4 Week Old Kitten Biting: Just Playing or Train Out of It?

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  • #860949
    mostlikelyreading
    Participant

    Hi, I’m a newcomer to TDK! A week ago I ended up taking in an abandoned 3 week old kitten (Gemma) after waiting for Mama Cat to show up and, when that didn’t happen, taking steps to see if Mama lived as a pet around the neighborhood (she did not). Now Gemma is 4 weeks old and doing well (thanks to a lot of others’ answered questions on this forum, I might add). However there is one issue I haven’t found an answer to quite yet.

    Gemma is a pretty active kitten and loves playing with things that wiggle back and forth, specifically fingers and toes. Her bites and scratches don’t hurt as much as they would if she were older/bigger, but they can be a bit painful and worrisome for future playing when she IS older and bigger. I’ve been trying to use toys in our play rather than my hands but she still prefers to go after my fingers, toes, and knees.

    Is her behaviour just harmless kitten playing that she needs (being abandoned and having no other cats to play with) or is this something I need to address now? And if something should be done about it, what are some tricks I can use to do so?

    #860950
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Hi,

    Welcome to TDKland. We’re the fluffy forum around. Thanks for giving wee Gemma a chance at life and love.

    It’s not unusual for kits to play with anything and everything. That she is attracted to moving objects is part of her nature. You’re doing a good job by using toys to distract her but the next step is to stop. She will continue to use you fingers/toes as toys as long as you let her and she will get aggressive. When she goes for toes/fingers, stop what you’re done and tell her NO and/or walk away. You have to do this at the time of her play or else she won’t understand why she’s “in trouble.” It will take some time but she’s young so it’s easier to break the habit now. Please make sure everyone in the house does same thing.

    I hope we get to see Gemma as our TDK.

    PG

    #860998
    mostlikelyreading
    Participant

    Thank you, this helps a lot! If she’s on the couch with me and bites, is it enough to put her down off of the couch or is it better that I get up and leave? And is it okay for her to go for my hair (it’s pretty long) or should that also be off-limits?

    #861050
    UrbanSidhe
    Participant

    My Loki annoyed some of my friends bad enough during game nights that I would have to lock him up. He would grab legs with claws. Not only a little painful but surprising. He was about 7 months old but he grew out of it. By 10 months he stopped.

    Most of that extreme energy fades by about a year.

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