We all know how ridiculously adorable kittens are. Everyone wants one, and when you finally get one you just want to cuddle the bejesus out of them, and never let go!

Unfortunately, they have other plans. Plans that involve being completely insane, keeping you up at night, grabbing onto your hands and feet, and biting so hard that you feel like you might have to use brute force just to get them off.

And then… Even when you see them just a few minutes after they’ve tried to gnaw your thumb off, you have the same urge to just kiss their little face off.

I get it! It’s a vicious cycle.

But what if I told you that kitten-hood is a critical, make or break time during a cat’s development, when they either learn that biting is acceptable, or not acceptable? And that you are the one in control of their future behavior.

Why Do Kittens Bite?

Social Development

Between the ages of 7 and 14 weeks (approximately) kittens are in the developmental stage that is focused mainly around play. Playing with littermates helps a kitten develop bite inhibition, physical coordination, and boundaries. This is also when the kitten begins to learn how to be a cat, which can only be done through observing other cats.

The Issue With Only Having One Kitten

This resource on kitten behavior from the Lousiana ASPCA states, “Kittens orphaned or separated from their mother and/or littermates too early often fail to develop appropriate “social skills,” such as learning how to send and receive signals, what an “inhibited bite” (acceptable mouthing pressure) means, how far to go in play-wrestling and so forth.”

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So, basically… If you can adopt two kittens together, rather than just one, I highly recommend it! You may think that having 2 kittens would be way more work, but it actually isn’t!

Yes, you will have to buy twice the food. But kittens require SO much attention that adopting them in pairs actually means less work for you. They will wrestle and beat each other up most of the day (between naps of course), and they are less likely to develop behavior issues down the line. Without another kitten, you, or other people and pets in the home, become the target for all that sporadic energy and biting.

Contrary to popular belief, cats are also very social beings, and in general most tend to like the company of other cats. This is why they live in colonies in the wild, even though they don’t actually need to for survival.  Adopting more than one kitten will ensure that they don’t get lonely as they grow older. And as a bonus, kittens typically get along right away. Whereas, adult cats are much harder to introduce to each other.

Teething

Teething typically starts when your kitten is around 3-4 months of age. This is when their baby teeth fall out, and their adult teeth start coming in. (Kittens commonly have all their adult teeth by the time they are 6 months old.)

Teething doesn’t usually cause too much discomfort for kittens, but it can certainly cause them to chew more in order to ease the pain and irritation.

Note: It’s important to make sure you kitten-proof your home, so that they don’t end up chewing on electrical cords, or other dangerous household items! Check out this article on Kitten-Proofing to learn how: How To Kitten-Proof Your Home

A Kitten Biting Is Completely Normal, But You Need To Nip It In The Bud

Stop Doing These 3 Things, Immediately!

1) Using Your Hands As Toys

Never ever do this. And look the other way whenever you see a toy on the internet that encourages your cat to attack your hand. Your kitten may be cute now, and it may be hard to resist the urge to move your fingers around to get him to play, or try to tickle him.

But when he’s got his adult teeth and a strong jaw, it’s not going to be so cute. Heck, it may have stopped being cute a few weeks ago when he started to bite harder and harder.

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2) Moving Hands & Feet Around Under the Blanket, or Sheet to Get Them to Play

It may be under the blanket, but you’re still teaching them the same thing! You’re teaching your crazy, biting kitten that hands and feet are toys.

3) Over-Petting

I completely understand how much you want to pet your adorable, fuzzy little kitten. Trust me, if anyone knows, it’s me! But kittens are tiny little tigers bursting at the seams with unregulated energy. They’re up just as quickly as they’re down, and they can be enjoying getting pet just as quickly as they’re biting your hand.

Remember how I talked about them learning boundaries? This is a two way street, love. And I know it’s tough.

