Aggressive Kitten Behavior Normal?

[PatsGirl]

Hi everyone. I need some help with my 1 year old kitten (or is he a cat now)

He started going out in April or so and, while he was always a bit aggressive and fearless from 2 months-9 months, it seems to be getting worse every day. It used to be that he would bite a bit, especially when playing but never really scratches that much.

He wants to be outside ALL the time now and when he comes in to eat he immediately starts crying when done to go back out and if you try to pat him or walk away he bites. He then bites my ankles all the while crying to get outside.

I originally did not let him in the bedroom as a kitten but he was lonely and would scratch on the door so I relented. He was fine in the room until this Spring and now as soon as he hears birds (4 am or so) he starts biting me in the feet and now right in the face until I get up and let him out.

His cuddle time is getting less and less because he is so obsessed with getting outside. He will sit in my lap at bit late at night (usually while I'm DISing, lol) and enjoys being petted then.

I really don't want this to be a debate on inside vs. outside but instead need some pointers on behavior training. One of the reasons we started letting him out was that he was insistent and was trying to break out of our second floor screens He was maniacal about going from window to window trying to get out. Our vet said that some cats just can't be kept inside and told me to do our best to get him in at night which is what I've been doing. At first it was hard but I learned to only feed him a minimal amount of food all day so that he is hungry enough to come calling at dinner time.

Any advice about the biting? He is not afraid of the water sprayer (actually comes as close as he can in order to drink from it) or loud noises. If I get angry with him he gets more aggressive and has actually lunged at me and bitten me.

What happened to our cute kitten?

 

[Sparx]

It sounds like its time to get him neutered to me.

 

[PatsGirl]

He was neutered a while ago at whatever age the vet recommended (was it 6 months old?) so it isn't that. He just loves to get out there and chase the mice, moles, birds, june bug, and moths, keeps him busy all day long...

 

[disneyfans95]

This is why owning a cat is bad.. You can't control them and end up with feral cats

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

Can you put in a cat door where you are? It wouldn't work so well where I live because I would have raccoons and possums inside more than the cats.

Cats aren't trainable in the same way dogs are. Using his aggressiveness to get his own way is worrisome. But I don't know enough to say if it will get worse or if you can redirect it or not.

 

[PatsGirl]

I did consider a cat door but I'm afraid that, like you, I'd be inviting the wild animals in. A friend of mine leaves a window open in her basement but a racoon got in this past weekend so she's no longer doing that either. Her cat, on the other hand, doesn't mind coming in at night and doesn't bother her at all until morning...

 

[PatsGirl]

This is why owning a cat is bad.. You can't control them and end up with feral cats

Am I missing something here?

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

I would just let that other person's post go. No need to let your thread get sticky.


I hope someone can help you with the kitty gone bad behavior.

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

They do have a door that will only open if you cat has on a special collar. Nobody else can get in.

We have three cats and it was bit cost prohibitive at the time.

 

[Evita_W]

I am with you PATS!! My little (or not so little) 1 year old just started wanting to go out too...except ONLY AT NIGHT!!! He will sit and complain by the back door until finally I just can't take it and let him out. If I try to go out and catch him he runs and acts like it is a game of chase. (When I turn to go back he will run after me...)

He then bellows outside the window once the sun starts to rise.... I am beginging to think he is a "vampire" instead of a cat. He is fixed also, so I do not think he having any late night soirees...I think they just like to explore...yours happens to like the morning hours...

Unfortunately, my kitty likes to bite also, and i can't seem to help him. I have tried everything but encounter alot of the same problem you do. i think to be honest, I may just have to live with it. I am not saying don't correct him, but do your best and make sure he understands the difference between "discipline" and "play." I think eventually he will grow out of it.

I can tell you love him very much...I the same with my cat. Cats are just crazy creatures...with minds that cannot fully be figured. Just go with the flow...

But, if I get any good ideas....I will pass them along...maybe our cats our molded out of the same mold!

 

[PatsGirl]

Thanks Evita W ~ nice to know others out there with the same kitten issues. My mother's cat has been going out since he was a kitten and sometimes doesn't come home for days at a time. She has had several cats, some indoors some outdoors but says this one takes the cake. He has no desire whatsoever for human contact and only comes in to eat or when it is subzero temperatures. She does see him outside in the yard throughout the day though. I guess I'm afraid that's what happening to us now. If I wasn't so afraid that a coyote would get mine, I'd leave him out too.

