I adopted a kitten a few weeks ago and from the beginning she would always scratch and bite when we tried to pet her. I stopped trying to pet her for the most part. I give her a little kiss or a couple quick pets once in a while, but for the most part I’ve been just engaging her hands off (with her toys and treats). That said, my bf has not. He pets her, she bites and scratches his hand (in a sort of ambiguous way that we don’t know whether she is playing or not), he lightly reprimands her when she bites/scratches too hard, then sometime later the cycle repeats itself. Now I am noticing that her behavior is changing. She seems to be more receptive to being pet (doesn’t scratch and bite us every time anymore), but now every time we pet her she starts to lick us and herself A LOT. My bf thinks she is grooming us, but it doesn’t feel like she is. I may be insane, but the way she licks us when she does it unprompted versus the way she licks us after we pet her just feels different to me. The way she licks herself just randomly versus the way she does it right after we pet her also looks different to me. I’m inclined to think that I’m overthinking this, but I also noticed she is not playing as much as she was a couple weeks ago, and sleeps a lot more than she did before.
She had a vet appointment recently and the vet said she is in perfect physical health, so I am convinced that she might be anxious. Am I insane?
(I also have a feeling she may be bored, so we are getting her a playmate in a couple weeks. He is a very playful blind kitten from a local shelter, and I am hoping that having another kitten in the house will cheer her up).
I have stepped back as far as I could, but I also want her to know we love her, so I wany to know how to give her affection without overstepping her boundaries. I don’t know what to do. I just want my baby to be happy, but it seems I’m not understanding what she is communicating to me.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/jzujey/how_to_give_affection_to_a_kitten_who_doesnt_like/
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