New kitten! He’s adorable but how to stop the biting and claws please?

[GerbilMum26]

Got my first kitten last night, he’s a 10wk old Maine coon cross. He seems to have settled really well, but he’s really scratchy/ bitey! It’s when he’s trying to get attention and my poor arms are showing the results.
other than not giving him attention when he does it, and hopefully getting the vet’s to trim his claws if possible on the first visit, is there anything else i can do?

if it helps he was apparently the largest of his litter and the most boisterous one!
fyi for anyone advising to get him a friend, unfortunately my housing association will only allow one cat as I live in an apartment.

photos added for tax purposes… enjoy!

Oooooolh hes a cutie.

Some of them are just rough.

He's a kid. He needs to play.

Get him several interactive toys.
That fish that wiggles, the yellow thing that spins a feather round, mice that move etc.

Also you can teach him not to be rough by playing with him and immediately stopping if he's rough.

Cats teach their kittens bite inhibition by pinning them down or giving them a thump but of course you can't do that. Attention for controlled play and withdrawal of attention for rough play. It will take time for him to get it but he will get it.

Thanks, he does have several toys including a wand which he liked playing with last night. And i will get out again when i get up this morning. Most of the scratches have come from when i have been laying in bed trying to sleep!

Our boy was like this (also a main coone cross!). No real advice beyond what PPs say about toys etc, but just to give you some hope, mine is now 5 months old and has completely calmed down. My legs are no longer shredded 😂

He'll grow out of it.
Think of it as the toddler years.

It won't be years years, obviously 😁

He's a baby - it's what they do

Lots of toys, lots of input and play from you and lots of stuff he can scratch. They do get better as they get older but it does take a few weeks months.

Another who had similar and within a few months they’d stopped. A warning that she still does the odd time so our guard is never fully down! She played the most with her scratching post! Best of luck op- if it helps we got ours just before the pandemic hit so had to deal with hand sanitizing torn hands!!

Don't let him play with hands and fingers.

Ignore is best because usually any attention is good attention. For persistent biting I'd pick up calmly and shut out the room for a while like putting a toddler in time out. No words, no eye contact.

But...a water spray by the bed is also pretty effective!

Reward good behaviour and the behaviour you're happy to see with a treat.

He is gorrrrrgeous!

Is it definitely play biting? Our kitten pounces and bites/scratches when he wants to play (we discourage this by saying 'no' firmly, taking him off, then moving away and ignoring. We play with him with toys lots too, so he gets plenty of interaction), but when he first arrived he would also bite if he was hungry and wanted more wet food (biscuits are always available). It took us a week to work it out, but the way he was attacking & biting was subtly different - more chewy and he'd go for our chins, weirdly. I'd been feeding him at the frequency his fosterer had recommended, but he actually needed one more meal a day to get the spacing right. I kept the quantity the same, just split it over more meals. He's 5mo now, and has stopped the hunger chewing (he still loves to attack our feet for fun) but will still come and sit on our chest with his face stuffed right up to ours and stare and purr to let us know he's hungry. The rest of the time he's able to respect personal space 😂 (ish)

Watch Jackson Galaxy on YouTube
..
He is the cat whisperer and has the best advice for kitty teething problems.

We waited until out kitten was fast asleep to trim his nails.

Why would you want to spray a baby kitten in the face with water?

Unfortunately @Freddiefan due to myself having vision issues I can’t safely trim his nails my self. Otherwise that would be a very handy tip!

also I refuse to spray with water etc as cats work best with positive reinforcement, not negative.

Get a scratching post. You shouldn't need to trim the nails.
Don't just have toys you can play with but have toys he can play with alone. The small kong kicker, small light balls, ping ping balls, the small plastic springs.....things they can pick up, things they can fling around.
Tire the kitten out during the day and before bed.

I wouldn't use negative reinforcement this early. I don't think it's needed. You kitten is brand new and just working things out. Only just without mum and siblings. Be kind.

Negative reinforcement is never needed.

I don't understand why anyone thinks its acceptable to spray their pets in the face with water.

My Dcs came over today (they live with their grandparents) and he got so scared he crawled under the sofa and has now got something stuck in his fur 😫
going to dash out and try and find some cat shampoo, any tips on giving him a bath?

Please don't spray him with water or put him out of the room as was suggested above. Our cat was really hard work aged around 10-14 weeks as he used to jump at us with all claws extended and then hang off us by the claws, it was very painful. We tried not to use hands/fingers/feet as playthings, we had a few little toys on wands which were good for him to chase. Also when overstimulated he would be more scratchy/bitey so we learnt to recognise the signs to give him some quiet calm time. With only one kitten they don't get the same experience of learning how to limit their play fighting that they would have with mother/siblings around.

Awww. Good luck with the cleaning-up! I think baby shampoo would probably be ok as well, I had to bathe my cat when we first got him as a kitten as he'd been under a car bonnet and was filthy. He hated it but was small enough for me to hold and handle him securely in the water. For older cats I have sometimes tried wrapping them in a towel or in a pillowcase (with their heads out) as all of mine have hated the water

My kitten was like this but we got him neutered aged 4 months and then he went outside. He's 5 months now and he's alot calmer. I think he releases a lot of energy when he goes outside to play.

I’m not saying I agree with using water spray, but where in the original post does it say anything about spraying in the face? It just says to use a water sprayer but I wouldn’t assume that means doing it in the face.