HELP - Psycho kitten!!

[BigMomma3]

Had our kitten for 3 weeks now (he is almost 10 weeks) and he is constantly biting and clawing when being played with. My hands look like they've been through a shredder and although the biting did not hurt at first, it does now!! His claws are massive as well and he will quite often leap up at me and run all the way up to my shoulders while digging his claws in me!!

He also loves to lick my jumpers and that is the only time he purrs and it's quite difficult to stop him as he clings on for dear life but I am worried his stomach may start getting full of fluff!!

He is currently biting and scratching my arms as I type .

Any ideas to make him stop doing both of these things??

Get another kitten.

This is how kittens play; get used to it or get him a companion.

Our kitten is like this with her mum most of the time. The mother pins her to the floor and bites her neck - doesn't hurt her though.

Kittens need to learn that hands are not for playing, when he bites/claws your hand and you're not playing pick him up and put him on the other side of the room, then go back to what you were doing. I've found with my kittens that if you do this enough eventually they learn to stop the unwanted behaviour, or at least reduce it.

When you want to play use toys on strings or with long tails, and don't ever let him play with your hand so he doesn't get confused about whether it is or isn't for play - as mentioned this is how kittens play, with a lot of biting and scratching, so you can't stop the behaviour, you just need to move it from your hand onto something else.

It's common for kitten to knead/suckle/lick blankets and clothing - when kittens suckle their mothers they knead their mother's fur as they drink. The licking is a comforting behaviour, like a child might suck their thumb. This is particularly common in kittens who leave their mothers too early - you say you've had him 3 weeks and he's not even 10 weeks old yet? Most cat breeders suggest leaving kittens with their mothers till they're 12 weeks old, or at the very least 8 weeks, so he is probably too young really to be away from his mother, and is substituting you for her as a comfort thing - I wouldn't worry about the behaviour, as it really is very common (look up cats kneading/suckling on google and there ae pages of results) and I don't think you will be able to change it - I have heard of cats doing this for all of their adult lives, and my 4 month old kitten does it frequently, I would just suggest finding some blankets made of a material such as fleece which won't lose lots of threads and fluff so that you know he isn't injesting lots of material fibres.

I hope you are able to deter some of his biting from your hand to other toys, and enjoy these early weeks with your kitten - he will grow up so fast!

Thanks - I don't think I'd get another one though!! There is more than enough poop in this one and I would not want to clean up more!!

Beryl - thanks for that. I also think he was taken too early. He was not 7 weeks when I got him and the smallest of the litter (that's why I wanted him ). I did query it with the lady advertising them and they said they nornally go at between 6-8 weeks and they were driving them nuts so that is probably why she wanted to get rid of them (there were 6 altogether).

I will try moving him to a corner of the room (reminds me of when the kids were toddlers!). Thanks for the advice.