Aggressive or playful?

[imadeitnice]

l have an 8 month old male Siberian kitten. We’ve had him 4 months. He’s friendly and cuddly however in the last 6 weeks he has quite suddenly become quite aggressive. He was neutered 4 weeks ago and hoped that would stop it but if anything, he’s got worse. He’s had a vet check up and they aren’t concerned and feel it is playful and it will settle now he’s been neutered. He will approach us for cuddles, then will suddenly attack. He gets a crazed look and has to be physically removed from our arm/ankle and has drawn blood each time. Once removed we have to leave the room without him as if we just remove him from our arm/leg he just follows trying to continue the attack. Sometimes distraction with toys works but not always.
I am hopeful this is just a phase and can tolerate it if it is, however I’m worried this is just his personality.
Has anyone had similar and have any advice.
He really is a loving thing but these episodes (on average x2 daily) are getting me down and I’m not sure how best to deal with them.

I'm assuming you're his only playmate? He's treating you like my (11mo) kittens treat each other.
I would massively up the amount of exercise and play you're giving him and consider adopting him a friend . It's also worth loudly yelping each time he hurts you and stop playing with him so he learns when he's gone too far (like he'd get from a sibling).

Ah lush 😍I have a male cat, not aggressive, but peed everywhere. The vet did say it takes a while, up to 6 months for them to settle down. 4 weeks it still a short amount of time, hopefully he will settle. I did have a female cat, who was aggressive, didn’t stop after being neutered. However we did find out she had cancer so the vet explained it was probably a mixture of personality and being in pain. Like I said 4 weeks is still a short amount of time, it took around a 6 weeks for our cat to stop peeing completely, so I think it’s just his hormones are sorting themselves out.

Loads of play time and a climbing frame. Any chance you could adopt a friend for him?

He’s playing! Does he go outside?

Yep, single kitten- he’s identified you as his playmate as he doesn’t have anything his own size. It’s a key phase of development where it’s important to teach them that it hurts (yelping etc). Otherwise you get what I’ve got which is 7kg of exceptionally loving ginger floof who randomly barrels into my DH’s arm and sinks his teeth in 🤔. He’s a rescue who has basically imprinted on DH- you are their whole world!

My cat behaved in the same way, as she has got a little older (2) I just have to say ouch when she is starting to get over excited and she backs off and plays less aggressively with me. I believe she thinks I am just a bit of a fragile, clumsy, lazy cat!

Yes he’s the only pet. There’s me, DH and 2 adult children in the home and we all work different schedules so he’s never home alone. We try and up the amount time we play. He has lots of toys that he does enjoy but he prefers when we are involved.
I would have loved to have got two kittens but DH would only agree to one. And that took years of persuasion lol so I don’t think I’ll convince him to get another.

I would have loved 2 but DH didn’t want even one so he won’t have another. Despite him fallen in love with him straight away!

He doesn’t go outside. Our garden backs onto a busy A road so we’re reluctant due to that.

If space, layout & money allow, you may want to think of either cat proofing the garden or at least building a Catio for him. A handyman DH helps if you go for the Catio option, you can say how good it would be for his precious ickle kitten.

Small garden - cat proofing, big garden - Catio tends to be the way to think

He doesn’t need to free roam - what about cat-proofing your garden or building a catio?

Young cats have a ton of energy and you either need to be prepared to play with them loads or let them out, imo.

Mine was like this, if not much much worse to be honest! My boyfriend, brother and I bore the scars to attest! I dreaded visitors, apologised for him constantly, locked myself in rooms but loved him deeply so I stuck with it 😂

I'd really give encourage you to give it time and patience. It's likely he is very young and needs to learn to play without teeth or claws. If it persists he could be overstimulated, stressed, bored, or territorial and there are great Jackson Galaxy videos if so. He is very young and it's great that he is affectionate the rest of the time! That would lead me to think this is play and maybe needs more stimulation.

If he is indoors only he needs A LOT of interaction. I remember finishing work (from home) when he was younger, absolutely bolloxed and having to play for the whole evening on and off, because that's when he would come to life. If I was beyond tired I was on the couch rolling up tiny balls of tinfoil and throwing them across the room for him to chase.

He did settle a lot after time went on. But the biggest difference was him being able to go outside when I moved home from my apartment, and just having more interest and space to explore.

He wouldn't have a clue how to cat outside so he only goes out on a harness throughout the day in the back garden but all the sniffing and bird watching really tires him out. Be prepared to put in a lot of work though as a harness is NEVER fully escape proof so they need to be really comfortable with it on before you even think about stepping outside. Our garden is impossible to cat proof but we make sure to leave the door open so he can bolt inside if he gets spooked (by wind usually). Catio is a great option, I'm planning on getting one so he can get a bit of fresh air when he wants but will likely still need to patrol the perimeter of the garden on the regular.

Sorry this is so long but he seems like a character, I hope you can figure it out. My cat sat on a lap that wasn't mine for the first time 2 weeks ago and we're still talking about it now, he's come so far and I'm glad we all gave it our best!

That’s really helpful and encouraging, thank you so much.