Really concerned about kitten’s behaviour

[NeedaDiscoNap]

I posted last week about my 6 month old kitten’s tendency to bite. Over the last few days, the biting, scratching and swiping has escalated. Today he’s been going mad all day and I’m covered in war wounds. All the usual things we’ve been trying to stop him aren’t working, and my 5 year old is now too scared to go near him.

I’m really not sure what to do now. The charity we adopted him from said he occasionally bit, but they played it down. The reality is that he is trying to bite someone now with most interactions.

He is neutered, hasn’t had his booster yet so can’t go out yet. He has such a sweet nature but i’m starting to get quite worried.

They often do this
They are play fighting and don't know what their own strength. He will stop when he is neutered. All my kittens over the years have left scars. They get overexcited.
Bottle raised kittens or separated from mum too early are the worst as she teaches them manners.
See grandpa Mason teaching kittens manners on YouTube. Grandpa Mason is an old feral cat.

He’s playing - sounds like he’s bored. My cat is now one and went through a dreadful phase of of clawing and biting at around that age. She only occasionally bites now and it’s never hard, but she gets told off each time and I stop playing until she will play nice.

There wI'll be tips on teaching kittens manners on YouTube also. 6 months is late for neutering too. He is beginning to assert his alpha male dominance.

It’s normal, and it wears off after they go out chasing birds & mice.

Distraction is key, you can buy catnip spray to put on toys to they scratch them instead.

Thanks for the reply, he has been neutered (several weeks ago), sorry I thought i’d put that in the original post. That’s my worry I suppose - the play fighting should have decreased rather than increased.

We are experienced cat owners, so I know that they like to play fight, all my cats have done it. I’ve just never had so many scars/injuries! He’s drawn blood every time from me today!

At 6 months he should be fully vaccinated and allowed to go out.

Hiss at him

My boy cat was like this, especially in the morning. He used to really n

This is usually why it's better to get two kittens as they play fight with each other and learn boundaries that way.

Are you playing with him lots, to wear him out? Using toys on a string/wand etc. so your hands are well out of the way?

Oh the irony! Said cat just headbutted my hand and made me post that too soon!

Anyway, he used to come for a pet in yhe morning, then lie down and really bite and kick our hands. We started immediately stopping fussing him when he did that and eventually he grew out of it

Thanks for all the replies.

Banana, we adopted him three weeks ago and started his vaccinations immediately. His previous owner had not had him vaccinated so we need to wait until he’s had his booster before letting him out.

viccat, I have another cat who is a older, he’s submissive to her but she has started teaching him manners over the last day or so

He has loads of toys - toys on strings, wind-up toys, balls, feather toys, etc. We all (DH, me and DD) play with him a lot.

Hopefully once he has his booster and gets outside he’ll calm down.