My kitten sees my hands as prey

My 4 month kitten often seems to fixate on my hands as prey. She
follows my hands wherever they go. Sometimes she will take a run at
them and pull up at the last minute, or just go to give them a light
tap with her paw.

But the last little bit she's been starting to take to them as chewing
toys at times too. I've seen her do it gently a few times, which I
don't mind so much, but sometimes it gets pretty aggressive.

She has plenty of other chewing toys and stuff, and she uses them a lot
- she loves to chew. It seems to make her happy when I let her chew on
my hand, like it's a bonding experience or even a trust gaining
experience (?), but I don't really like it when it gets aggressive.

I also don't really like it when I am sleeping and she decides to give
my thumb a chomp, thereby waking me up.

Can anyone offer advice about how to deal with this? Ideally, I'd like
to avoid chewing altogether. I don't mind licking, but chewing is a
bit annoying.

Thanks,
Steve

wrote in message
oups.com...
My 4 month kitten often seems to fixate on my hands as prey. She
follows my hands wherever they go. Sometimes she will take a run at
them and pull up at the last minute, or just go to give them a light
tap with her paw.

But the last little bit she's been starting to take to them as chewing
toys at times too. I've seen her do it gently a few times, which I
don't mind so much, but sometimes it gets pretty aggressive.

She has plenty of other chewing toys and stuff, and she uses them a lot
- she loves to chew. It seems to make her happy when I let her chew on
my hand, like it's a bonding experience or even a trust gaining
experience (?), but I don't really like it when it gets aggressive.

I also don't really like it when I am sleeping and she decides to give
my thumb a chomp, thereby waking me up.

Can anyone offer advice about how to deal with this? Ideally, I'd like
to avoid chewing altogether. I don't mind licking, but chewing is a
bit annoying.

Thanks,
Steve

Put some bitter apple spray on your hands at night. When you are awake,
always, IMMEDIATELY, get a different wand type toy to play with when she
begins this. If she does bite you Say OOOW!!! Very loud and redirect her
attanetion elsewhere. She'll learn.

In article .com,
enlightened us with...

She has plenty of other chewing toys and stuff, and she uses them a lot
- she loves to chew. It seems to make her happy when I let her chew on
my hand, like it's a bonding experience or even a trust gaining
experience (?), but I don't really like it when it gets aggressive.

And what do you do about it?
Do you correct it? Redirect it? Allow it?


I also don't really like it when I am sleeping and she decides to give
my thumb a chomp, thereby waking me up.

Again, what do you do?
Not correcting the behavior implies it is acceptable and increases the
chances it will occur, assuming she gets a positive experience from the
behavior (which she apparently does).
It is highly unpleasant for any living being to wake me up in the middle of
the night. I don't have 'waking me up' problems in my house. Including with
other humans. LOL


Can anyone offer advice about how to deal with this?

I reacted to my kittens very much like another cat. They understood this
rather well. If they bit too hard and hurt me, I'd do what another cat would
do. I'd yowl, give a hiss, narrow my eyes, and walk away. Stop interaction.
Immediately. If they continued, I'd do the same thing but also give a gentle
bat and a growl as a reminder that I am the boss, not them. Like momma kitty.
And I do mean gentle. Mostly, a hand wave, like a cat batting at the air,
with little to no physical contact. Modeled after my own adult furkids and
how they behave to each other when one wants to play too rough for the other.
LOL
As they got older, 'OW' was substituted for cat vocalizations. They are now
conditioned to 'OW' to mean "stop that, that hurts".

If your kitten is too big on playing with hands, you should stop that
altogether. Use stuffed toys and kitty wands instead. When she goes for your
hands, immediately substitute the toy.

--
--
~kaeli~
Hey, if you got it flaunt it! If you don't, stare at
someone who does. Just don't lick the TV screen, it leaves
streaks.
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/wildAtHeart
http://www.ipwebdesign.net/kaelisSpace

wrote in message
oups.com...
My 4 month kitten often seems to fixate on my hands as prey. She
follows my hands wherever they go. Sometimes she will take a run at
them and pull up at the last minute, or just go to give them a light
tap with her paw.

But the last little bit she's been starting to take to them as chewing
toys at times too. I've seen her do it gently a few times, which I
don't mind so much, but sometimes it gets pretty aggressive.

She has plenty of other chewing toys and stuff, and she uses them a lot
- she loves to chew. It seems to make her happy when I let her chew on
my hand, like it's a bonding experience or even a trust gaining
experience (?), but I don't really like it when it gets aggressive.

I also don't really like it when I am sleeping and she decides to give
my thumb a chomp, thereby waking me up.

Can anyone offer advice about how to deal with this? Ideally, I'd like
to avoid chewing altogether. I don't mind licking, but chewing is a
bit annoying.

