# Biting and clawing kitten



## Kelly P (Jul 1, 2010)

Hi

I have a 14 week old kitten who is very active, she has a lovely character but she does nearly constantly want to claw and bite our arms/feet/hands. Is this due to her age and is it likely she will grow out of it? She also chews cushions and zips...
She has lots of toys and is very loved but I am worried that she will carry on doing this, I will be getting her neutered and she will be an indoor cat, do you have any tips to help discourage this behaviour?
She also suckles on our ear lobes when sleepy and any help to discourage this would be great? 
Thank you,

Kelly


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## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

The suckling, biting & scratching sounds to me like a kitten that was separated too young from its mother and siblings. How old was the kitten when you got her? It seems very common on this forum for people to get kittens at 8 weeks of age at the risk of starting a riot, this kind of behavior with kittens separated at 8 weeks isnt at all uncommon. 

When she bites or scratches you. Dont pull away (thats the interaction shes looking for). Keep some mice or balls or other cats toys at hand and try to deflect her attention with those. I am also a great fan of short sharp NO!. 

Theres a range of kitten toys on the market called Pet Stages they have some really good teething type kitten toys. You could try some of those to help conquer the chewing. 

As for the suckling. I really havent found a one size fits all solution for this . I have some very soft teddy bears I keep for orphaned kittens. And if they suckle on me or my clothes I plop them on those teddy bears. Its basically a comfort/security thing (again very common in kittens separated too young) so you could try to deflect the suckling by stroking under her chin or around her ears. Suckling on body parts (like she's doing) isn't good... it can lead to very sore, irritated and even infected spots, so try to give her something else to suckle on. I've had a few who liked to suckle on tea towels... see what takes her fancy and let her have that.


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## Kelly P (Jul 1, 2010)

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, we was told that she was 8 weeks when we got her - is this too young o be away from mum then?

Thank you for the tips, I will try them out.
I do lift her off me when she suckles and try to soothe her by stroking her but I'll keep a teddy near by now.

My hubby even suggested getting a bottle but I imagine this wouldn't help discourage the habit?

Thanks


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## shortbackandsides (Aug 28, 2008)

trim the sharp edges off her claws,ive had kittens which have suckled on me,i found it very sweet and never felt the need to stop it.its not harming anyone


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## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

Kelly P said:


> Hi,
> 
> Thanks for your reply, we was told that she was 8 weeks when we got her - is this too young o be away from mum then?


There is no definitive answer to this question.

No good breeder would ever rehome an 8 week old kitten. Im not a breeder, just a kitten foster mum, and Im totally against it too, as are many of the more reputable rescue organisations. Mainly for the reasons (type of problems) you are experiencing now. These types of inappropriate biting/clawing/suckling problems are very common in kitten rehomed at 8 weeks, but hardly ever happen in kittens rehomed at 12 weeks. When they bite too hard or scratch too hard with their litter mates or mother, they get nips and scratches back, and thats how they learn not to do it. And that training generally is in full swing at 8 weeks, its not near complete. Also 8 week old kittens often have problems eating enough (we see an awful lot of that in this forum).

Just for the record (before I get jumped on by the its fine to rehome kittens at 8 weeks brigade) rehoming at 8 weeks is better than rehoming at 6 weeks (6 weeks is totally irresponsible and way too young!), but 10 weeks is better than 8 weeks, and 12 weeks is better than 10 weeks. In an ideal world kittens wouldnt be rehomed at 8 weeks old, but for animals this world is far from ideal, and too many are rehomed too young, before they have the coping mechanisms and beahviour modifications that their mother and siblings can give them.

I dont really think a bottle would help, its not so much milk shes looking for as comfort and security. Ive bottle fed many orphaned kittens who wouldnt look at a bottle after 5 weeks of age, but they still did the suckling thing. Like the poster above said, usually its a harmless pastime that they grow out of, but it can become verrrrrry harmful if they start nuzzling on their own (or other pets) body parts. And a bad suckler can really ruin your clothes. Dont worry about it too much (99 times out of a 100 its harmless), just watch that it doesnt escalate.

Be thankful that she's eating well and growing appropriately.... that can be a major problem for kittens rehomed at 8 weeks old.

best of luck with your kitten...


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## Paddypaws (May 4, 2010)

I am certainly not disagreeging with Tje.....but we had a cat many years ago that was a real suckler by nature. His mum lived in the flat next door so even after we had taken him, she often popped round and he snuck a quick suckle( ie he was not taken away from his mother at all )
He developed a habit of lying across our chests and suckling on an unguarded ear lobe! Now I did not like this and always stopped him, but my sister was softer....so she often ended up going in to her smart office job with scratch marks around the ear he had been slurping on in the night! Oh....and he grew into a HUGE cat!
As regards scratchy kittens....I could not agree more. My new kitten came to me at 10 weeks and she is a right little bundle of biting and scratching. She is causing mayhem in my house. The rest of my cats are a family....so I had the mum and her 3 kittens. I really cannot remember them ever jumping up or scratching me....just a look from the mum cat stopped them in their tracks.


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## Tje (Jan 16, 2010)

You&#8217;re absolutely right Paddypaws, it still does happen in kittens (cats) separated at a good age, it just happens much less with those cats. My boy who died last year was a total suckler all his life, and he didn&#8217;t leave his mother till he was 13 weeks. I must admit I kinda liked it when he did it with me (he would do the kitten-paddling with his feet too), and I would always put on an old fleece cardigan or fleece dressing gown, I found it very relaxing and so did he. But I can&#8217;t say all my visitors were quite as enthusiastic, hhahaahaahhh, he weighed about 9 kilos (he was a BSH) so between that weight on your lap and the pilling on your clothes, hehe, he wasn&#8217;t always the most popular with visitors


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## saxa21 (Aug 4, 2009)

We got our Heniu from a pet shop (which should be banned). When we went to the vet we were told he was only 6 weeks old.

We had constant biting, scratching etc plus neverending suckling! Well one year on he still suckles on my PJ's but not in the middle of the night. As he was really horrible little kitten we got 2nd one to keep him company. They it all stopped as they were biting and scratching each other not us.


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## Kelly P (Jul 1, 2010)

Thanks all for your replies. I have taken the advise from my first response and have kept a teddy at hand for the last 2 days and when she wraps around mine/hubby's hand I have distracted her with it, she does take it immediately and has a good old scratch and bite on it. 

With the suckling I have kept my ears covered in bed and this morning I simply moved my head aside when she tried and to be honest she lost interest in trying, I have tried a flannel instead but she shows no interest.

We have noticed that she prefers a dry food to wet and so today have bought IAMS to start to introduce tomorrow and I'll be happy knowing that she'll be getting all that she needs.... She has also chased a couple of flies in the last 2 days - they could boost her vitamin intake 

Just for the record the family who gave her away had a new born baby in the house and so wanted the kittens to go to good homes - they did ask at a pet shop and were offered £20 for each but decided that as they could not be sure about the care of them they didn't sell for that price. They did give the cats away and took no money, I don't think they were thoughtless about the kitten's age but their concern being their baby. 

As I first mentioned, Freebie (probably obvious from above how she got her name) has a lovely character and is loving too so hopefully with some further love and training she will grow out of this.

Thanks again all


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