Kitten is a bit bitey

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

5 month old beloved kitten/nearly cat still bites when play fighting. We thought she'd calm herself down as she got older and haven't worried too much so far but she is getting bigger and occasionally bites quite hard. I think she just gets carried away. Occasionally, though, she puts her ears back and leaps at us with her mouth already open like a bloody tiger!

I'm loath to raise my voice at her or to use any negative reinforcement other than putting her down when she does it and refusing to play along.

Are there any tricks to training her out of it?

[Pancakeorcrepe]

Aaaww that is a lovely result! She is too gorgeous.
Kickeroos are an amazing toy, also look up a toy called Cat Dancer on Amazon or Zooplus. Super plain and cheap toy but mine go beserk for it. Ping pong balls are great because they are very bouncy. Those tunnels which they usually have in the pet section in Asda or Tesco are always a success with my foster kittens.

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

I've been trying the extra play thing since it was suggested a few days ago and it has made all the difference - she's not bitten any of us and she's absolutely exhausted so she's much cuddlier. We just weren't tiring her out entertaining her enough, I think.

[Silvercatowner]

Hiss at her when she bites. I cured my cat of biting by doing this (I posted on here and that is the advice I was given). It's what mummy cats do when their kits do something naughty.

[Shmithecat2]

One of my (6) cats is 7yo and still bites when he gets over excited. A loud, short, sharp 'OW!' stops him, but he'll just do it again at some point. It's just how he is. He super loving and affectionate, not a nasty bone in his body.

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

@samlh

Leo is/was a bitey kitten. He wasn't malicious with it, generally when playing.

We got him a Kong Kickeroo from ZooPlus and when he goes to bite and "bunny kick" we grab the kickeroo and he does it to that instead.

He nipped my toe the other day when I was lay on the sofa (which he hasn't ever done before) and I just picked him up and put him on the floor near his toys and he started playing with them instead and it's not happened again :)

Thanks - I will look into a kickeroo

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

@sluj

Don't "play fight" with kittens, you just wind them up, confuse them and set up behaviour problems. Play with dangly toys and laser lights instead.

I think I may have given the wrong impression - I don't play fight with her. That's just me putting the kindest spin on her trying to kill me! I take my hands away when she bites but she often leaps from one end of the bed to the other and goes straight to biting.

[samlh]

Leo is/was a bitey kitten. He wasn't malicious with it, generally when playing.

We got him a Kong Kickeroo from ZooPlus and when he goes to bite and "bunny kick" we grab the kickeroo and he does it to that instead.

He nipped my toe the other day when I was lay on the sofa (which he hasn't ever done before) and I just picked him up and put him on the floor near his toys and he started playing with them instead and it's not happened again :)

[IamMaz]

We have 2 brothers from Cats Protection - now 9. But a few months old when we got them. The bigger one is such a licky cat - more like a dog! I've never known another cat like it.
BUT after he has licked and licked, he blooming bites! Not a ferocious one, just a slow little nip. It doesn't even hurt but I'm on edge just waiting for it...

[Sunnydayshereatlast]

We had 2 dkittens and very minimum soft furnishings damage!! Ds 3 carried one on each shoulder and they happily sat there!! Cutest pair ever!!
Dd is currently dkitten hunting for a pair from today!!
A pair and a spare are even better!! (3!!)

[sluj]

Don't "play fight" with kittens, you just wind them up, confuse them and set up behaviour problems. Play with dangly toys and laser lights instead.

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

She does love a laser pointer. We properly tired her out yesterday after advice on this thread - she was leaping about after her toy until she just lay down and panted with her mouth open...and no biting.

[Fluffycloudland77]

I would forgive that little face too.

Have you tried her with laser pointers? You can get toys that fire random laser patterns she can use when your not there.

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

You were all right about playing - got her big green feather on a stick out and she is leaping about like a mad thing. Feeling v guilty that we haven't been playing with her enough! She can jump so high now.

[SirVixofVixHall]

Oh and she is lovely.

[SirVixofVixHall]

Isn’t that the definition of “kitten” ?

[IHaveBrilloHair]

She's beautiful.
They do that, mine still do and they are 8, so long as its not nasty or breaking the skin I wouldn't worry about it.

[Maryann1975]

My cat bites me, but no one else. I am however, her favourite person, she isn’t too bothered about the others, but will sit with me, prefers my bed. I’m not generally the one who feeds her the most, but am here the most normally.
I have read she might be a biter cat because she was taken away from her mother and litter mates to early. She did leave her mother at 6 weeks And we had her at 9 weeks from the cats protection.
When she bites me I tend to blow on her, which she doesn’t like and she lets go and jumps down. I have no idea if that is an accepted method of cat discipline, but it removes her teeth from My arm quickly, so I’m sticking with it.

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

@Sunnydayshereatlast

Get another dkitten.

Tell me more...

[Sunnydayshereatlast]

Get another dkitten.

[ivfdreaming]

My tabby also does this but he's 8 - he is definitely the more wild animal like in his play behaviour compared to our other cats who aren't phased by hands waving at them.

It's taken a while but if he gets over excited we just remove our hands from his vicinity and step back, when daughter was young we'd physically put him out of the room and eventually he has learnt if he wants to play then he needs to behave himself

[wherestheotherone]

Play with her lots with appropriate toys. The minute she bites you stop and give her no attention at all. Kittens need a lot of play time.

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

Sorry for the weird multiple posts

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

Here she is, by the way. Who wouldn't forgive her just about anything, with that beautiful face?

[caitlinohara]

I like her fancy socks

[caitlinohara]

Yes, definitely don’t encourage her to play fight with your hands/feet, even feet under the duvet.