Aggressive kitten

rising_from_the_ashes

My wee girl is a tortie and has a temper to match.

She's a total lap cat and can usually be found on my knee most evenings but if she's in a bad mood - stay out the way.

She will occasionally try to bite for no reason whatsoever and will also hiss - I seriously wonder if she's schizophrenic sometimes, she's a total jeckel and hyde!


Lots of praise for good behaviour and a stern "NO" for bad.

Never spray water at/on them - how would you like it! It's more likely to make an animal fear you and therefore encourage them to be wary, defend themselves etc.



If she tries to bite, I hold my finger up and go "NO" and she just glowers at me, if she hisses, I pick her up and give her a cuddle and it seems to calm her down so I think that's more a stress thing.

Never understand cats!!!!

crayola

Mupette wrote: »

Georgie my kitten is 14 weeks today, she does the biting and pawing and isnt too fussed about cuddles, but does love to snuggle up to you when she has a nap, she doesn't and hasnt hissed at her humans.

In fairness to our kitty he does usually sleep on the bed with us and is entirely happy being stroked and petted during nap times. He just seems to have a huge amount of energy. I thought it was normal for kittens but am now not sure based on some of these comments!

You cat doesn't seem happy, maybe a trip to the vets to make sure he isnt in pain?

He went very recently for his booster jab and the vet said he was in perfect health (and he checked everything including teeth). I really don't know what it is his relationship with the Mum cat may be the problem I fear - she still feeds him a tiny bit and they snuggle up togther in the afternoon but a lot of the time they just fight I really hope we don't have to separate them.

crayola

Fridaycat wrote: »

I agree that personality plays a role, but I think that the hissing and spitting is beyond that?

*nod* I can't be completely sure this is what he is doing, but I think that's what it is. Sounds a bit like a can of coke being opened? He often does it while playing - at a string he can't catch, for example. Not always at us.

Gah, had to stop typing there as a claw was being extended round the back of the monitor!

bethie

a previous poster had the same sort of thing. This may help? https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1937585

Olokia

Hopefully your kitten will grow out of it. I hope your cat won't grow up to be like mine.

I had a kitten (Jesse) that I think wasn't very well socialised in his first 8 weeks. He wouldn't let us pet him that much and liked scratching us a lot. If he was sitting on the sofa and we sat on the other end, he would always jump off. He had long fur so we had to de-matt him sometimes and it always took two people, one to hold him tight and the other to de-matt him. I still remember the two times he was friendly to us because it was such a rare occasion. Once he slept on my bed for about 30 minutes because he knew I was going on holiday the next day and the other time he sat next to me on the sofa. I had to catch a train but didn't want to leave because of his affection. In the last year of his life when he was ill quite a lot he was more like a normal cat. He sometimes sat next to you on the sofa and sometimes asked for a pet. This made me worse when he died because he was finally the cat I had hoped him to be. Even with all his aggression, I still loved him.

On the other hand, my new cat (Lily) is very affectionate, she sleeps on my lap all the time and every morning I wake up with her poking me or sleeping on top of me. She also went through a stage of sitting on my shoulder for about 10 minutes when I got home from work. After almost 2 years, I'm still finding it weird because of my previous cat, as Lily is almost at the other end of the affection scale that Jesse was.

Fridaycat

crayola wrote: »

*nod* I can't be completely sure this is what he is doing, but I think that's what it is. Sounds a bit like a can of coke being opened? He often does it while playing - at a string he can't catch, for example. Not always at us.

Gah, had to stop typing there as a claw was being extended round the back of the monitor!

Yes, that is a very good description of a hiss. Is the kitten hissing directly to/at you? Or just hissing in general? Or hissing at his Mum? I have been thinking about when my cats hiss, which they do occasionally. It is usually at each other when one is winding another up. I can only think of one or two occasions in the many years I've had of keeping cats when they've hissed directly at me.

crayola

Fridaycat wrote: »

Yes, that is a very good description of a hiss. Is the kitten hissing directly to/at you? Or just hissing in general? Or hissing at his Mum?

It seems to be out of general frustration, almost always at a toy he is trying to catch. Don't think he's done it at his Mum although he jumps on her and bats at her a lot! Not sure he has ever done it directly at me.

All that said, last night almost as if he knew I'd written about him he was very friendly - curled up in my lap on the bed and slept there all night I was able to give him a bit of a cuddle the couple of times I woke up. So just maybe he's beginning to grow out of this? I really hope so!

ETA another thing I have noticed is that when I separate him from his mother (I put them in different rooms for half an hour last night) the aggression seems to stop - he just curled up on a box for a bit (after he'd stopped yowling) when I tried it last night. Hmm.

Fridaycat

crayola wrote: »

It seems to be out of general frustration, almost always at a toy he is trying to catch. Don't think he's done it at his Mum although he jumps on her and bats at her a lot! Not sure he has ever done it directly at me.

All that said, last night almost as if he knew I'd written about him he was very friendly - curled up in my lap on the bed and slept there all night I was able to give him a bit of a cuddle the couple of times I woke up. So just maybe he's beginning to grow out of this? I really hope so!

ETA another thing I have noticed is that when I separate him from his mother (I put them in different rooms for half an hour last night) the aggression seems to stop - he just curled up on a box for a bit (after he'd stopped yowling) when I tried it last night. Hmm.

There are some positives there, then, in that he is not directing his anger (hiss) at you. Also, it is good news that he had such a good night last night - he could very well grow out of this. It is, in my opinion, unusual, but not insurmountable by the sounds of it.