kittens & hand biting

[Howlinbob]

Hands under the duvet game? That's the best game ever! And you squirted the poor creature with water?? No wonder the poor little chap didn't get back on the bed...

When they do need a deterrent, I don't have a water pistol or similar, but what I find works really well is the hairdryer. Yes I need to have it to hand and plugged in, but if prepared, it does the trick. Now I only have to show it to them, not even turn it on.

At other times, a loud 'Oi!' or 'No!' will suffice. Like with dogs, you have to have the intent behind the word/gesture. For example, Monty is a bugger with the wet washing. When I'm pulling it out of the machine he likes to grab hold of it and run off with it. He caught me with all his claws yesterday and I shouted 'NOOOO! THAT HURTS!!!' Boy did he look contrite. I showed him the scratches and said again 'That HURT Monty!' He took himself off, tail between legs....

[candes]

Also, no water spray is ever used here. A loud 'Hey!' when they do something naughty is sufficient. Or when they are on the kitchen worktop trying to steal food I just pick them up and gently put them down on the floor. After two or three times they get the message and stop trying.

We are much alike. I also use verbal discipline.

[Neural]

Verbal discipline doesn't seem to be much of a deterrent for these two.

Penny is the worse of the two. She will temporarily stop if you say "Ow!" and such, but then she's right back at it again a little later.

Last night was *really* bad. We have been trying to get things done in the basement so the kittens can go down there, and we're trying to prepare for family to come over next week.
As such, we let them sleep a bit too long yesterday afternoon. Last night we must have been up til 1am with the kittens racing around the room, attacking our hands, feet, faces, etc., then they went to sleep, and decided at 5:30am that it was time to start again.

I'm sooo sleepy right now

[Howlinbob]

No, mine don't exactly sleep through the night either. They are up at 5 or 6 am larking about. So we shut them downstairs in the kitchen with acess to their litter trays, so even if they start playing at the crack of dawn, we won't hear a thing. We just have to make sure that we've left nothing out which might attract their attention - food, bread, food wrappers, etc. We now have to put the kitchen bin in a cupboard or they would raid it and spread the contents all around the floor (this has happened a few times!).

Yesterday I stupidly left the bacon out (but wrapped up). We went out for a bit and when we got back, they had unwrapped the bacon, separated the 3 slices, taken one slice off and left it in bits on the floor. All of it had been licked and chewed. The dog couldn't believe his luck, he gobbled up as much as he could before we could stop him! But this was our fault, there was no point telling them off, as I gave them the opportunity, and the deed was well and truly done.

[mcguy]

Kittens definitely tend to bite too hard--it takes a while for them to learn what is acceptable. Remember also that their baby teeth are exceptionally sharp so it hurts even more than it would later, and they go through stages when they are teething and so are quite prone to wanting to chew/bite. My experience is that they eventually are less into biting as they mature, and that simply stopping rough play will fairly quickly teach them not to bite too much.

Kittens are very cute and fun to watch grow up, but they are also quite a bit of work!

[Neural]

That's funny that you mention baby teeth. I have grown up with cats. The first cat in my life was 6months older than I was, and she was with our family until she was 16. We got kittens after her, and so on.

Yet while studying Maine Coons before we made a commitment to get some, we came across the baby teeth issue.

I had no clue that cats had baby teeth in a similar manner to humans!

[Howlinbob]

Larry and Monty have just been through a stage where their new canine teeth have started to come through, BEFORE the canine milk teeth have dropped out. So for a few days they've had DOUBLE canine teeth, on both sides! I never knew this was going to happen!

We've been checking regularly to see when the milk teeth drop out, and now they have, one by one. Last night we checked Larry and sure enough, he was down to 2 brand new perfect canine teeth. Then we noticed on the floor the tiny milk tooth, so we picked it up and put it in a jar......next to pensioner Barney's old canine tooth which fell out a few months back, which as you can imagine is very long and wizened. The very old tooth and the very young tooth!

Yes I know, pair of saddoes we are...

[Neural]

Well, we've had mixed results.

Via using "ow!" and some water spritzing, James only does the play biting when he's not interested in being petted. This is clear.

Penny however is a serious problem. Earlier today, she switched from wanting to be petted, to trying to bite my fingertips multiple times. Each time she'd bit, I'd grab her by the scruff and lift her a little and firmly, but not loudly, say "no".

This does not seem to deter her at all.

[Howlinbob]

Aww, it's all a big fun game to her at the moment! I'm sure she'll calm down as she gets older.

[FreyjaRoMaine]

We quite like the Duvet game, and to be fair to Freyja she generally only plays it when the lights are on - once it's dark, she tends to settle down and jump off the bed to sprawl out on the floor. Sometimes she gets into psychokitty mode, and all I need to do then is get a garden mist can out and she calms right down - she's only been 'misted' once (I deliberately used a mister instead of a spray) and now she only needs to see the can and she stops.

She also likes a good chew on fingers and knuckles, and I know you're not supposed to encourage it but she looks like a proper little lion when she's in that mood and is impossible to resist. Plus, she's never drawn blood with her teeth or claws, and if her chomping gets uncomfortably hard I just have to say 'calm down' and blow gently in her face - she stops the gnawing and licks the spot she's just had her fangs in. I know she can bite much harder than she does, 'cos I've watched her chewing Freddie The Fairy often enough. Claws are the only real issue, to be honest - her back feet in particular. I've perfected the art of holding onto her back feet and saying 'claws' quite firmly (admittedly, this has had varying success!), but mainly she grips my hands with her front paws to hold them in place whilst she clamps her face round my fingers!