Kittens... When do they stop being terrorists?

[cnvh]

Some of you may recall my thread on here some months back, about the kitten I found next to his deceased mama along the side of the road. He’s doing well and is growing up into a beautiful tuxie-- he is scared of NOTHING and is getting into EVERYTHING. :lol: He gets along well with my two adult Maine Coons, and other than the daily wrestling matches and Indy-500’s around my house, all is well in the kingdom. Oh, and he went in for The Big Snip about a month ago, so his “boy bits” are already long gone.

While I adore him and I think he is very much a “people” cat-- he follows me EVERYWHERE, is always underfoot, sleeps on the bed with me, comes when called, has never met a stranger he didn’t like, etc.-- the only time I can pet him without being attacked is when he first wakes up or is about to pass out. Otherwise, without fail, he tries to eat my hand. He’s not vicious about it-- he’s never drawn blood-- but I would like to be able to pet him like a normal cat!!

My other two boys are love-bugs and will flop over for belly rubs, but the devil-kitten is having none of it. Please tell me this piranha thing is a phase, and he will eventually grow into a cat that enjoys being petted???

[sk_pacer]

Completely normal kitten behaviour but they DO outgrow it…the biting slows greatly when adult teeth come in. Takes time for the terrorist phase to pass, give him a year for that. My own terrorist is at the biting stage too…and those needle sharp baby teeth hurt.

[Bluey]

Is he also an attack fiend, will hide and jump at your leg as high as he can, then try to claw it’s way up and up?

Teenage cat behavior, that will go away, well, when it chooses to go away.

[cnvh]

@Bluey;8903876

Is he also an attack fiend, will hide and jump at your leg as high as he can, then try to claw it’s way up and up?

Thankfully he’s not a (human) climber… though I do have a floor-to-ceiling cat tree that he scales regularly. He’s fond of playing “crocodile” from under the bed with anything that gets within reach though. :lol:

[Bluey]

[QUOTE=cnvh;8903909]
Thankfully he’s not a (human) climber… though I do have a floor-to-ceiling cat tree that he scales regularly. He’s fond of playing “crocodile” from under the bed with anything that gets within reach though. :lol:[/QUOTE]

Now, that laying there and reaching to touch whatever goes by may never go away, ours did that for many years, the dogs knew to watch for cat on chair and go around it, or they would be bopped on the head.

[Zevida]

Kittens stop being terrorists at age 4 or 5. :lol:

Where are you trying to pet him? He may never want you to pet his belly, I think most cats don’t like that. I’d stick to head scratches and a few back strokes and always stop before he asks you to stop. And don’t ever approach him from the front - don’t reach over his belly to get to his back as he may feel threatened by that. He may never change his preferences about how to be petted.

Flopping over and showing belly does NOT mean “pet my belly”, it means “I trust you and am comfortable here” so be sure you aren’t misreading the body language.

Our cats when I was growing up were definitely people cats, but were very particular about where they could be touched. Absolutely no belly.

[cnvh]

[QUOTE=Zevida;8903965]
Kittens stop being terrorists at age 4 or 5. :lol:

Where are you trying to pet him? He may never want you to pet his belly, I think most cats don’t like that. I’d stick to head scratches and a few back strokes and always stop before he asks you to stop. And don’t ever approach him from the front - don’t reach over his belly to get to his back as he may feel threatened by that. He may never change his preferences about how to be petted.

Flopping over and showing belly does NOT mean “pet my belly”, it means “I trust you and am comfortable here” so be sure you aren’t misreading the body language.

Our cats when I was growing up were definitely people cats, but were very particular about where they could be touched. Absolutely no belly.[/QUOTE]

Well, my adult Maine Coons are huge fans of the belly rubs, so they may be a little bit weird, lol… But the devil-kitten doesn’t particularly enjoy ANY variety of lovin’, even the full-topline pets.

[PintoPony]

Earl calmed down a good bit around 2.

He’s 3 now and pretty calm most of the time but every once in awhile he takes a crazy spell for a bit. But my 6 year old cat, Lowell, will take a crazy fit occasionally too so it must be a cat thing.

[gypsymare]

Single Kitten Syndrome.

It has a name, seriously!! This is why I always try to add kittens to the family in pairs. Even as adults they are never quite as well adjusted. The only thing worse is a single bottle kitten. After 3 years my latest bottle kitten has finally started to mellow a bit but she is still quirky.

[Zevida]

[QUOTE=cnvh;8904321]
Well, my adult Maine Coons are huge fans of the belly rubs, so they may be a little bit weird, lol… But the devil-kitten doesn’t particularly enjoy ANY variety of lovin’, even the full-topline pets.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I have one cat who loves belly rubs, and two who kind of tolerate it with a pained look at their face (because they are too sweet to object), and like I said grew up with cats who’d take your arm off it you even looked like you were moving it towards their belly. Even the full back stroke can be too much for some cats - it can be too stimulating. I’d just stick to his face/head, and give your snuggles to the others! If he does tolerate it when tuckered out, he may grow more ok with it as he ages and mellows, but he probably won’t ever love the snuggles.

[North_Dakota]

Single Kitten Syndrome.

It has a name, seriously!! This is why I always try to add kittens to the family in pairs. Even as adults they are never quite as well adjusted. The only thing worse is a single bottle kitten. After 3 years my latest bottle kitten has finally started to mellow a bit but she is still quirky.

