# My kitten is a nightmare....



## BLEA22 (Apr 20, 2014)

Hey everyone. I have a one year old kitten (cat now I suppose?) who is an absolute terror. I've had her since she was three weeks old. I have five other cats who are pure angels next to her. I just thought I'd tell you a bit about her behaviour in hopes of getting some advice.

She bites and scratches ALL THE TIME. If you touch her, she starts her little routine of wrapping herself around your arms and using her back legs to kick. She's very rarely affectionate and if she is it's only to rub up against your legs. She'd rather die than cuddle or have someone pet her. She loves to play rough with my other cats and they're all at least five years older than her so they're not interested and just want her to leave them alone.

The thing is, apart from the scratching and biting, she doesn't show any aggressive behaviour. I've never heard her growl or hiss for as long as we've had her. While her playing is rough and vicious, it doesn't seem like she's intending to hurt me. Just that she doesn't know better? Could that be the case? Should I just wait it out until she's grown out of the kitten stage? I've tried everything to calm her down when she's like this but it just seems to be ingrained in her. Nothing seems to work. The spray bottle was a favourite of mine when she was younger because it would stop her doing what she was doing, but she'd be right back to doing it again as soon as the bottle was out of sight. It's like she doesn't know how to learn how to behave. She's the craziest kitten I've ever come across and is constantly running around like a maniac and getting in trouble. Don't get me wrong, I adore her and would never part with her but god is she a handful. Any advice is much appreciated.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

Hi there @BLEA22 -

Cats do not learn from being punished. Spraying them with water can make them afraid of you. Or they will see it as an aggressive game which in turn will teach them to be aggressive back to you, in play.

The biting and bunny-kicking are in fact hunting behaviours she is practicising.

To change unwanted feline behaviour you need to redirect the cat to what it is you want them to play with, kick etc. If you keep redirecting her that is how she will learn. She sounds like a playful little cat, but being rather rough in play, perhaps she was not well socialised as a kitten before you got her, if she maybe left her mother early (before the age of 12 weeks).

First of all buy several Kong Kickeroo toys. Cats love to bunny kick and bite these. Leave these Kickeroos spread around the house so you can lay your hands on one easily. Whenever the kitten wraps her paws round your arm and kicks, squeal "ouch" but do not NOT move your arm, keep it still, and gently slide one of the Kickeroos between her paws. When she has hold of it, slowly withdraw your arm. She is much more likely to be interested in her nice smelling toy than your arm. I often grab the toy by its tail and have a little tug of war game with one of my adult cats who still likes the Kickeroo.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Nobby-KONG...1122729&sr=1-3&keywords=kong+kickeroo+cat+toy

Good toys for her to play with on her own are the Yeoww toys. Cats love to bite and kick these. Mine like the banana and the apple best.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Yeowww-Ban...1501123021&sr=1-1&keywords=yeowww+catnip+toys

Lots of interactive play in several sessions a day with her, using arms length toys such as Da Bird and Flying Frenzy will provide an outlet for her energy and liveliness and then she will be more likely to leave your other cats alone.

She is still young to be affectionate. So give her time.  It has taken my 2 girls until the age of 4 to become really affectionate to me and my OH. They are friendly, sociable girls, who love our company, but like many female cats, (in my experience) they take time to show affection. Male cats are much soppier and more cuddly. 

I am sure your kitten will calm down a lot within the next year. Has she been spayed btw?


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

chillminx said:


> Male cats are much soppier and more cuddly.


Mine certainly are!


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## Calvine (Aug 20, 2012)

@BLEA22: I have a 15-month-old female who is still very kitten-like. She isn't aggressive, but towards one of the boys her behaviour is much as you describe...it's a kind of play-fighting. She has picked the smallest and youngest boy and quite often leaps on him, wraps her front legs round his neck and kicks him with her back legs. Another favourite is to lurk on the table until he is walking past and then launch herself on to him. She doesn't do it to the girls; she has a fair idea that they won't be as tolerant. Plenty of good advice from @chillminx regarding toys you could get her to replace your arms.


