My 8 Weeks Kitten Keep Biting My Hands. Is That Because She's Teething Or She's Just Playing?

[Anhvo]

My 8 weeks old kitty - Chloe bite my hands everytime she saw my hands. She only bites my hands and my feet, especially when my hands are moving. However, she never bites me when i'm sleeping. My friends who owned a mature cat said Chloe is still teething and she needs something to bite. Is this normal and how long does it take her to stop? I've never had a kitten before, so thank you guys so much for replying!

 

[daisyd]

That's a normal 8 week kitten !! She's playing as she would with her litter mates. I learned (after i got my 7 week old kitten) they shouldnt really leave their mothers until 12 weeks ! I think those last 4 weeks are where they learn their social skills so she now has to learn these from you. When we got gracie I had bites all over my hands and arms ! Your little one is teething however she is also playing ! Have you tons of toys for her to play with ? Something to distract from your hands ? Also never play with her with your hands as she will bite . Dangly toys are fantastic !! Gracie is 8 months now has stopped biting as much however still loves feet ! She even tries go scoop them when I'm in the bath !

 

[daisyd]

Also is that her on profile pic? She's adorable

 

[orange&white]

I just dropped off an 8 week old kitten at the shelter to be neutered and adopted. (He was a stray/feral who was abandoned and starving, so I trapped him at 5 1/2 weeks.)

That little guy never did seem to relax...always bite, bite, bite...and bunny thumb with his back legs. That and launching himself from the floor onto my thigh! It was "sort of" cute, because it is perfectly normal behavior at that age. I kept a stuffed toy about the same size as him, to give him to bite and kick, instead of my hands. He would also use the corner of a fleece blanket at a substitute.

You don't want to encourage the behavior since you want her to grow out of it faster, not slower.

Also, I noticed the kitten calmed down if I just carried him around the house for a bit to let him see the sights from a higher vantage point than his normal 5 inches off the ground. He was too busy looking around to be biting.

They can be annoyingly adorable at that age if you just keep in mind that she will outgrow it soon as long as you don't encourage roughhousing with your hands.

 

[Anhvo]

That's a normal 8 week kitten !! She's playing as she would with her litter mates. I learned (after i got my 7 week old kitten) they shouldnt really leave their mothers until 12 weeks ! I think those last 4 weeks are where they learn their social skills so she now has to learn these from you. When we got gracie I had bites all over my hands and arms ! Your little one is teething however she is also playing ! Have you tons of toys for her to play with ? Something to distract from your hands ? Also never play with her with your hands as she will bite . Dangly toys are fantastic !! Gracie is 8 months now has stopped biting as much however still loves feet ! She even tries go scoop them when I'm in the bath !

Thank you! I adopt Chloe when she was 2 weeks. Her mom got killed before I adopt her, so I've got to bottle feed her at first. She got tons of toy but still prefer my hands anyways haha. And yes, that's her on the profile picture. She's now 8 weeks old and super busy running around the house. Thanks a lot for your reply God bless you!

 

[Anhvo]

I just dropped off an 8 week old kitten at the shelter to be neutered and adopted. (He was a stray/feral who was abandoned and starving, so I trapped him at 5 1/2 weeks.)

That little guy never did seem to relax...always bite, bite, bite...and bunny thumb with his back legs. That and launching himself from the floor onto my thigh! It was "sort of" cute, because it is perfectly normal behavior at that age. I kept a stuffed toy about the same size as him, to give him to bite and kick, instead of my hands. He would also use the corner of a fleece blanket at a substitute.

You don't want to encourage the behavior since you want her to grow out of it faster, not slower.

Also, I noticed the kitten calmed down if I just carried him around the house for a bit to let him see the sights from a higher vantage point than his normal 5 inches off the ground. He was too busy looking around to be biting.

They can be annoyingly adorable at that age if you just keep in mind that she will outgrow it soon as long as you don't encourage roughhousing with your hands.

I did try using toys to stop her bite my hand, but my hand may seems tastier to her haha. My Chloe also enjoys going out. I bring her out to the lake intown 3 times a week, and she always calm and nice when being out. Thanks a lot for your reply! God bless you!

