cat was 4 months she would chew the carpet. Her favorite wand toy is the go cat catcher with a mouse on the end so she can grab it with her teeth. Kittens born outside love to chase bugs on the ground so same concept. Don't forget lots of pop up cubes to hide in and pounce!

 

[tarasgirl06]

Thank you for this! I'll look into their videos. We try our best to keep a toy nearby to distract her when she tries to bite our hands. She has plenty of toys but still prefers to bite our hands whenever we go to pet her. The sad thing is that she always has so much energy when it's the wrong time for us. She'll happily sleep all day and laze around the house, and usually only play for a few minutes when we try to get her to, but during the early mornings/late nights is when she has the most energy and it's usually the times we have to go to bed, but otherwise we love her energy! I just really hope she is just teething in regards to the biting and that she'll grow out of it once her teeth stop hurting.


Thank you! She was actually already spayed when we adopted her though, which we were told was too young but sadly there was nothing we could do about that, nor did we know at the time of adopting that she was spayed too young. We adopted her at approx. 9 weeks old or a bit older.

Cats can be spayed or neutered once they weight 2 pounds, which can be at 8 weeks. It's a little early, but it is a policy many caring people agree with to curb feline overpopulation.
Cats are crepuscular, meaning that in their original, natural habitat, they hunt and are most active when their prey, chiefly small rodents, is active, at dawn and dusk. You can say that it's the wrong time for you, and I understand that...but it's absolutely the natural best time for her. As she grows and becomes used to your patterns and schedule, though, she may adapt. My cats sleep with me (though they get up in the night, but they come back) and are very used to the feeding schedule we have (basically the most common one -- breakfast when I get up, lunch at 12, and dinner at 6:30 or so, with treats right before bed at 11).

 

[BeccaT]

Cats can be spayed or neutered once they weight 2 pounds, which can be at 8 weeks. It's a little early, but it is a policy many caring people agree with to curb feline overpopulation.
Cats are crepuscular, meaning that in their original, natural habitat, they hunt and are most active when their prey, chiefly small rodents, is active, at dawn and dusk. You can say that it's the wrong time for you, and I understand that...but it's absolutely the natural best time for her. As she grows and becomes used to your patterns and schedule, though, she may adapt. My cats sleep with me (though they get up in the night, but they come back) and are very used to the feeding schedule we have (basically the most common one -- breakfast when I get up, lunch at 12, and dinner at 6:30 or so, with treats right before bed at 11).

Oh, this is good to know! The vet we took her to when we had a last minute walk-in made us feel a bit guilty about her being spayed so young, but it was completely out of our control and even though she knew that, we left wondering if our little kitten would be stunted growth/development-wise at all due to this. I'm 100% for fixing cats though due to overpopulation.

We left her outside of our bedroom last night to roam the rest of the house and thankfully there was no crying at the door until sometime in the morning, but I did wonder and hope that she was able to get some more of her energy out there as there's way more space and more things for her to play with. Sadly, our living situation doesn't allow us to leave the door open while we sleep so it's either she's in the bedroom or she's out when it comes to the nighttime. I was hoping to have her sleep with us when she's older and calmed down a little as she can be very sweet and cuddly in bed, but this might be the better scenario until our living situation changes. We're also mostly free feeding her right now which 2 different vets have told us we're okay to do, and I plan on getting her on a better schedule when she's older. She's had some unfortunate reactions to different foods so we're scared to change things up too much. Thank you so much for your response!

Does anyone have any input on the sucking after/while drinking? I'm still not sure if I should be worried as it's only recently started. She drinks a decent amount through the day, not a whole lot, and I feed her both wet and dry food so I'm confident she's not dehydrated. It's just an odd sucking noise when she laps up water and I'm hoping she's not in any pain which is causing this.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Oh, this is good to know! The vet we took her to when we had a last minute walk-in made us feel a bit guilty about her being spayed so young, but it was completely out of our control and even though she knew that, we left wondering if our little kitten would be stunted growth/development-wise at all due to this. I'm 100% for fixing cats though due to overpopulation.

We left her outside of our bedroom last night to roam the rest of the house and thankfully there was no crying at the door until sometime in the morning, but I did wonder and hope that she was able to get some more of her energy out there as there's way more space and more things for her to play with. Sadly, our living situation doesn't allow us to leave the door open while we sleep so it's either she's in the bedroom or she's out when it comes to the nighttime. I was hoping to have her sleep with us when she's older and calmed down a little as she can be very sweet and cuddly in bed, but this might be the better scenario until our living situation changes. We're also mostly free feeding her right now which 2 different vets have told us we're okay to do, and I plan on getting her on a better schedule when she's older. She's had some unfortunate reactions to different foods so we're scared to change things up too much. Thank you so much for your response!

Does anyone have any input on the sucking after/while drinking? I'm still not sure if I should be worried as it's only recently started. She drinks a decent amount through the day, not a whole lot, and I feed her both wet and dry food so I'm confident she's not dehydrated. It's just an odd sucking noise when she laps up water and I'm hoping she's not in any pain which is causing this.

Experts suggest introducing any new food gradually, by combining it with an established food slowly, increasing the amount and decreasing the amount of the established food over about 2 weeks until your cat is eating 100% new food. Digestive disagreements are very common when introducing new foods, especially if it's done "cold turkey" so this makes sense. And it's important to keep kittens healthy digestive-wise, because diarrhea can dehydrate and cause more serious problems. Make sure your kitten has a good source of water, refreshed daily and in a clean bowl.
Is she your avatar? She's adorable!!! (We do love pix here at TCS!)

 

[BeccaT]

Experts suggest introducing any new food gradually, by combining it with an established food slowly, increasing the amount and decreasing the amount of the established food over about 2 weeks until your cat is eating 100% new food. Digestive disagreements are very common when introducing new foods, especially if it's done "cold turkey" so this makes sense. And it's important to keep kittens healthy digestive-wise, because diarrhea can dehydrate and cause more serious problems. Make sure your kitten has a good source of water, refreshed daily and in a clean bowl.
Is she your avatar? She's adorable!!! (We do love pix here at TCS!)

Thank you so much for all of this information! And yes, that's her! Her name's Annie. She's getting bigger every day. I may share more pictures of her on this forum soon!

 

[tarasgirl06]

Thank you so much for all of this information! And yes, that's her! Her name's Annie. She's getting bigger every day. I may share more pictures of her on this forum soon!

She's absolutely adorable!!! If you're like a lot of us, you're constantly snapping pix of feline(s). We love seeing them, and especially seeing little kittens grow!