How do I deal with my kitten's hype?

Question

I took home a stray cat about two weeks ago, and she's approximately 2 months old. When she got home, she was well behaved and pretty normal. She plays and eats just fine.

But around her 3rd and 4th day, she became very hyper. She ALWAYS scratches and bites people. She sleeps about an hour, but after that she just goes wild again.

Since she got home, there was no sudden change around her so I'm really confused as to why she acts like this. Until this day, she's like that and I can't seem to finish some works if I let her lose, so to get things done I put her in a cage.

Saying "no", hissing, or water spray doesn't seem to cut it. I have so many scratches now. This is really getting out of hand, so I hope someone can help me. I don't want to give up on her. 😭

Answer 1

There are many reasons why kittens behave like that.

i. It may have been separated too early from it's litter and it's still missing them and it's mother.

--->Usually they keep remembering their moms when they are separated but if this is the case then this will subside in a few weeks.

ii. It has not adjusted to the new home (Maybe something or someone is annoying her)

--->Try keeping eye on it. Maybe someone's frightening her or even bad behaviour towards it can cause aggression. (Note:Kittens get very frightened even with little things. Since she is stray keep your behaviour good towards it.)

iii. It is unhappy with the food.

--->Milk is not the best thing you can give to a kitten, many of them are allergic towards it and it doesn't get digested. Get special kitten food available in the market and feed her. Kittens don't require heavy food only once in a day. Small servings 3-4 times is required.

Talking about the sleeping part you have mentioned, it's not normal with kittens as they sleep for atleast 12 hours. You need to build trust and fill it's tummy in order to get her to sleep well and behave normally.

Answer 2

Depending on what country you live in, your first step should be a visit to the vet to rule out rabies. One of the signs of rabies is:

Erratic behaviour - weird biting, odd wandering, tends to be excitable and/or irritable, or shows signs of viciousness

• Kitten being weird, could it be rabies?
• Rabies from a cat? Under what circumstances?

Answer 3

It sounds like to me that you just have an active kitten on your hands. Your kitten is playing and learning how to hunt and fight. This is normal healthy behavior for a kitten. Naturally some kittens are more active and hyper than others.

Also playing rough with your kitten like wrestling with it with your hand will provoke more play fighting from your cat. Also the cat will learn that hands are play things which is not a good thing unless you enjoy your hands being covered with scratches.

If you want to raise a calm and gentle cat be calm and gentle with the cat when you interact with it. Hunting and fighting type play yield more combative and aggressive cats in my experience.

There are many many answered questions here on how to deal with biting and scratching cats but the gist of it is just let them know they are hurting you by letting out a loud cry. I typically say “Owwwwwwww” loudly and scrunch up my face like i am in pain. This is a tried and true method and works for me on every cat I’ve owned.

There are numerous answered questions here and on the Internet about how to deal with aggressive or biting/scratching cats.