Kitten bites arm suddenly

[cloa513]

A painful and worrisome new behaviour our kitten has developed is to bite my arm. It happens suddenly without any warning and he walks off immediately which is strange for play or fighting behaviour. Can I put anything over my arms to discourage him? He bites hands sometimes and we try to discourage him out of that but the arm biting thing- at most once a day- is a bigger concern for me.

[my4kitties]

One thing I've learned with my kitten, Momo, is that she will bite out of boredom AND also after being cooped up in my son's room. Stop leaving your kitten in the cage, put up any heirlooms and let him be a kitten. Once we started letting Momo out of my son's room and letting her have free rein of the house, she stopped trying to bite our faces.

[Alpaca]

Miu was a biter as a kitten. She occasionally still does it sometimes randomly, but not as often. I believe she outgrew it. She used to do it mostly in the mornings as a request for me to feed her. So I started giving her a bedtime snack and that stopped.

Also, if there was an opportunity for me to do so (sometimes she'll just walk away so I can't do this), I'd 'discipline' her. After she nips me and if she sticks around, I abruptly and immediately stop all play or contact with her. I ignore her or turn my back on her. This is to let her know that I don't appreciate it and if she still wants my company, she'd better not bite me.

[Sinatra-Butters]

Cloa513, your kitten has tons of pent up energy that cannot be expelled no matter how many play sessions you give him out of the cage. Your kitten is not only going to start biting regularly but will develop extreme behavioral problems from being kept in a cage. You cannot continue to cage this animal. I know your family doesn't want the kitten breaking stuff but severe consequences can occur from continuing this.

[MowMow]

Originally Posted by my4kitties

Stop leaving your kitten in the cage, put up any heirlooms and let him be a kitten. Once we started letting Momo out of my son's room and letting her have free rein of the house, she stopped trying to bite our faces.

Originally Posted by Sinatra-Butters

You cannot continue to cage this animal. I know your family doesn't want the kitten breaking stuff but severe consequences can occur from continuing this.

What they said.

[littlesushi]

i agree with the previous posters that keeping your kitten in a cage will have lifelong consequences and behavioral problems. our kittens have free reign of our house which has 2 flights of stairs and still have enormous amounts of energy.

[Buggzter]

From my experience with my parrot... She gets LOUD, ANNOYING, BITES, and won't STOP SCREAMING if she's not allowed to be outside her cage enough and interacting with her "flock". Cats are really smart critters, too. They need lots and lots of space and stuff to do, or they will get bad habbits to get the attention and interaction they need.

Petrie, my parrot, will be the worst nightmare you can imagine if she's not properly interacted with on a daily basis. It's not pretty. But if I let her out daily to eat breakfast with me before work, out at lunch while hubby is home, out in the evening with us... No issues. The cats? Have to give them some interaction as well but I can NOT imagine trying to crate them for long periods of time, or even more than overnight (in a HUGE crate/cage) only if I absolutely HAD to... heck, they usually have breakfast with me and the bird all together (they get their treats as Petrie and I eat...)

You may want to talk to a cat behaviourist who can come into your home to see what they can suggest for you to do. Good luck, and I hope all goes well.

[cloa513]

Originally Posted by Sinatra-Butters

Cloa513, your kitten has tons of pent up energy that cannot be expelled no matter how many play sessions you give him out of the cage. Your kitten is not only going to start biting regularly but will develop extreme behavioral problems from being kept in a cage. You cannot continue to cage this animal. I know your family doesn't want the kitten breaking stuff but severe consequences can occur from continuing this.

My kitten doesn't have enormous energy. Plenty of play times where I need to draw him into activity. He could do almost anything he wants but he moves only slightly. The biting times aren't when he is going nearly hyper (that would give me plenty of warning)- it really is out of the blue.

[IdahoChick]

Originally Posted by cloa513

A painful and worrisome new behaviour our kitten has developed is to bite my arm. It happens suddenly without any warning and he walks off immediately which is strange for play or fighting behaviour. Can I put anything over my arms to discourage him? He bites hands sometimes and we try to discourage him out of that but the arm biting thing- at most once a day- is a bigger concern for me.

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I dont know if anyone has suggested this, but try spraying some bitter apple spray on your arm. It is a deterant spray that many people use to help dogs stop obsessive licking and causing lick granulomas, or for lickers' after surgeries.

one lick of that stuff ( I have tried it out of curiosity, lol ) and it should work.

good luck!!

[swimkris]

I have a question- How does your kitten act when you put him in his cage, or take him out? Biting isn't done out of menace; it means something. Your kitten is unhappy for some reason and that is why he is biting you. You said that he doesn't play with you when he has the chance? Does he give you any affection? To me, it sounds like you and your kitty are not "bonded;" aka you do not have a "relationship." You have to spend A LOT of time training and playing with your kitten (like a surrogate parent) early on so that they will view you as more than a food source. Locking your kitten away in a cage is definitely not going to help your situation. When you do let him out of his cage, he is probably too busy wondering when you are going to catch him and put him back in to worry about playing.