^ That! I got a kitten that was 3wks old, and as she got a bit bigger she was an absolute monster. I had scratches down my back from ‘games’, and was covered in bite marks. Asked my vet, who said it’s because she was a bottle raised kitten, and despite having another cat and a dog, she didn’t get proper socialization for playing. She has started coming around, she enjoys sitting beside me and purring. Touching is still a no go, one or 2 pets and it’s all she can handle.

I tell people do not pet the cat, when she comes over, and is like rare artwork, look but don’t touch.

She’s also strongly bonded to my dog and likes to snuggle with her.

[chism]

I’ve done it both ways, brought home singles and pairs and I’ve not experienced this “single kitten” issue. My experience with sibling pairs is that they tend to be very bonded to each other. I didn’t need TWO more cats (or even one for that matter…lol), so I just chose one this time. My little guy is about 10 weeks and I also have two adult cats who are brothers. The new guy is quite social and outgoing and loves to be petted, even on his belly. He’s not quite at his full scale terrorist potential, but I know it’s coming. Those little teeth and claws are razor sharp. Most of my animals seemed to have settled and become grown ups around the age of 2.

[red_mares]

Mine is around the same age as yours - 8-9 months. She settled down tremendously after she got fixed. Almost like someone flipped a switch. Much more laid back & into a lot less (except she still loves electrical cords :mad:).

She also jumps on the old cat a lot less, which the old girl appreciates as she spends much more time out of her box.

Unfortunately, she’s getting very squishy. Very hard to deal with one cat that has a super high metabolism, even before she got old & skinny, and needs to eat frequently and one who tends toward chubby and doesn’t need to eat.

[Rain]

lol I have a foster terrorist at the moment, so I feel your pain!

He’s super sweet and friendly, but after about 3 strokes of petting, he’s attacking my hand. sigh

I’ve had several fosters that were terrorists. I tell prospective adopters that they will grow up (eventually) so I sure hope I’m not lying!

[dani0303]

I’m on my third kitten in a year, with 6 month age spacing between them. The one year old finally calmed down around 7-8 months but that was also the age he was neutered. My 6 month old kitten has outgrown the biting but is in his teenage years and is pushing his boundaries. He has brain surgery scheduled in 2 weeks ;). The youngest is only 8 weeks at this point and she’s very much still in the age of “everything MUST be attacked!!”. I have noticed that she’s much gentler than the males were. She also has them to play with

[Perfect10]

I have a 6 month old terrorist. The 1 1/2 year olds are not impressed and the 8 and 9 year olds are quite annoyed. He has learned to leave the older girls alone, but he tackles the younger boys thinking that all the time is playtime. They have grown up enough that they only think some of the time is playtime.

His most annoying trait is his incessant desire to be with me. I can’t go anywhere alone. Well, maybe it is his manic food obsession (he was a stray) so much so that he reached up and pulled a dish off the counter when I was feeding them this morning and broke the dish.

He’s growing out of the biting, but he does get so happy to be held and loved on that he reaches up and bites your face. It’s a love bite, but it hurts! I can’t wait until he grows out of that one.

[cnvh]

[QUOTE=Perfect10;8905876]

His most annoying trait is his incessant desire to be with me. I can’t go anywhere alone. Well, maybe it is his manic food obsession (he was a stray) so much so that he reached up and pulled a dish off the counter when I was feeding them this morning and broke the dish. [/QUOTE]

Aww… See, I still kinda enjoy the incessant desire to be with me (other than when he sprawls out across the middle of the kitchen floor and I’m in constant fear of stepping on him)… If I open a cabinet door, he’s in it. If I open the dishwasher, he’s in it. When I’m cooking, he’s perched on top of the kitchen chair behind me, which is the closest point from which he can watch the action. I’m rather surprised he hasn’t snuck his way into the shower with me yet, lol! (He does sneak in the moment the water is turned off though!)

And he will apparently eat ANYTHING. Glasses of iced tea are not safe; he sticks his whole head into the glass. I put dirty plates on the floor for the dogs to “presoak” (don’t judge!) and, without fail, he bullies the dogs out of his way and chows down. Last night it was a bowl with the remnants of biscuit dough, plain old boring biscuit dough-- what cat likes biscuit dough!!!

[red_mares]

I wonder if your terrorist is part Siamese? He sounds a lot like my girls. Mine has outgrown climbing in the dishwasher though. They both eat ANYTHING. Old cat was eating my oyster crackers last night. They are about as boring as biscuit dough.

[cnvh]

[QUOTE=red mares;8906012]
I wonder if your terrorist is part Siamese? He sounds a lot like my girls. Mine has outgrown climbing in the dishwasher though. They both eat ANYTHING. Old cat was eating my oyster crackers last night. They are about as boring as biscuit dough.[/QUOTE]

No clue… He’s a tuxedo shorthair of questionable lineage; I found him as a baby next to his dead mama along the side of a road, minutes after she’d been hit by a car.

He actually GROWLS at the dogs (and cats) if they come near him when he’s coveting a particularly delectable food item. Lucky for him, he’s never growled at me though…

[dappled]

I don’t know what you guys are talking about, my 2 year old is still a terrorist. :lol: