Will she always be quite so vicious ? And what do I do when she bites/scratches ?

[TheOriginalNutcracker]

We got our kitten at 8 weeks old in april and so now she is about 16 weeks and has settled in well but she does love to have a bite and scratch, especially when I am just sat watching tv etc.

Is this just an age thing ? and what am i supposed to do when she does it ?? Currently I shout no and put her on the floor, but she just gets straight back up.

[Fluffycloudland77]

It's a kitten thing they grow out of it. Are you sure it's a girl? Sometimes it's not obvious. Iyswim. Sil thought hers was a boy till 6 kittens arrived, she didn't even have a season just got very fat suddenly.

[sprinkles77]

She will probably grow out of it, might be better once she's spayed. Oh, she'll be getting her adult teeth and they do lots of biting as this happens. Before you ask, the tooth fairy said no prizes for kitty teeth.

[TheOriginalNutcracker]

Well we were told it was a girl lol.

I was thinking it might get better when she is spayed. Will hopefully be getting that done once we have moved house, and before we let her out.

[Fluffycloudland77]

Dh cousin thought she had a girl till it dropped a pair. It's a Bengal and their equipment is very obvious! I always say we had to get ours castrated cos dh was feeling insecure. Damn cat still looks like a full tom.

The vet will tell you when she has her jabs. I only asked if it's a boy cos tom kittens tend to get a bit friskier than girls and I read that's why toms get chased out the litter, that and inbreeding they certainly don't care who they mate with.

[sprinkles77]

2 interesting things: look under kitten's tail. If what they have looks like a colon (:) it's a boy. if it looks like a semi colon (;) it's a girl. Secondly, when they castrate them they don't just whip the balls off, they open the ball sack, remove the balls, then sew it back together. So they still have tiny fluffy pom poms that can be mistaken for balls. If you give them a feel you can see if they are empty or not!

[DontCallMeBaby]

Argh at groping cats! :o

Back ends of my two boycats look VERY different post-castration. There was getting to be absolutely no mistake at all that they were little boys. You can just about see something there now, but they're a sorry shadow of what was there previously ...

But on biting and scratching - ours got better once they had adult teeth and were a bit bigger. They could control themselves more. So now one tends not to bite or scratch, while the other one does it but only in play (claws retracted, very soft 'mouthing' instead of biting). We just naturally withdrew attention from them if they hurt us, don't know if it helped or if they just naturally matured.

However the one that generally doesn't bite/scratch, when he DOES - ow. Gets a bit excited and attacks the upholstery, and if you're in the way you're in trouble.

[Piggles]

A lot of cats do grow out of giving random savagings as they get older.

One of my cats was completely horrendous for nipping and scratching unprovoked up until she was about a year old. She is still a little savage sometimes, but generally saves it for when one of us goes to stroke her and she just isn't in the mood - or if we are trying to give her a worm pill. Which of course turns even the most reasonable cat into a flailing clawing psycho

My mother's cat is still inclined to bite pretty much everyone except my mother though - even at the ripe old age of 17. So some cats just don't ever stop sharpening their teeth on people.