Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A little over a month ago I got a kitten. She was born on 6/6/06 (ironically) and so she's almost 3 months.

I've had plenty of cats in my (almost) 18 years of life, but never one that did this....

At night, before I go to bed she climbs up on my pillow by my face and starts purring REALLY loudly and licks my face until I pretty much fall asleep. I'm guessing it's a good thing, but it just seems odd.

And another thing.

When she gets REALLY hyper she bolts from one side of the room to the other, and at the most RANDOM times she'll leap up and dig her claws into my leg and HANG there! It hurts super bad and I don't know how to get her to stop, I know she's just playing, but it hurts.

One more thing, when she plays, she gets pretty rough and bites really hard and like wraps her front legs around my arm and digs her claws in. Any way to stop her from doing that?

My one cat, Isis does that. She climbs into bed with me and even if I dont touch her she just starts to purr. I've taken it to mean that she's very comfortable and loves me. She loves being near me and shows her affection that way.

As for the other thing, the only thing I can suggest is trying to teach her to not do that. Don't hit her or scream at her... instead buy a water bottle and fill it with only water. Whenever you catch her doing something bad, spray her once. This is the nicest way I've found to teach cats to behave or follow my rules.

My other cat, Jinxie used to jump on my leg whenever I had food. She'd try to climb up me. She's learned her lesson now and doesn't climb up anymore.

Anyway, good luck!
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Momma to Jinxie and Isis.

I was told to use vinegar. But I don't want to, I don't want a stinky cat haha.

And yeah, she's VERY determined to get to whatever I'm eating when I have food. I take her off of me and put her on the floor and she meows and comes right back up.

I'll definitely try the water.

I tried using the vinegar and putting like a drop from the spray bottle in her mouth when she bites my hands and that works really good. I just don't want to spray it ON her. 'Cause I don't want to smell that horrible smell everytime I hold her haha.

I've found that plain, clean, clear water works best. My two cats are 15 now, but back when they were younger, I occasionally had to use the water bottle and a it worked fast to break bad habits.
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey

Just plain water even worked for them biting?

Do not use vinegar in the water mixture. It could hurt your cat's eyes and besides it smells icky. Plain water should deter the cat, although it is best if somehow you can keep it from seeing the squirt bottle.

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Smile, it will make them wonder what you are up to!

Yep -- Plain water. Cats hate water. Put it on mist not "stream" so you don't accidently get their eyes with a hard, solid stream. Only use the water bottle when they are doing something bad and it will help break bad habits -- always say, "NO" firmly first and then use the water if they don't stop. They'll get to the point where the NO will stop them in their tracks because they know water follows...
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Tammy
Stanley and Pookey