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Post by flgirlatheart on May 1, 2017 23:26:34 GMT
DH and I recently rescued a 1 year old kitten. It's been a challenge getting our two older cats (13 and 8) to accept him because he will be fine one minute and then pounce on one of them. It doesn't seem to be aggression, just rough play. They've been really good at "using their words" and trying to remove themselves from the situation - which unfortunately makes him want to chase them.
He's also attacking me. Grabbing my leg or arm and clawing/biting me. Sometimes he lets go right away, sometimes he grabs me without using claws and other times he latches on until I can pull him off.
DH played with him for almost two hours last night, he was panting and kept laying down. The minute he climbed onto the bed he pounced on one of his sisters.
How can I let him know biting me is not appropriate? I've never played with him using my hands, etc. and try to be aware of when he's starting to get hyper so I can remove myself from his path.
What else can we do to wear him out? Are we playing too much? I'm at a loss - -all of our rescues have been older cats but he was headed to a shelter and I didn't have the heart to allow it to happen. Any advice is welcome.
Also, I'd love to post a picture but don't know how 🙁 He's a cutie!
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Jun 16, 2024 12:50:52 GMT
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2017 23:31:38 GMT
Is he fixed?
I would just let the older cats teach him how to behave.
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Post by flgirlatheart on May 1, 2017 23:36:28 GMT
Yes he is fixed. Also got a clean bill of health a month ago before we brought him home. I've been hoping the girls would bop him one or two good times but they just try to run away - which makes him chase them.
The good news is that our girls are getting along great...completely united in their shared hatred LOL.
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Post by peano on May 1, 2017 23:37:17 GMT
We have a 1 1/2 year old male cat who also gets crazy from time to time. DH swears he acts like a toddler that is overtired, and needs a time-out. Things we've tried are a spray bottle of water (if he bites/claws), putting him in the basement and shutting the door and letting him prowl around down there for a little while, and catnip (but it tends to mellow him out, not make him more nuts. YMMV) DH also takes him outside on a harness and lets him chase bugs.
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Post by MichyM on May 2, 2017 1:45:20 GMT
I think you may have forgotten what it's like to have a younger cat around. My two both just turned four, and are just now beginning to move out of the wild child stage. Ok....not quite that bad, but still
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Post by scrappychick on May 2, 2017 2:00:57 GMT
Kittens are evil little monsters. Jumping, clawing, pouncing, biting, running-day and night!
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Post by Zee on May 2, 2017 3:36:40 GMT
I hate to break it to you but young cats are going to try to play with other cats. I've put a meek older cat in that position before and I regretted it. My old man cat now is big add strong still and puts our kitten in his place when he's had enough, but that doesn't keep the kitten from trying. As for the attacking and biting, try only playing with him with toys, not your hand or arm. A stern NO when he attacks, along with a squirt of water or compressed air, might help. I personally am not averse to blocking kitty attacks with a well-placed foot (not a kick, just a block) and a shout that lets him know you're bigger and stronger and not someone he should be attacking. When my kitten first joined the house and tried to jump on us we'd catch him as he pounced, tell him NO, and set him down gently. He learned quickly that we didn't play that way. He'll still stalk and pounce but he stops short of the actual attack. Kittens are wild little creatures and it's preparation for adulthood that leads them to play-attack everything. I think of it as daily entertainment, but then again my kitten doesn't attack me with claws or fangs so that's easy for me to say
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Post by hopemax on May 2, 2017 3:46:55 GMT
I have one of those. He is now 2, and he showed up on our back porch when he was 6 months old. Our now 14 year old cat was not amused. Ours likes to get our attention by running top speed and jumping on my husband's Lego table, sending whatever happens to be there flying. He has gotten a lot better, but the 20 minutes when my husband comes home from work, and the half hour before meal time in the morning, he can still be a terror.
All I can say is be consistent in correcting behavior (ours likes to jump where he is not supposed to, but now we start to get up, say his name and "no" and he jumps down) and play, play, play, play, play. I say he knows what he is supposed to do, he just has impulse control. I got a new suitcase and never instructed him on not getting on it. I saw him on top, and the moment he saw me he jumped down, I never had to say anything. So he does know.
We also sometimes put him in "time out" when he is really wild in the early morning. Which means he gets put in the spare room with the litter box and water fountain. He does settle down pretty quickly once we do that. Curls up on his blanket on the bed and my husband can get his last half hour of sleep.
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Post by nlwilkins on May 2, 2017 6:59:34 GMT
My one 14 month old kitty is just now finally growing out of all the wild stuff. But, she still has a lot of fire in her. Sometimes she just gets out of control and I will put her in the dark bathroom to calm her down. It is areal small bathroom with no window. I just has to remember to remove the TP before shutting the door. I set a timer and only leave her in there 10 minutes. When I open the door, she is much more in control of herself and sometimes just stays there in the bathroom for a little while more. Now if she was hollering and banging on the door, I would not be doing this, as it would not be calming her down.
The water squirting did not calm her down, she would just run and then come back and try again on what she was doing. We have some short soft pool noodles that we threaten her with and sometimes have to pat her bottom with that seem to do a good job of teaching her to keep off things. But, still she persists in getting on the table and kitchen counters. I firmly believe that all cats do that, they just don't do when their humans can see them. Ours has not learned yet to hide it from us.
Your best bet is to let the older cats take care of themselves. They will eventually teach the kitten who is boss. That is if the kitten does not end up being boss. They might just find places to hide from the kitten. I would not play with the kitten with my hands or feet. Use toys, a fishing pole or a laser light. Your job is not to entertain the kitten, the kitten needs to learn to entertain himself. Ball with bells in them, boxes and kitty tv (windows that have ledges for cats to sit on and watch the world outside) are our favorites here. When petting the kitten use slow gentle motions. Rubbing him down from the head to the tail. Fast, hard motions only stir them up more. And if he isn't fixed yet, get it done soon. That helps a lot too.
If he still is too much and you can't see keeping him as he is, try giving him a room of his own with a litter box, food and water. Let him live in there with time out each day for good behavior. That is better than living in a cage at the shelter with the possibility of being put down sometime soon. Perhaps he cannot handle all the room and freedom right now and needs limited territory too. As he matures you will be able to leave her out more and more.
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tuesdaysgone
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,832
Jun 26, 2014 18:26:03 GMT
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Post by tuesdaysgone on May 2, 2017 9:39:26 GMT
We have a four year old cat with some of the same behaviors. He gets so excited and tends to play rough with both us and our older cat. We give him a little squirt of water or I pin him down gently like a mother cat would. If I can stay away from his claws as I do it, this calms him the best. He'll go from hellion to snuggles very quickly. I love him but he aggravates the mess out of me some days.
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Post by flgirlatheart on May 2, 2017 11:09:13 GMT
Thank you for all of the input. It sounds like we are doing things correctly - we never play with our hands or feet, give him lots of appropriate play time with a variety of toys and provide him with plenty of things to do by himself. I have been hoping our 8 year old, Bella, (she was born and lived on a farm until we adopted her last November) will eventually knock the snot out of him so he will be aware of their boundaries but so far she hides in the closet LOL.
This is our first kitten so we weren't sure if his behavior is normal. Sounds like we just need consistency and time! 😀
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