Feline Behaviour: Socialization In Cats.

Question:
I've got a four-month-old kitten that bites and scratches my hand when I go to fuss her. Her mother didn't want her from birth so I've hand-reared her and played rough with her like the mum would. I thought i was helping but now she treats my hands as prey. I've tried homoeopathy and trying when she bites but It doesn't stop It long-term. I want to sell her but can't the way she is. I'm too old to keep a litter now, I'm in my 70's and it wouldn't be fair. I hope you can help. I have tried the Tellington Touch and homoeopathic medicine.

Answer:
Aggressive behaviour toward people is not unusual in hand-reared kittens and people often find this difficult to understand. After all. these kittens have the greatest level of social contact with people during the all-important socialization period and you would expect them to be highly sociable.

In fact they are! These kittens are well-integrated into human society and they are happy and contented in the presence of people but they have a very high expectation of rewards from people and as a result are very prone to frustration.

I would be interested to know where you gained your information about how queens interact with their kittens. It is true that the queen will terminate suckling sessions before the kittens have finished drinking and will bring home prey for the kittens to practice their predatory skills on but there is no evidence that she will physically challenge her offspring or engage with them in intense physical and confrontational play.

Rough housing very young kittens and using human hands is likely to induce one of two reactions. Either the kitten will view the hands as a potential threat and become fearful of their approach or it will see them as potential prey and engage in a predatory reaction toward them.

The short term approach will be to back off from the kitten and engage in indirect interaction through tasty small good treats or through play using fishing rod-style toys.

_{source Your Cat Mag.}