Teething or just playing rough?

[Sammicarkeys]

I’ve been getting abused by my little man lately! He is constantly in a rambunctious mood and he always wants to bite... as hard as he can on the most sensitive spots you have. He’s drawn blood on me a few times. However, he’s never bit me or hissed at me because he was upset or scared. No matter what I’m doing, if he wants to play, he’ll bite me. Completely unwarranted. He’s always letting out his deep meow/growls and running around wanting me to chase him. I notice he does that when he’s playing with himself too. I’ve tried telling him “No”, sternly, but he continues to bite. I’ve given him taps on the butt when he still has his teeth sunken into me and he doesn’t acknowledge it at all. I accidentally kicked him off the bed once because he bit my bare leg in the middle of the night.. also unphased. He came back for round two! I know he has some bite suppression because I’ve kissed him on the face while he’s biting my hand and he stops to see what I’m doing, gives me a light nibble on the cheek, then goes back to my hand. Like he knows that he’s not supposed to do that.

Any pointers? Will this eventually stop? Does it sound like he’s just teething? He’s almost 5 months old and i check his teeth regularly and he hasn’t lost any baby ones yet.

The first picture: it doesn’t seem like it, but he actually has his entire mouth around my hand.

 

[Toa and Ross]

Ouch! That's not a funny habit. Could be your boy is teething. You could buy "bite toys" (don't know the right word in English, sorry) so he can chew on that. When he bites you, say firmly "no" and give him the bite toy. It can take a while but he'll learn that he can't bite you.

 

[Mal]

This works wonders for biters! When your lil man is biting you just redirect his attention to a toy that he can bite such as this wiggle worm or any toy really as this can potential help correct the behaviour!

Our youngest Phil is 8 months and has only really started to bite and attack me in a playful manner so I just try to correct him by giving him and showing him the toy that he can bite instead

 

[Sammicarkeys]

@Toa and Ross @Mal
Thanks guys! I’m going to try something like that. My patients are constantly asking if I’m having an allergic reaction because I have so many nibbles on my right hand I’ve tried redirecting him to a stuffed animal and it was a failed attempt. But maybe if it’s actually *his* toy, it’ll have a different outcome.

 

[Annejo12]

This may sound silly but when I was having the same issue with my kitty I spoke to my vet about it. She said to me that some of the owners she deals with hiss at their kitty. I tried it and it worked! When I hiss at Raphael when she bites me, she lowers her ears, looks at me funny and runs off. My kitty is 5 months old so she called it the terrible twos! Feels silly to hiss at your cat but no one sees you so who cares!

 

[Yoda mom]

@Sammicarkeys , My "Toby Love" used to jump off the dresser Throufg the air in bite mode tail twitching huffing hissing possessed !
I redirected him with a dog toy Kong kicker firehose material dog toy
And yes , time outs in the bathroom, as he huffed and hissed! He was scary - a 6 ft guy would say "ooooh no you deal with him "lol

He got his name "Toby love" bcz I would hiss bsck at him saying "Toby loooove"

Now he is a big Moosh cakes- he knows the command "kiss" now closes his eyes and purrs for kisses

Hang in there
my Toby got more love after he was neutered

 

[NYC Andrea]

I purchased the kitten teething toys for Fluff, they helped a lot but she soon lost interest. I ended up buying a puppy teething bone made of a material that’s safe if ingested. It has the gun massaging element AND is a chicken flavor. She loved it! I still break it out when I cut her nails. Keeps her occupied.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sammicarkeys]

This may sound silly but when I was having the same issue with my kitty I spoke to my vet about it. She said to me that some of the owners she deals with hiss at their kitty. I tried it and it worked! When I hiss at Raphael when she bites me, she lowers her ears, looks at me funny and runs off. My kitty is 5 months old so she called it the terrible twos! Feels silly to hiss at your cat but no one sees you so who cares!

You know whats funny is that my fiance HAS been hissing at him! Hahahahah and he runs from him. I never thought of it like that LOL. Definitely will start doing that.

