Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently adopted a four and a half month old neutered male tabby from a shelter, and I'm having some issues I need help with.

He's a typical baby...into everything, bouncing everywhere. But he's starting to get behavior problems I want to nip in the bud before they develop.

One: He has to be in my face for everything. I can't eat without him trying to climb up my nose. I can't walk without him grabbing onto my legs or tangling himself between my feet. I sit, he's there. I bend over to clean something, he's there. And he cries constantly, even while getting attention.
I have to put him away in order to eat or get anything done, and he yowls the whole time. I do not let him out until he is quiet, because I am trying not to reinforce the yowling, but it still seems to be getting worse.

Two: Biting. He love bites, but he love bites constantly. Ten seconds after I start petting him he bites me. Picking him up he bites my arms and my shoulder. He doesn't do it hard, but I'm worried it will get worse. He seems to do it to get attention. If he wants petted and I don't, he'll jump up and bite me. If I'm petting him and he bites, I stop immediately and ignore him. I've tried the squirt bottle and have gotten him soaked on more than one occasion, but again, it doesn't seem to help.

Now, I have a new dog. After an initial show of display, he decided the dog was a push over (she is) and has now taken to tormenting the dog. He'll jump on her from ambush all over the place, and will even walk up to her and start smacking her in the face. She just backs away from him.

I can easily see these problems getting WAY out of hand as he gets older, and ending up with an extremely aggressive and dominant cat. Anyone have any suggestions on what I should do to help stop this behavior? Again, the points I want to stop are: 1) biting 2) constant crying and nosiness 3) bullying the other animals.

I think this is typical kitten behavior. My cat tucker was like that. He would attack Mya all the time. Jump on her face. Ride around on her leg.
He also used to bite us when ever we picked him up. He has out grown it.
Maybe if you get him a playmate he will not yowl as much or pester you and the dog.

Good Luck
Jaime

You are already doing so many things right. You just have a very aggressive baby on your hands.

Another kitten would help, but you might not want that extra responsibility. Believe it or not two kittens cause less trouble than one most of the time because they play with each other! Here is an article on the web that might help:
www.usask.ca/wcvm/herdmed/applied-ethology/behaviourproblems/cataggre.html
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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

I do have another cat. He frustrates the heck out of her as well. She is a bit older than he is, however, and not a real player. There is no way I can get a second kitten.

The bathroom is already his room. I do try and 'ground' him whenever his behavior gets out of control, but I feel bad that it seems like he's in there all the time.

I will try the soda can thing, and see if that helps. I will also read through that link. Thank you so much for your ideas!

That was a great article MA.