Cat owners please come in...

MrsT0514

A question for fellow kitty owners...I am trying to gain some insight on this, as I can't remember having this issue with our last kitty.

We recently, about a week ago, adopted a one year old neutered male kitty from a shelter. He's very sweet and has warmed up to us and his new home quite well. He definitely still has lots of kitten energy in him and gets really riled up when we play with his toys. I can see that he has a pretty strong prey drive, as he's very intent on chasing and pouncing on his toys. But within the last few days, I've noticed him nipping us a lot more. I'm not talking about during play when he's already hyped up either. This is even when we approach him randomly just to pet him while he's resting. He seems to switch very quickly into a feisty mood and will grab onto our hands to rake with his back legs and nips us, like he thinks our hands are his toys. Most of the time he's great while being held, but I'm wondering what's causing the nipping and constant feistiness on his end. When he nips, its not usually hard, so it really seems like he can't tell the difference between normal relaxed affection and play.

I don't remember ever having this issue with our last cat. I'm chalking some of this behavior up to adjustment to a new home, but is there any type of discipline I should put in place to help him realize our hands are for petting/affection and toys are for nipping and playing? I normally just pull away calmly and say NO in a firm tone and walk away for a while. Should I be doing something different?

TIA and sorry for the huge paragraphs, I'm on mobile.

nanabanana06

Cats are impossible to train. I'd get a pheromone plug in thing to calm him down.

mben1119

Eh, its been a week. He will adjust and let up.

pghmortdoll

One of my four is like that. He was from day one. My husband went with it and played rough and wrestled with him, this was when we first lived together and he was the only pet. He is more calm now but still does what you described and he is 6.

[Deleted User]

Cats are fuzzy, cute jerks. 

taggiecb

Cats aren't impossible to train. We have taught our cats two basic commands. A noise for "come" and a noise for "get away". It works for things like this. 

MrsT0514

Thanks for the feedback everyone. This was along the lines of what I was thinking too. I'm sure he'll calm down a bit once he's fully adjusted. He definitely has lots of kitten energy...currently, he's sprinting back and forth down the hallway and going nuts with his toy mice. I just wasn't sure if there was anything else I should be doing to help stop the nipping..but like a few of you said, cats can just be asssholes sometimes, lol.

MrsT0514

justAphase:

I'm no expert, but it seems pretty normal to me. The few kittens I've had have all done the nibble while using their back legs to kick thing. Kittens are feisty little creatures. Was your last cat a female? That may make a difference. I would keep doing what you're doing. Say no, put him down, nbsp;and walk away. He'll get it after a while.nbsp;I've never used the pheromone thing that Nana mentioned, but I have read good things about it. Good luck!nbsp;

FWIW, nope..our last cat was also male. We've only ever owned male cats.

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SoDoMojo

krptcmschfmkr128:

Just wanted to say, if you didn't already know. Laser pointers are awesome kitty play toys to tire them out.

Toddlers too!