Expert: Norman Auspitz - 6/19/2009

Question
I have a 13 week old, male, tabby kitten. We have had him since 7 weeks of
age. He has always been really aggressive over food. He spits, growls, hisses
and attacks if you go any where in the room he is eating. He even tries to get
you when you are trying to give him his kitty milk. He now has started doing
it with his toys. This is a problem as there are children in the house. We
thought he might grow out of it but it just seems to be getting worse. Is there
any way to stop this behavior?

Answer
Miriam,

Wow, 7 weeks old is awfully young to get a kitten.  My bet is that he was never socialized to humans. If you ever watched a litter of kittens fight for a nipple or wrestle as they get a bit older, they are awful. Cats have very, very tough skin and kittens play very, very roughly with mama and each other. Their biting and scratching does not bother them!!!!!  However, it is not pleasant for us softer skinned humans.

With kittens as young as this one, we "play" a game. We carry the kitten around, speak softly and gently stroke the kitten. Kittens generally love this game.  If the kitten begins the biting/scratching behavior, we put the kitten down and walk away.  If the kitten behaves calmly, we reward the kitten with a treat. It usually does not take a kitten very long to behave more socially with humans.

However, there is a caveat. EVERY member of the household has to engage in calm play with the kitten, especially the children who tend to like to rough house and wrestle with kittens. A single incidence of rough play by any member of the household will undo any behavior modification towards gentler play with people!!!!!  To overcome the biting/scratching behavior requires consistent, persistent behavior on the part of everyone in the household with NO exceptions.  As the kitten calms down, you will be able to clip its claws which will help even more.  The biting/scratching behavior will not be done over night. It could take a couple of weeks or months to overcome.  The key is that all play must be calm and gentle until the kitten behaves more socially.  Then you can have lots of fun with a kitty teaser.

A parting note, the kitty does not need milk at age 13 weeks.  It should be completely on solid food. Cows milk tends to give cats diarrhea.

Please let me know how it goes.

Best regards... Norm