Congratulations! You just got a new kitten! How exciting! Your first reaction is probably
petting, snuggling, and squishing your kitten immediately! This can be very rewarding and
fun but since we know you threw out the manual as soon as you got your kitten, let’s talk
about some important things to remember when interacting with your kitten! This way, you
can begin to train yourself and your kitten how to safely interact with each other and
prevent having your hands become your kitten’s new favorite chew toy and scratching post!
Now, here is a a well socialized and friendly adult cat. You can see that she enjoys petting
and cuddling and knows how to interact with people. But she did not start out like this!
This is one of our foster kittens, and his factory settings tell him to pounce on anything
and everything first and ask questions later! How can you update these settings and correct
this less than desirable behavior? Let’s talk about it!
First, remember your hands are NOT toys! Make sure you don’t use them to play with your
cat directly or you will inadvertently teach your new kitten that hands are for biting,
swatting at, and scratching for fun! This will lead to lots of cuts and scratches on
you hands which are not fun for anyone! It’s a good idea to have actual cat toys on hand
so that you can redirect any play behavior away from your hands and onto the toys you
want your cat to play with. Play is an important part of healthy cat behavior, so make sure
safe play is always an option for your cat!
When you start petting your cat if you notice that their reaction is to bite or scratch
in a playful way like this, it means your cat is trying to learn how to interact with
you, and to start they are treating you like they would treat any other friendly, playful
cat! This isn’t a bad thing, but it is bad for your cat to try to play with your hands.
If you cat does bite or scratch, try to make your hand less interesting for play and stop
moving completely. Do not even wiggle your fingers or pet your cat! This can be VERY
difficult but you MUST persevere! This will begin to teach your cat that your hands are
not meant for them to play with and are only meant for petting and giving attention.
While you are petting your cat and teaching them how to interact with you, try to notice
what spots might trigger negative reactions from your cat. You can choose to try to ignore
these spots, or you can intentionally trigger a play bite or grab response so that you can
reinforce that you are allowed to touch anywhere you want but that no matter what your cat
does they will not get your hand to move away. This will not only help teach your cat that
your hand is not fun to play with but will also help desensitize your cat to touching
anywhere on their body which will make vet visits much easier!
Now, if your cat’s play biting or scratching is too rough or if you have not trimmed their
nails to keep them more blunt so they can’t hurt you by accident, then you should quickly
pull your hand away in one motion if they try to bite or scratch you. Again this is
to show your cat that your hand is NOT a toy. Do not start petting or touching your cat
if you remove your hand until your cat has moved on from the encounter. When removing
your hand you do not want to make removing your hand part of the game. We like to completely
remove our hands and then have them lie still on our laps or elsewhere to make them completely
unavailable. Eventually your cat will start to learn that your hands are not fun toys
and instead when they see your hands they will approach specifically for pets and attention!
It might take time and patience, but this training will help make your kitten more sociable
with you and with any new people that they meet!
Thank you for watching! We hope this helped you understand that cats can be trained and
taught how to interact, but you have to do it in a way that rewards positive behavior
only. We hope this helps you understand why your cat might be trying to use your hands
as chew toys and precent any unwanted scratching. Check out our other video on this topic if
you want more information about overstimulated cats and how to deal with that behavior.
Remember, spay and neuter your pets and please be kind to animals!