The Foot Monster

When my boyfriend and I first brought Duncan home, he liked to attack our feet at various intervals throughout the night and early morning. We are both feet-movers in our sleep, so that only eggs him on. He's about five months old, so it's understandable that he just wants to play. Also, he was with his sister in the shelter we adopted him from for a while, so he was probably used to playing with her. If you ever watch two kittens play together, you'll see them tackling and biting each other. It's just normal kitten behavior. We realized he was treating us like fellow kittens--his feet attacks were not malicious but simply innocent playing to him.

We wanted to break his habit of biting though, so we would loudly say "no!" if he jumped on our feet and began biting. Now weeks later, he has a whole house to roam about at all hours of the day instead of being confined to our bedroom, so the feet attacks have stopped. Occasionally he'll pounce on my legs if he wants a play buddy, but he won't bite. Having a mouse or something they can play with solo comes in handy if you're trying to do something like sleep or cook and they're in a play mode.
I've observed many people that play with their cats with their bare hands and let their cat bite and scratch them. I think this too is normal cat behavior, but it should be a toy the cat is playing with, not a human hand. When you play with your cat in this way, it seems like you're sending them the message that it's okay to be aggressive with humans. Then they might play too rough with guests or little kids in your house. Also, we should be sources of comfort to our animals. But if they're used to us playing aggressively with our hands, then they might assume they need to protect themselves every time they see our hands reaching towards them. Many cats end up being returned to shelters because of behavior problems, and this seems like one problem that can easily be avoided. We're trying to teach Duncan that it's okay to be playful, bite, and scratch his toys, but not okay to do so to us. So far, he's learned quickly.

Another thing that has helped Duncan settle down at night is wearing him out before bed. I have a pole with a felt ribbon attached to it. I dangle it in front of his head and then begin to run, and he practically always comes running after me. I run all over the house with him chasing behind and let him get it once in awhile. This wears him out fast. It's also a good idea to have a variety of mice and other small toys around that he can play with while you're not around. For some reason, my kitty is very picky about his toys though. He'll only play with these two mice that my mom found in a drawer from years ago, and mostly neglects all the other toys I've bought for him.

His favorite game? Fetch.










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Cats, especially kittens, need to play, and if they don't, they'll probably end up attacking your feet.