 

[fkj2]

This is why owning a cat is bad.. You can't control them and end up with feral cats

I have a female that's the same way--wants to be out running and hunting nearly all day. She's two, I think.

She's a cat. That's what they do.

I make sure the critters use the back door and so far, they stay in the back, except when they run down to the neighbors to hunt frogs in the pond.

She sometimes makes a pit stop for a mid-day snack but comes back at night, esp. when the lights go down.

 

[DMRick]

Is this an only cat? When we adopt out, our kittens must either go as a pair, or have a cat/kitten already in the home to play with. Kittens play rough, and having a playmate (even a dog that will play with it) seems to make the kitten less agressive with it's 'people' as it gets older. If it is your only cat, have you thought about getting a second one?

You say you don't want the back and forth on if it should go out or not, but that could be part of the problem. There are a lot of cats outdoors and for some of them, they may not have been taught not to play rough, so even though your cat is neutered, rough play happens, and he may think that is normal play. You are right though..once they have been outside, it's very hard to keep them in..even if you get it as a kitten.

For the biting, one trick that has been used successfully (if a spray bottle doesn't do the trick) when they bite, is to put some coins in a can and shake it near the kitten, whenever it tries to bite. When I first get them to foster, if my hand is bitten rather than it's littermate, I either scruff them and give a soft shake, or roll them onto their back and hold them down like their real mama would have done if they misbehaved. They hate being held down.

 

[Imzadi]

OP, unfortunately, your cat has learned to become the dominant Alpha Cat. he has learned that biting, now scratching, clawing at windows, doors, crying until you let him out, and you have. He knows how to get what he wants.

Does your cat respond at all to the word "No"?

My cat is very highly trained. She obeys commands: sit, lay, stay, come, go, jump. People remark she acts more like a dog than a cat. It's because I didn't buy into the B.S. that cat's aren't trainable or controlable. Because of that, I now have a trained cat. I expect her to respond to me and she knows it. I trained her to. She knows I am the Alpha Cat. 8 years later, it still takes work some days to remind her I am the Alpha Cat, not her. That means not giving into her just because she's meowing and crying and especially if she tried to bite or scratch me.

This is why owning a cat is bad.. You can't control them and end up with feral cats

This is such an ignorant generalization.

 

[busyshrew]

I let my cat outdoors with a cat door - she lived to the ripe old age of 17.5, and we never had trouble with critters in the house. We had the cat door in the little space underneath the side-window beside the front door (usually there is a square of wood there, but we knocked it out and put a cat door in). I think because it was in a high "human-traffic" area, we didn't have trouble. And cat doors can be locked too.

But I did want to say that I've noticed most cats do seem to have a "devilish" phase, from about 4 months onward until they are about 2-3 years old. They are absolutely WILD during that age - climbing on everything, scratching more, biting more, generally getting into trouble. I remember thinking that my originally very sweet, snuggly kitten was completely possessed!

But give it some time and your adolescent will mellow out! Just be calm, patient and firm - don't allow biting! You could try several tactics - I would scruff-pin my own cat and say "NO" very sharply whenever she bit me, and eventually she got the hint. Hang in there, your sweet kitten is still inside that growing-up cat body, and he will be back. It will just take a while.

 

[Evita_W]

I let my cat outdoors with a cat door - she lived to the ripe old age of 17.5, and we never had trouble with critters in the house. We had the cat door in the little space underneath the side-window beside the front door (usually there is a square of wood there, but we knocked it out and put a cat door in). I think because it was in a high "human-traffic" area, we didn't have trouble. And cat doors can be locked too.

But I did want to say that I've noticed most cats do seem to have a "devilish" phase, from about 4 months onward until they are about 2-3 years old. They are absolutely WILD during that age - climbing on everything, scratching more, biting more, generally getting into trouble. I remember thinking that my originally very sweet, snuggly kitten was completely possessed!