 

[orange&white]

Bless you for saving her life and taking care of her!

 

[catlover73]

I adopted my now 10 year old female Starbuck when she was 6 weeks old. She was separated from mom and siblings at 4 weeks. She thought nose biting was a form of communication. I trained her out of this behavior by gently tapping her on the nose and saying no biting. Then I would put her down on the floor.

She also did the hand biting when she was teething. One of my friend's has a dog and cat household. She gave her kitten a toy to chew on that was for teething puppies and it helped with the biting. I used this for Starbuck and it worked well. A trick I used to get her to stop play biting was to keep a soft ball toy near me. When she would bite my hands I would throw the ball and she would chase it instead of biting me.

 

[Anhvo]

Bless you for saving her life and taking care of her!

She's too adorable and innocent to be alone. God bless you!

 

[Anhvo]

I adopted my now 10 year old female Starbuck when she was 6 weeks old. She was separated from mom and siblings at 4 weeks. She thought nose biting was a form of communication. I trained her out of this behavior by gently tapping her on the nose and saying no biting. Then I would put her down on the floor.

She also did the hand biting when she was teething. One of my friend's has a dog and cat household. She gave her kitten a toy to chew on that was for teething puppies and it helped with the biting. I used this for Starbuck and it worked well. A trick I used to get her to stop play biting was to keep a soft ball toy near me. When she would bite my hands I would throw the ball and she would chase it instead of biting me.

Thank you for your reply. I tried to give her toys and stuff to bite, but if my hand still there, she would choose to bite my hand lol. But she still a sweet girl though. if she notice that i'm as sleep, she would go play somewhere else and then comeback sleep next to me when she's tired. And she didn't bite me when she's outside too. She was too busy exploring the world as in the picture )))

 

[orange&white]

Awwww! That's a great picture.

 

[Anhvo]

Awwww! That's a great picture.

thank you! She's always escape from the camera so it takes me effort to take picture of her. Those picture of her that I can take easily is those when she's in the bottle feed stage. I can stop myself melting when I look back at these pic

 

[Columbine]

She is absolutely gorgeous Thank you so much for saving her . She's so lucky to have found you

I don't know if this will work with a bottle-baby, but usually squealing or squeaking 'ow/ouch' loudly will get a kitten to back off for a second or two, giving you the opportunity to substitute your hand for a toy This works because it's what kittens would naturally do to each other if someone bit too hard or played too rough. I'm just not sure if it's and instinctive reaction or a learned response.

Other tricks are to freeze instantly (if the 'prey' is dead its no fun to 'kill') or to push your hand into the bite. This is the exact opposite of what prey would do, and so usually gets kitty to release you. (As I'm sure you know, I keep talking about prey, because all cat (and especially kitten) play is based around learning and honing hunting skills for later on ).

A good kitten tip is to always have a suitable toy or two on you, so that whenever she goes into biting mode you can instantly replace your hand with something more suitable. A laser pointer is a great tool to guide her away from your feet when you're walking around, and is small enough to easily fit in a pocket too Kittens chewing on and 'killing' your hands and pouncing your feet are very cute, but it certainly isn't secure when an adult cat does the same thing The trick is to be 100% consistent with her. It may take a little time, but she will learn the new rules

How To Stop Playtime Aggression In Cats
How And Why Do Cats Play?
Playing With Your Cat: 10 Things You Need To Know
How To Set Healthy Boundaries For Your Cat
Choosing The Right Cat Toy For Your Kitten

 

[daisyd]

Columbine - yes forgot that one ! Try and keep your hand still even if hurts a bit or push into her mouth. Also lovely picture but you may have to keep her secure on on leash when she's outside as they can get skiddish really quickly and wriggle from you and run easily . When we carty gracie to her outside pen my hubby does as he holds her firm ! I nearly lost mine 2 weeks ago as she got frightened and ran through the door netting ! Hubby has to jump a 6ft wall wall to retrieve her ! I was in bits