I adopted an eight week old kitten, and he won't break his habit of going after my hands and feet while trying to play. I am already aware of the well known methods of discouraging such a behavior, but none of them seem to get the message across.
Immediately stopping play and cutting off attention just leads to the cat "playing" with my feet on his own. Preceding that with the firm and clear "No" only stops the kitten for a few seconds before he goes back to the attack.
He does tend to prefer string/wand toys, but only when someone is actively playing with him using those, and it's just not feasible for me to do that on a constant basis, as this is a constant issue. Using them as a deterrent to going after hands only works as long as he's actively being played with.
I don't think the issue comes from a lack of playtime, because he gets about an hour of active play time every evening, and that doesn't come close to tiring him out. He has also been neutered, so I doubt hormones could be to blame.
The one thing I haven't tried yet is coating my hands and socks in unpleasant-testing material, but that just sounds like a desperate move. I don't want to have to soak my socks in Tabasco. I'm also considering using a water spray, but I've read that that's a bad idea for other behaviors, like jumping on counters, because the cat associates that punishment with you, rather than the counter. However, that may be just what works work for misbehavior directly involving me.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/f6e6rr/kitten_wont_stop_going_after_hands_and_feet/
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