Hello everyone,
I adopted an 8 week old-kitten ("Leo") several days ago and he is the sweetest thing... Most of the time. Here are the two main issues I am having with him:
1) He's already starting to develop the habit of thinking that my hands are toys even though I say "no" and walk away when he bites/scratches them. It is getting to the point where he will try to bite/scratch my hands even when he isn't in a hyper mood if I reach down to pet him.
2) He will not stop jumping/scratching on my vinyl couch. This is a problem because every time he jumps/scratches on the couch his claws get stuck, thus putting holes in the vinyl. I have tried saying "no" when he does this and it's like he doesn't even hear me. I have also tried spritzing him from a distance so he doesn't know it's me, which worked yesterday (he ran away very quickly) but today it doesn't even phase him. I am worried that he is already becoming "immune" to all forms of negative reinforcement which is very disconcerting to me.
I am new to kitten ownership so any advice would be very helpful.
I adopted an 8 week old-kitten ("Leo") several days ago and he is the sweetest thing... Most of the time. Here are the two main issues I am having with him:
1) He's already starting to develop the habit of thinking that my hands are toys even though I say "no" and walk away when he bites/scratches them. It is getting to the point where he will try to bite/scratch my hands even when he isn't in a hyper mood if I reach down to pet him.
2) He will not stop jumping/scratching on my vinyl couch. This is a problem because every time he jumps/scratches on the couch his claws get stuck, thus putting holes in the vinyl. I have tried saying "no" when he does this and it's like he doesn't even hear me. I have also tried spritzing him from a distance so he doesn't know it's me, which worked yesterday (he ran away very quickly) but today it doesn't even phase him. I am worried that he is already becoming "immune" to all forms of negative reinforcement which is very disconcerting to me.
I am new to kitten ownership so any advice would be very helpful.