Very naughty kitten

[SometimesIwonderifishouldbemedicated]

Please reassure me, it's been a long time since I had a kitten and by god this one is driving me bonkers 🤣
About 15 weeks (she was dumped in a box on my FILs farm), she has been here about 7 weeks now so was much too young to have been ripped away from her mum.
We took her in (I already have a few cats and a dog) and she settled in well.
But she's now turning I to an actual demon, constantly jumping out of hiding places and biting our ankles and feet, you maybe get 10 mins of petting and her purring before she jumps and attacks you.
Please reassure me this is normal, that she won't be some horrible, vicious, arsehole cat? She has a huge cat tree and lots of toys so it's not for want of stimulation either.

Pic of aforementioned demon kitty (she's so stinking cute)

No advice to give but she is definitely so stinking cute!! Little pickle.

She is, I just don't remember my other cats being so viscious, she growls at the other cats if they come near her when she's eating, we think she was the runt as she was much smaller than her other sister who a family member adopted (although she's just as bitey if not worse).
She can be so sweet and friendly too, which is why I'm holding out hope that this is normal!

DH and I almost split up when boy cat was a baby because he was such a nightmare and made us row. He's the soppiest big guy now and very well behaved!

Ah she'll be fine, she's learning at the moment. How she's acting with you is how she would act with her mother / siblings :) You're her family! P.s some kittens don't generally like being stroked for long as it's over stimulating. She'll settle down..eventually.

She's adorable. And, yes, she is just going through a demon kitten phase. I'm sure she'll turn into a lovely cat.

My chompy, pouncy, hand-attacking monster kitten is now a giant panther of a lap rug, who headbutts my hand so hard when putting down food that I throw the bowl across the room, and has to accompany me round the garden every day miaowing for attention every two steps. He's a super-extrovert but has learned manners as he grew up! Cat tax supplied.

Your definitely stinking cute kitten will hopefully keep her playfulness and lose the murderousness!

DesparatePragmatist he's gorgeous, my other two girls are similar although little old ladies now, they just eat, sleep and purr like motorboats. I don't remember either of them being this way, but then again the youngest of them is 17 so it was a very long time ago!
I'm just getting over puppy stress, ddog was a complete nightmare, I was very naiive thinking a kitten would be easier!

Thanks for the reassurance everyone, makes me feel a lot better about her, I had to lock her in the utility for half an hour to calm down!!

When kittens play too roughly with their mother - biting her tail, for example- she cuffs them round the head to teach them not to.
You can use a similar approach, but obviously you need to be very gentle as you are much bigger and stronger than a cat.
I had a rescue cat who attacked me twice in the early days. I said a firm “No!” - not shouted, but a bit louder than usual, and very gently cuffed her head, then ignored her completely for ten minutes.
She tried once more a couple of days later, with the same result, and never did it again.
We have a good relationship, she will cuddle beside me on the sofa, sleeps on my bed, and purrs if stroked and groomed. If she doesn’t want attention she lashes her tail and makes a warning face, and I respect her space and stop.

She’s gorgeous! Behaviour sounds very normal, especially as her start in life means she probably wasn’t handled or socialised. She may always be a bit of a demon cat! But I love that about cats - they are so different with their own personalities and we can’t always shape that. And you’re lucky you get 10 mins of cuddling, I get 30 seconds with one of mine. Well done on taking on another one - she will be loved and very lucky to have you and your family!

Babdoc I do tell her off and when the behaviour gets a bit too much I put her away in the utility, I remember having to do that with the puppy too, I think they get ivw tired and over stimulated too. She plays around with the dog but the dog tells her off if she gets too bitey, it's quite funny!

She's so cute! That's totally normal for kittens and it is good that your dog is telling her off when she's too much!

She's probably also teething so would explain the biting.

This was boy cat the day after we brought him home. Not pictured - DH covered in scratches.

Is she neutered?

She sounds like a totally normal kitten to me it's also the reason why rescues often suggest you rehome them in pairs, because then they can terrorise each other and not you!

cinnamonfrenchtoast we were going to keep her sister but I decided 4 cats was pushing me into cat lady territory and may have given my two older kitties a heart attack 🤣 probably should have though.

GardeningIdiot not yet, still too little, although I do remember this calming my other girls down a bit

JorisBonson we all look like pin cushions too, she has yet to attempt to scale the curtains thankfully

They can get pregnant from 3 months, so be careful!

Personally I wouldn’t try and emulate the mother cat and tell off as it might impact your relationship with the kitten. I’m pretty sure it won’t view you telling it off in the same as if their mother cat told them off. Another kitten would probably help resolve it! We’ve got a couple of rescue singletons and the second to last one always used to run up and bite our ankles in greeting. When our last rescue was handed to us from a neighbour, who’d found them near-frozen, when they started playing together, the nipping stopped nearly instantly… I almost miss it!

My girl cat used to jump out and terrorise our 2 dopey dogs and no Matter how many times she did it they always seemed surprised. She is older now and calmed down. She likes sun bathing in the garden.

I think kittens are a lot more active than years ago in the same way kids seem to be so much more forward than they used to be.

This was my Dcat a few years ago. She came to us as a tiny kitten, no more than 8/9 weeks.

She's currently lying behind me on the back of the couch, purring up a storm.

Make sure she gets used to interventions like claw trimming and ear cleaning when she's young.

Getting spayed made a difference, if that helps.

Update- she's moved to a sunny spot on the floor near a window.

All of our kittens (4 in the last 9 years) have shredded my legs. One of more recent girls was an especial horror for scratching biting and kicking me. Only me. She also purrs and closes her eyes in pleasure as she hurts me! She has mellowed by still frequently chooses violence if I am caught off guard by her being sweet and loving.
A firm no, followed by withdrawal of play - never use bare hands to play (despite how tempting it is) and learn to stop before they get too wound up. Kittens seperated too young are often a bit more wild in play as they haven't been socialised properly.