 

[Sammicarkeys]

@Sammicarkeys , My "Toby Love" used to jump off the dresser Throufg the air in bite mode tail twitching huffing hissing possessed !
I redirected him with a dog toy Kong kicker firehose material dog toy
And yes , time outs in the bathroom, as he huffed and hissed! He was scary - a 6 ft guy would say "ooooh no you deal with him "lol

He got his name "Toby love" bcz I would hiss bsck at him saying "Toby loooove"

Now he is a big Moosh cakes- he knows the command "kiss" now closes his eyes and purrs for kisses

Hang in there
my Toby got more love after he was neutered

Thank you! Oh my gosh, my guy bounces off the furniture and growls like hes mad at someone and then pounces on me. I can't help but laugh at him. He is getting neutered next week, so I'm excited about that.

 

[Sammicarkeys]

I purchased the kitten teething toys for Fluff, they helped a lot but she soon lost interest. I ended up buying a puppy teething bone made of a material that’s safe if ingested. It has the gun massaging element AND is a chicken flavor. She loved it! I still break it out when I cut her nails. Keeps her occupied.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you! I will keep that in mind. He bites at my fingers when I trim his nails too. I think I came across your instagram last night when I was "surfing". Fluff is super cute!

 

[NYC Andrea]

LoL. Glad you came by! Fluff is a handful but I wouldn’t trade her for the world. We went through teething in the last year, I was on here asking a million questions. Best group of folks you could find.

Try the petstages teething toys first. They’re small for little mouths and tiny paws. Graduate to a puppy bone... it says nylabone on it.

 

[Lynn W]

I have tried hissing, times outs, chew toys, redirecting, saying no bite..nothing has worked very well, he still will bite me.. he is neutered and 9 m0s. old. I just hope he outgrows this stage soon..I look like I've been rolling in barbwire. It's not as bad as it use to be, but no where near how I'd like him to be.

 

[Xandria]

I sympathize completely. Max was utterly rambunctious up until we brought Min into the household. As much as we played with Max, all kinds of games throughout the day, he really wanted to play what I call "Kitty games" – chasing, hunting, pouncing, wrestling etc. Being humans, we just can't get that small and entertain him.

Max used to come to bed and "Viper", basically stock us as we were trying to settle down to sleep and then just lunge like a Viper and try and engage us in some pretty intense play.

Max was neutered at 6 months of age, but this behaviour continued. As a result, we adopted a 2nd Sphynx, and it was the best thing for him in the end.

On the other hand, I have heard that Sphynx to calm down eventually… But it's that "eventually" that made me wonder how many years would need to go by! LOL

 

[Lynn W]

@Xandria, you have given me hope for a brighter tomorrow! Someday my Dash may calm down(y)

 

[NYC Andrea]

Fluff will pounce and play pretty rough if I don’t make sure to REALLY tucker her out. I poke her awake around 8:30om and get her to run, chase and pounce until she’s exhausted. However long that takes usually 30-45 minuets. Otherwise, beware.

Also, I’ve been trying to avoid engaging her with my hands as toys. It’s really hard with her little rolls!

 

[Sammicarkeys]

@NYC Andrea @Lynn W @Xandria @Yoda mom @Toa and Ross @Annejo12 @Mal

I've been trying to divert him from my hands. I've bought one of those chew sticks and I brought out a couple stuffed animals. Sometimes its hard to do because... out of nowhere. If I am sitting on the sofa with my laptop, he will come running from wherever, like a bat out of hell, ears cocked back, deep growling and pounce on me and attempt to destroy my hand. Like, I get NO warning until its too late LOL. He acts like a crazy man. Does any of your furless children do that? He's never bitten or growled at me for any other reason.

 

[Toa and Ross]

Yikes! What a little vampire your boy is. Toa did this the first weeks when he was a kitten. But yelling "no" helped after a few weeks. He learned I didn't like it. He did it again when he was teething. I also played with him a lot to make sure he was tired and had no energy to play attack. Hope others chime in with more advice!

 

[Sammicarkeys]

UPDATE. Leon was neutered on 10/24. He is doing well. It's only been two days. Naturally, because he is supposed to be calm for the next 10 days, he has been bouncing off the furniture and being his normal rambunctious self. Luckily, his incision is still sealed! Anyways, over the past two days he hasn't been biting me as much. At least not likely before. Heres hoping this lasts! Thanks for all the advice guys!

 

[Toa and Ross]

Happy to hear the neutering went well! And yay for no biting