Advice re new kitten

[Nosebooper]

Please be gentle with me. I've taken in a kitten from a friend's neighbour, he's 10 weeks old, a black tom.

He's absolutely gorgeous, but I'm struggling with him a bit. I've come down with a cold or flu so not at my best, so this probably isn't helping matters.

He bites a lot and scratches when playing and I'm not sure how to stop it. I've read online to say "ow" loudly at him, but I'm literally doing this all the time almost, it seems that way anyway. I've given him a teddy that I put between us for him to fight with when he starts on my hands and arms.

He also climbs on the dining table, repeatedly when I remove him. Am I better shutting him out while I'm eating? He has a travel cage that he's happy to sleep in, could I put him in there while eating or when he gets carried away, like you would a puppy, or would that be cruel?

I have had cats before, but they've never been as bitey as him!

While kittens do need a fair bit of interaction, you also don't want to wind them up. There's no need to play constantly, a good half hour and then leave them be.

Get some interactive toys so they can play alone too, and never use your hands in play.

I really don't use my hands in play. He's relentless at the moment.

When cat was kitten we had a rechargeable spinny thing with feathers attached that would keep him occupied for ages. Might be a good distraction and save you.

Honestly, that's why it's so highly recommended to get two. They take their manic energy out on each other and it means you and your furniture aren't used as a climbing frame.

However if you really can't face a second then lots of play, interactive toys for them to bat around and a good routine makes all the difference. And the crazy stage is generally over in a couple of months too - so it's not forever.

Can anyone recommend good interactive toys that aren't too expensive?

The best toy we found for our scratchy, bitey chappy was actually a dog toy. It is a big almost life size soft toy pheasant and we spray it every so often with catnip spray. He much prefers it to small proper cat toys as he likes to 'kill' the poor pheasant toy on a regular basis by using lots of hind leg disemboweling scratching and biting while it is firmly grabbed with his front legs.

One of our other cats (a much more gentle soul) has a plastic ball toy like the one in the attached pic which he regularly plays with. It's funny how they have such different tastes when it comes to what they like to play with.

I've been to Pets at home and bought some toys. He's delighted and been busy up to now, he's exhausted and asleep on my lap now.

@Nosebooper As a kid 👧 was given a beautiful black 🐈‍⬛, a farm feral born kitten.
He was neutered but my goodness he could bite !
We called him “ Biter” for a while.
He didn’t break skin though, just scratched and beat his hind legs in a blur on one’s hand.

He grew into a black panther type 🐈‍⬛, a ferocious ratter and mouser-

maybe use a flirt stick with feathers on the end to play with him?
Catnip mice?
Stuff he can carry about and gggrowl over.

Wonderful!!
Cats love toys .🥰

Great news, depending on the size of your house there is a flying bird that is always recommended from pets and home.

Enjoy your new addition ❣️

I didn't see that today, but I got a Kong interactive toy, a feather on a wand that spins.