Why Do Kittens Bite When They Play

If you don t like being bit and let s face it most people don t you can try purchasing a variety of stimulating kitten toys to keep your kitten engaged and away from your fingers toes nose and hands.

Why do kittens bite when they play. Not only does that provide a same species comparable playmate and an outlet other than you for the stalking pouncing biting and clawing but the kittens will quickly realize that biting and clawing hurts and they will moderate their aggression unless we allow them to play with our hands. This is especially true when your kitten s playmate is a young child. Whatever the cause the good news is that this behavior does not necessarily mean you can t interact with your cat meaningfully. For cats playing consist of biting scratching punching and many other action that seems aggressive for human but actually normal in feline world.

Houpt vmd ph d dipl. Some cats bite as a form of communication or a demand for attention. Play fighting often involves biting and scratching and kittens will often try to play in the same manner with the human friends as they do with their littermates. Play and predatory aggression are other reasons why cats bite.

In fact like teething babies teething kittens will bite and chew on anything including human toes and fingers to ease the discomfort they feel. These include innate behaviors like stalking pawing pouncing chasing biting and play fighting says veterinary behaviorist katherine a. This is a type of social play that the cat usually does to other cat as well as people that owned them. This is the time when each kitten learns how to use an inhibited bite so as not.

This is why kitten teething is a perfect. It turns out that kitten biting is part of the play behavior kittens learn when they are with their littermates. Rough play is normal in kittens and cats up to about 2 years old and that includes biting each other under the neck. Instead of meowing they bite.

Acvp cornell university college of veterinary medicine animal behavior clinic in ithaca new york. Learning the reason why does my cat bite me. Kittens love to play but when they become overexcited they often scratch and bite. If a cat nips you and then tries to lead you to an activity such as playing with a toy this could be the reason.

Kittens look so cute when they re cuddled up together but they can appear fierce during playtime.