kitten bitting

[samoa]

Hi All,

We have taken in an abandoned 2mth old kitten. My friends found him when he was 4 wks old. He healthy and has all his vaccines.

I have never had cats before. He is cute and very loving. Only problem is that when he plays he bites. It is driving me crazy and my dd is getting upset. I know he only does it because he is excited but how do I stop him? I have tried tapping him on the nose but it is not making any difference.

Also is it possible that because he was abandoned he has not learnt to clean himself?

Thanks

[GemmaTeller]

Hi, we found a kitten abandoned that the vet said was 7wk old.

He was quite bitey at first but has grown out of it ( DH thinks that why he thrown out of a car on the bypass abandoned ).

We used to say no and put a hand up in 'stop' kind of way and eventually he has stopped.

We do have another old cat and although they have not grown close and don't snuggle up together (apart from when kitten came back from vets after having the snip) he does watch her and we did see him sat on the opposite end of the sofa watching her intently as she cleaned herself and he started to copy her.

[cozietoesie]

Best not to tap on the nose - just say 'NO' in a firm voice and immediately stop the interaction with him, putting him outside the room door for a time out if necessary. He'll soon learn that biting is not allowed. And yes - it is just over-stimulation so best also to judge when he's getting excited and stop (and warn DD to do the same) before he gets to that stage.

What do you mean by 'not learnt to clean himself' ? 4 weeks is terribly young to be on your own and there are a lot of things he won't have learned from his Mum - although I appreciate that he was abandoned so you and your friend did a good thing in taking him in.

[Lonecatwithkitten]

Exactly as Cozie advises. At 4 weeks of age some kittens still require the damp cotton wool wiping around the anus to stimulate urination and defaecation and when we hand rear kittens here we do spread that across the kittens body to mimic the mother licking and demonstrate what the kitten needs to do.

[issey6cats]

as others have said at 4 weeks old he would not have learnt even half what a kittenis supposed to learn frm his mom, i have one who gets like this has done since being a baby, i make a very loud pssss noise which is what his mom would have done when he got too laeary for her and as cozie says put him outside the room for a short time out to calm down, he will get better as he gets a bit older

[Fluffycloudland77]

Bitings just part of being a kitten, neutering sorts it out a bit but they do grow out of it.

[GemmaTeller]

When we first got kitten cat he would try and wake me up by biting my face - I would say 'no' and put him on the floor.

He's just over a year old now and doesn't do it anymore, he jumps on the bed and cuddles into me now to wake me up.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Ooh, ouchy.

I slept on the sofa the first night after he was neutered, he woe me at 7 by biting my toes so I went back to bed.

[QueenStromba]

A really loud ouch and ignoring my rescue cat for ten minutes mostly sorted her out. I did get a nip yesterday when BT were out for the second time in a week yesterday though.

[cozietoesie]

I was nipped by Seniorboy this morning so he was relegated for the requisite time out. (I was being darned irritating, I confess, but those are house rules.) So I'm not so sure about your 'grow out of it' Fluffy. I think they just lull you into a false sense of complacency.