But give it some time and your adolescent will mellow out! Just be calm, patient and firm - don't allow biting! You could try several tactics - I would scruff-pin my own cat and say "NO" very sharply whenever she bit me, and eventually she got the hint. Hang in there, your sweet kitten is still inside that growing-up cat body, and he will be back. It will just take a while.

Well said!! Thank you for your words! It's true, they go through the "terrible twos" and the "teenage years" just like all of us do!

 

[AlleyKat]

most cats do seem to have a "devilish" phase, from about 4 months onward until they are about 2-3 years old. They are absolutely WILD during that age - climbing on everything, scratching more, biting more, generally getting into trouble.

Amen!

 

[Scurvy]

OP, unfortunately, your cat has learned to become the dominant Alpha Cat. he has learned that biting, now scratching, clawing at windows, doors, crying until you let him out, and you have. He knows how to get what he wants.

I agree! Cats really are trainable, it just takes more work than with most dogs. OP, you have unintentionally taught him to behave this way. By giving in to the cat, you've taught him that if he wants to go outside, he just has to attack the screens or bite you until you give in.

I've never met a cat who could outwit or overpower a human, if the human is determined enough to train the cat. While not all cats can be easily trained to follow commands like "sit" or "stay", all cats can be trained to discontinue undesirable behavior. Most people whose cats are "untrainable" just don't want to put the work into the training. They take the easier way out instead. If you want the behavior to stop, there are options. Using spray bottles or shaking a can full of change both work well. With my one cat that liked to bite, I would spray my fingers or toes with bitter apple when the cat was biting me - he stopped biting pretty quickly after that! You can put double sided tape (or stronger tape, sticky side up) on the windowsills or surfaces by the windows to keep the cat away from the screens. Different things work with different cats, but there is always a solution.

The most important thing at this point is don't give in to the cat! If the cat bites you because it wants to go outside, don't let it out. If you continue to reward the bad behavior, the behavior will continue. Stop rewarding the behavior and the cat will realize pretty quickly that biting doesn't get it what it wants any longer.

 

[Rupert B Puppenstein]

We had that happen with an indoor/outside cat that belonged to our neighbors that passed away late last year and left him behind. All of our cats are inside cats so we were hesitant to allow him to continue going in and out as he pleased. We did for a while, and then just allowed him to be outside but then he kept getting his butt kicked by other strays. He would meow constantly, and get really obnoxious with our cats. But, I just didn't want him to go outside and continue to get hurt. He had a deep wound and I put the E-Cone on him to ensure he wasn't going to hurt it further. His behavior changed 100% just with having that on. Fast forward a few months and he is still an inside cat and whenever he gets bitey, fights with others, we put the Cone of Shame on him and it is his time out. We still have some issues and he still really wants to go outside, but he has gotten so much better. I also recommend getting Feliway (they have a spray/wipes or plug-in) - one thing I noticed from our cat was that he got more territorial and dominant every time he would come back in the house from being outside and saw him really marking his territory outside (he is neutered) and it appears that was linked to his behavioral issues. We have taught him to stop meowing at the door by using treats (he likes cheese) everytime he stops meowing. It took some time (he is 10) and now I just am working on teaching him to stop batting the doorknob. Smart guy knows how to open the doors but just can't!

Good Luck! Cats don't handle change very well so I would decide if you want him to be an outside or inside cat and go from there. It is a male cat thing because I know many people who have had females that go in and outside all the time without an issue and are not as prone to behavioral issues (outward) instead they are like typical females and are more vindictive. We have a cat that we found as a stray that would attack us if we told her no - not immediately, but 30 minutes later. Luckily, she grew out of that!

 

[WDSearcher]

Where did you get your kitten? If you adopted him from a Shelter, it's likely that he was feral to begin with -- born outside, with those instincts. If he is feral by birth, then allowing him to go outside will reinforce his need to be outside. You have to teach feral kittens to be indoor cats, and that's a long process that takes much patience.

If he is an "only kitten", it could well be that he's finding his stimulation (playing, socializing) outside. Cats do, after all, prefer other cats to humans. They want to play and talk to and be with others of their own species. If you only have this one cat, it may truly just need more than you can give it.

There are lots of websites out there (Alley Cat Allies springs to mind) that can talk about how to tame an outdoor cat. You may want to take a look and see if there's anything there you haven't tried. Good luck!