The key is to control your urges to smother, and keep a very close eye on body language. (More on body language in a moment.) Your kitten will grow out of this phase of being a little lunatic, and they will calm down a lot as they get older, I promise. But for now, I highly suggest keeping petting to a minimum, keeping it very calm and gentle (no rough petting or riling them up like people do with dogs) and only doing it when they’re very calm.

**Another thing you can do is pet gently while you give them a treat, or they are focused on something else positive. This will help them to associate petting with positive things.**

4) Don’t Just Let Your Kitten Bite

The more you let them do it, the more they will do it. Plain and simple.

Make sure every person in the household is on the same page. This is very important. No teasing or playing with hands.

If You Keep Doing These Things…

So, here’s the thing. When you let, or even encourage a kitten to play with your hands, feet, etc, you are setting them up for failure, and you’re setting yourself, and the other people who will interact with your cat, up for pain. You are essentially training them to bite you, then you’re angry at them buuuuut… Let’s be honest, is it really their fault?

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This doesn’t mean that they’ll stop biting you immediately. This is a gradual process, and kittens just go through a phase of biting. But it’s how you react that dictates their future behavior.

So, You Know What Not To Do. What The Heck Do You Do?

1) Go Limp If They Do Bite

If you try to pull your hand away, they will typically just latch on harder (just like they would if their prey was trying to get away from them.) If you just let your hand go limp, they’re likely to loosen their grip a bit, and you can quickly pull it away.

2) Make An “I’m In Pain!” Sound

Don’t yell or get angry, just make a high pitched “oww!” or “yeoww!” sound as soon as they bite you. Timing is very important. This is just meant to snap them out of it, and help them associate the sound with the bite. Think of yourself as another kitten getting bit. They would make a noise when it was too hard.

3) Either Redirect to a Toy, or Walk Away (or Both!)

Redirecting is when you change the focus of the biting behavior from your hand (or whatever they’re gnawing on!) to a toy. This is highly effective, and teaches your kitten that the toy is the the appropriate outlet for biting, not you.

*In the toys section toward the end of this article, I go into detail on how to use specific toys for redirecting biting behaviors.

Walking Away is what mama cat would do when her kitten bites her too hard. She literally just goes “nope”, gets up and walks away. This is an effective way to start to teach your kitten bite inhibition. It sets boundaries, and lets them know it won’t be tolerated. You can do this anytime your kitten starts biting you.

Combine Redirecting and Walking Away: You can really do this in either order. For me, it just depends on whether or not I have a toy close enough by to redirect immediately. If there isn’t a toy within reach, I walk away, go get a toy, and redirect their attention to it.

4) Play With Your Kitten!

Play, play, play!!! Get that energy out in a healthy, and productive way. You can never play with your kitten too much. The best way to play is by using an interactive wand toy. But they also love to chase toys when you throw them. More on this down below!

5) Get to Know Your Kitten, and Their Body Language

As your kitten grows up, their personality, preferences, and body language will become more consistent. It’s up to you to get to know how they like to be pet, held, and interacted with.

Always being aware of what they’re communicating through body language can stop you from getting bitten, scratched, etc.

Some great tell-tale signs that they’ve had enough physical stimulation are:

• Flicking, and Eventual Swishing of the Tail
• Twitching of the Back
• Going From Calm to Alert
• Dilated Pupils
• Ear Movement

*This is going to be harder to determine in a kitten. They typically become over-stimulated very quickly. So, less is more!

6) Start Clicker Training

Clicker training is an absolutely amazing tool. And starting young can give you and your cat such a huge advantage for the rest of their life. Clicker training is super helpful for dealing with behavior problems, making routine care for your cat (think nail trims, brushing, giving medication, etc.) easier, it can make vet visits less stressful, it’s fun for both of you, it builds confidence in your cat/kitten, it can be used later in a vast array of situations, and it will build an incredible bond between the two of you.

And you can definitely use it to set your kitten up for success, and nip the biting in the bud. If nothing else is working and the biting won’t stop, this is usually your ace in the hole. The trick is to start really simple.