Thanks,
Steve

***Hi Steve,

Do Not let her "chew", bite, or nip at your hands or feet. Always, when she
does this or attempts to do so, say to her loudly, "No!", then immediately
move your hand(s) away. Let her know this behaviour is totally not*
acceptable with you and that you won't put up with it. She will learn with
time, believe me, just don't act* like it's okay, or she simply won't know
any better, or behave any better.

Good luck!

ML

On 18 May 2005 07:32:29 -0700, wrote:

My 4 month kitten often seems to fixate on my hands as prey. She
follows my hands wherever they go. Sometimes she will take a run at
them and pull up at the last minute, or just go to give them a light
tap with her paw.

But the last little bit she's been starting to take to them as chewing
toys at times too. I've seen her do it gently a few times, which I
don't mind so much, but sometimes it gets pretty aggressive.

She has plenty of other chewing toys and stuff, and she uses them a lot
- she loves to chew. It seems to make her happy when I let her chew on
my hand, like it's a bonding experience or even a trust gaining
experience (?), but I don't really like it when it gets aggressive.

I also don't really like it when I am sleeping and she decides to give
my thumb a chomp, thereby waking me up.

Can anyone offer advice about how to deal with this? Ideally, I'd like
to avoid chewing altogether. I don't mind licking, but chewing is a
bit annoying.

Thanks,
Steve

I can't stop my kitten from biting my toe. Why should you have it
easy?
http://www.catster.com/pet_page.php?j=t&i=140147

wrote:

Thanks,
Steve

Oh, you started it! playing..."Mr hand is gonna get the kitty"

now...it's starting to hurt. haha

On Wed 18 May 2005 10:32:29a, wrote in rec.pets.cats.health+behav
roups.com):

My 4 month kitten often seems to fixate on my hands as prey.
She follows my hands wherever they go. Sometimes she will take
a run at them and pull up at the last minute, or just go to give
them a light tap with her paw.

But the last little bit she's been starting to take to them as
chewing toys at times too. I've seen her do it gently a few
times, which I don't mind so much, but sometimes it gets pretty
aggressive.

She has plenty of other chewing toys and stuff, and she uses
them a lot - she loves to chew. It seems to make her happy when
I let her chew on my hand, like it's a bonding experience or
even a trust gaining experience (?), but I don't really like it
when it gets aggressive.

Sounds like she's teething.

I also don't really like it when I am sleeping and she decides
to give my thumb a chomp, thereby waking me up.

One of my lil 8 mo old kittens does that to my feet when I sleep!
Ouch!

Can anyone offer advice about how to deal with this? Ideally,
I'd like to avoid chewing altogether. I don't mind licking, but
chewing is a bit annoying.

Not sure how to stop it if you're sleeping, unless you close him
out. I can't do that with mine, but that's just me. When you're
playing with him, just keep pulling your hand away and say very
loudly NO! and don't keep playing with her with your hands. Use
toys only. Once the habit starts as lil kittens, it's hard to
break later.

Any pics of her?

--
Cheryl

"The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited
breath."
- W.C. Fields

Cheryl wrote:
One of my lil 8 mo old kittens does that to my feet when I sleep!

Poor kitty (you are risking giving the kitten lock-jaw or
triganosis)maybe you should put socks on your big feet, or stop wearing
combat boots altogether

On Wed 18 May 2005 07:59:39p, bigbadbarry wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav
roups.com):


Cheryl wrote:
One of my lil 8 mo old kittens does that to my feet when I
sleep!

Poor kitty (you are risking giving the kitten lock-jaw or
triganosis)maybe you should put socks on your big feet, or stop
wearing combat boots altogether



Can we save ourselves a little time here with a simple question?
Are you going to start humping all of my posts?

I'll give you some info about my posting schedule so that you don't
start thinking that "you won" or some other childish thing when you
don't get a reply in 5 minutes:

I don't usually post every day. Sometimes I do during the week;
weekends are usually mine and NO computer unless I'm bored.
Sometimes I just read and don't feel like posting. Lurk mode. Try
it some time.

I don't post during the day. I'm at work and very busy.

Sometimes I'll just ignore you. This is very very important, so
please remember this one.

I absolutely will not reply to you if you hump one of my posts in a
sad or serious thread that takes the attention away from the OP.
That's just rude.

I go to bed early on weeknights because I get up very early in the
morning. If you hump one of my posts at say 10pm EDT, you might
not get a reply for almost 24 hours. Can you handle that?

Lastly, if your post-humping continues at the current caliber,
you'll probably end up in my PLONK FILE (LOL!) because you're just
not worth the time. But, if you end up there, you'll have a second
chance to win my affections after 100 days, because that's when
you'd expire.


--
Cheryl

"The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited
breath."
- W.C. Fields

Cheryl wrote:

A big long love letter

"The clever cat eats cheese and breathes down rat holes with baited
breath."
- W.C. Fields


Humping? no more or less than you've been humping mine. uh huh

killfile me?....killfile ME???

"Hang me just as high as you please, but for the Lord's sake, don't
fling me in that briar patch."