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## KittenEevee (May 19, 2017)

My kitten is one next month and I've had no behavioural issues with her. She's still really playful and full of energy and is affectionate on her terms which is first thing in the morning and that's it. She never sits still.
I play with her in short sessions throughout the day with wand toys and she's got some independent toys too.
I never used my hands to play when she was younger and if she did bite(usually a small nip) Id say ow!,stop playing with her and go into another room. She hasnt bit me in ages. I definetely think she has worked it out.
I've never used water spray, I'm totally against it, you cannot punish a cat for being a cat.
I never raise my voice to her either.
I've had Eevee since she was 12 weeks old and she's absolutely amazing. I think it's just her personality.
Have you got a scratchy post? My kitten loves her post and she doesn't bother with the furtinture or the curtains.
Have you got plenty of places she can lie down, Eevee has 6 beds placed around the house.
Have you got any cat towers? Cats love to sit up high. I am looking into buying one but currently Eevee likes to sit on windowsills and watch out the window.
Have you got any cat tunnels? I have two and Eevee loves sitting in them and running through. 
I don't have much advice because I have never had a problem with kitten apart from her waking me up with meowing at 3am in the morning.
Sorry I couldn't be of more help.


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## Lisa2701 (May 15, 2010)

Sounds to me like your young girl has a lot of energy and is bored. Personally if I were you I would buy something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0...ing+frenzy&dpPl=1&dpID=31fGtTA5+0L&ref=plSrch and I would literally play with her until she's exhausted in the morning, noon and night. My kitties are 8 months old and got bags of energy and they were being quite destructive. I got this toy for them and They LOVE it and I find they play until they're literally panting and then they rest for a few minutes and then are raring to go again until panting and then rest. This goes on for probably 15 minutes or so before they are properly tired out and ready to sleep. I also use a laser pen and get them to chase it up and down the stairs, on/off furniture if there's something you don't mind them on, up their cat tree etc in a bid to tire them out. Since starting this routine with them they haven't destroyed anything. They've still got enough energy to play with each other which I love watching but they're just not as rough with each other and not trying to run up the walls etc (which was scratching all the walls up).

As well as that I also recommend a kicker toy as already advised to you and also if you can find space a cat tree is great too. Even if you don't have a lot of floor space you can get ones that attach to the wall, or that take a tiny amount of floor space but go floor to ceiling. My boy loves running up his cat tree at full speed when he's having a crazy 5 minutes and he gets great enjoyment from it.

I think if your girl had something to let her built up energy out on then she'd leave your older cats alone and I wonder if you'd also find the biting and scratching would also greatly reduce too. When she does start bunny kicking on you then as already advised you need to say 'no' and give her a kicker toy.

Good luck.


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## Saf (Jul 20, 2016)

BLEA22 said:


> Hey everyone. I have a one year old kitten (cat now I suppose?) who is an absolute terror. I've had her since she was three weeks old. I have five other cats who are pure angels next to her. I just thought I'd tell you a bit about her behaviour in hopes of getting some advice.
> 
> She bites and scratches ALL THE TIME. If you touch her, she starts her little routine of wrapping herself around your arms and using her back legs to kick. She's very rarely affectionate and if she is it's only to rub up against your legs. She'd rather die than cuddle or have someone pet her. She loves to play rough with my other cats and they're all at least five years older than her so they're not interested and just want her to leave them alone.
> 
> The thing is, apart from the scratching and biting, she doesn't show any aggressive behaviour. I've never heard her growl or hiss for as long as we've had her. While her playing is rough and vicious, it doesn't seem like she's intending to hurt me. Just that she doesn't know better? Could that be the case? Should I just wait it out until she's grown out of the kitten stage? I've tried everything to calm her down when she's like this but it just seems to be ingrained in her. Nothing seems to work. The spray bottle was a favourite of mine when she was younger because it would stop her doing what she was doing, but she'd be right back to doing it again as soon as the bottle was out of sight. It's like she doesn't know how to learn how to behave. She's the craziest kitten I've ever come across and is constantly running around like a maniac and getting in trouble. Don't get me wrong, I adore her and would never part with her but god is she a handful. Any advice is much appreciated.


How have you had her 3 weeks, did you hand rear her? Sounds to me like she was never really allowed to have a proper childhood. I'm on my second set of cats, both from kittens, and after seeing what they get up to as a pair, I'd never get a kitten on their own. You can play with kittens as much as possible but you can't replicate they way play with each other, particularly the play fighting. Sawyer and Freckles are 4 months old and play fight everyday, and it looks quite brutal at times but the next minute they'll be preening each other, so it kind of sounds to me like she doing behaviour she never got the chance to when she was younger and the best solution might be to re-home with, say, a 6 month old kitten whose still going through the play fighting stage.


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