My sister has rehomed a kitten that was unwanted and although she is adorable she has taken an extreme dislike to me

Kitty moved in 2 weeks back (aged just 6 weeks ) and I have seen her several times now as I pop in often to see my sis and nephew...

Kitten is normal naughty little kitten (climbing curtains, into everything) but with me she goes beserk? I mean she will bound across a room, climb up my legs, get on my lap and furiously attack my hands?? She makes a beeline to attack me and she bloody hurts... I don't encourage her, I now try and remove her when she first jumps on me etc - she still goes for the hands as I am trying to put her back on the floor?? She will climb on the sofa where I am sitting to make an attack for the hands etc.. She also attacks with teeth, front and back legs!

She doesn't do this with anyone else - she is thankfully fine with my little nephew but I have never known anything like it - yesterday she was attacking me so much it took my sister to prise her off of me??

I do have my own cat but I am not sure that is the cause? Other family members have cats too but the kitten doesn't go for them?

I love kittens but this one is a horror!! I have said next time I go round she needs to be locked in a room until I leave

This does sound like rather an extreme reaction to just one person!! When I started reading I thought perhaps that it was the smell of your cat that may have triggered the response but you say that other cat-owning visitors do not provoke the same reaction.

Several things I can suggest:

Ask your sister to ensure that absolutely no-one ever, ever uses their body parts for this kitten to use as predatory practice. Whilst it may only be you that is attacked at the moment, it won't take much before the kitten starts to do this to other people & heaven forbid she scratches or bites your nephew.

Ask your sister (& nephew if he's old enough) to use only fishing-rod type toys to play with the kitten, or ping pong balls, empty cotton reels or such like to throw away from them for the kitten to chase.

Next time you visit try to wear clothes that don't smell of your cat & don't handle your cat just before your visit & wash your hands before you go. Perhaps you could borrow a T-shirt of jumper from your sister to wear?

Wear plenty of thick clothing, especially gloves, socks, thick trousers (or 2 pairs), shoes or wherever the kitten attacks most. Go into your sister's house & sit quietly (preferably not in the place where you usually sit) & if the kitten comes near you, keep very still, no eye contact & just ignore the kitten. If necessary sit on your hands!

Hopefully this will be enough to stop the outright attacks but at least if the kitten does try, you should be well-protected enough to be able to ignore her.

It may take several attempts, especially if the kitten has started to associate the sight, smell & sound of you with predatory practice & once in this mode, it is difficult for the kitten to switch off for a while, so you may need to be patient.

At 8 weeks old this kitten is going through the phase of learning predatory behaviour & regular practice on whatever is to hand is extremely important. But it should be directed at appropriate objects, not people & other pets, so using the right type of toys is vital at this age.

Good luck ~ I hope you manage to have normal interactions with this kitten soon!

That is good advice from wilhemina.
The kitten continues to do this because she gets a reward from your reaction - you yell and protest - which winds her up further. If you are fully defended with heavy clothing she won't get the reaction, although my worry is that she may go for your face, particularly your eyes - a couple of my kittens have done this, not intending to hurt, but they can see their reflection moving in your eyes. So wear glasses!

The important thing is to remain calm otherwise you will wind her up into a frenzy. My tabby kitten was the same, the only answer was to calmly put him outside the room by scruffing him. He stopped the habit to a large extent when I redirected his energies onto 'distance games' - fishing rod toy, pingpong balls. (Although he only completely stopped when I got him another kitten to play with.)

The breeder of one of my Burmese kittens unwisely used to garb herself in track suit and gloves and have a half hour play session with the kittens. Of course we then had to retrain kitty as she thought launching herself at all humans was completely acceptable.

Thanks guys!!!

I usually visit after work so I've not been anywhere near my cat for hours....

I went toy shopping with my sis and picked out suitable things - also kitty has scratching post, thread, balls etc and she loves empty loo roll holders.... I said from day one not to use thir hands to play with her as I made that mistake with my girl...

As I say she isn't like this with everyone? (thankfully as my nephew is only a toddler) in fact it's noticeable to anyone who is around how odd the kitten behaves with me - she even yelps as she is attacking me?

What I do now when I visit is not pay any attnetion to the kitten (I don't call her or anything) but it doesn't matter where I am sat or stood she is over like a shot and up my leg....

When I try to put her down (from my leg or lap or out of my hair ) that's when she really goes to town on my hands.

Oddly she climbed onto my lap yesterday, snuggled down and was purring away and that was fine as long as I kept still. The second she spotted my hands she attacked.

I'd hate to ask for her to have to be shut away when I go round and I do go round at least every other day as I live so close!!

You could try spraying your hands/self with Felifriend before you visit

I think she can smell your Amber on you and think you are one big cat.

I may have to!!


Well I was wearing a stripy jumper yesterday - my sister said maybe kitten thinks I am a tiger

The scent of Amber will be on your clothes and shoes, it doesn't matter that you haven't seen her for several hours.

Is there by any chance something about your hands that catches her eye - do you wear rings?

I had the same problem with my tabby kitten, trying to stop him physically actually made him worse. When you 'remove her' from your hair (I know just what you mean ) you are unintentionally encouraging by giving her that contact. -- Unavoidable, but try to provide the least contact possible, scruff her gently and hold her at arms length so there is nothing to 'fight against' and don't just put her on the ground (she will probably just relaunch as she's very wound up), put her outside the door to calm down.

If other measures don't work, shutting her away for say, the next half dozen times while you're there may be a good idea as it could help to break the habit and provide a fresh start.