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Is it normal for a kitten to attack people's eyes?
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No amount of money will help you properly train a small carnivore with alien instincts and a different way of thinking from either humans or dogs. It takes research, time, and a ton of patience. Sure, you can get lucky and get a cat that is an absolute angel, but most of them are going to do things that you find highly objectionable at some point in their nine lives. You can either put up with it (not a good choice if the behavior involves possible bodily harm to you) or you can take the time to do the work needed to change the behaviour. If you aren't prepared to do either of those, you really shouldn't be a cat owner... especially not the owner of a shelter cat with a big ? as to its past.
This is the fucking question: "Is that just a normal part of kitten-hood, or was this a bad cat? Could I have done something differently?"
Answer it or get out.
Your judgment and ire are not required or appropriate here. "You could have kept the kitten and tried X" is appropriate. "You are bad at pets because one consistently goes for your eyes and shouldn't have them period" is not, and each and every one of you should know that by now. I have half a mind to come back to this thread and give just about every one of you at least two points, so you should all be prepared for that possibility.
Stop it now.
Ceres: I know the purpose of this forum but OP adopted a kitten and returned it in a week. The general consensus in this thread is that if he gave up on a kitten after just a week he may not be suited for cat ownership. I'll take two points if it means he won't make this mistake again and cost himself a bunch of money and time, and cost another kitten a trip back to the pokey.
Another kitten anecdote: One of my kittens would repeatedly fall in the gap between my computer desk and the wall, on purpose, then mew until I reached in to get him out. (He truly couldn't get out on his own.) At which point he would happily grab my arm with his claws and enjoy the ride out.
Add this to the general kitten habits of pouncing on moving things and scratching everying, and my hands, wrists, and arms got scratched up so much that I worried that people at work would think I was cutting myself or making half-assed suicide attempts. (As it turned out, I'd just say "I have kittens" and they'd get a knowing look and say "AHHHH.")
Today both my cats are well-mannered and never scratch me, even when I do unpleasant things like force them into a cat carrier. But it took a lot of time and effort to get to that point.
If you felt that the cat was too aggressive, you could have talked to a vet about it, and they might have had some ideas. Or you could have made a thread about finding ways to make the kitten behave instead of just taking it back to the shelter and washing your hands of it.
Yes, cats scratch. It's part of owning them- it's not if you get nailed, but when and how bad. I've had my mama cat grab hold of my arm with her forelegs and just rake the hell out of it with her hind leg claws when she was really in a bad mood.
Point is, cats really aren't for everyone. If getting scratched or bit is such a big deal, maybe they aren't for you.
I can has cheezburger, yes?
Thats what ive got. Ive tried vertical and horizontal. The fiddly bastard just loves my box springs... and my computer chair.
I had a cat growing up that would become a whirlwind of claws and fury for no reason, kinda like you described. She'd swish her tail, look at me sideways, and I'd know some shit was about to go down. So, I'd grab her by the scuff of her neck till she settled the fuck down. Worked okay. Sometimes I'd just kick her out of the room.
I think your kitten was being a kitten. Probably just wanted to play, and your face seemed like a good way to go about it. My advice, would be to get a cat rather than a kitten. You still get a fluffy little friend but you bypass all the bullshit of raising a youngster.
Just fyi for future endeavors, if your place is big enough for one cat, it's big enough for two
Seriously though, cats in pairs are the way to go. They'll wear each other out.
Dude, I did talk to a vet. I clearly said I did. I also said that getting scratched and bit wasn't a big deal to me, and that I had been successfully dealing with that problem. My limbs will heal fine; if she'd successfully inflicted the same level of damage to my eyes, as she kept trying to, I'd be fucked.
I wasn't holding her up to my face. With this cat, I would've absolutely gotten my face/eyes slashed if I'd tried that. She liked to pounce out of hiding places or leap from furniture towards my face with her claws out, or try to leap straight up from my lap and try to get my eyes when she'd been purring and drowsy the moment before.
I didn't.
Apparently you haven't been paying any attention to what I said.
I think this animal would clearly be best suited to a multiple-cat home. That was also the vet's recommendation. Now she has a chance to inhabit one.
I would still like to know if there were single-cat solutions which take into consideration that (1) this behavior, unlike any others, could not be allowed to continue very long at all, which is a problem for the standard repetition-response cycle of training, and (2) hissing/meowling/"NO"/holding her down/withdrawing attention was leading to more of the behavior.
Even if the kitten is coming right at your eyes, it is a kitten.
This is most of the reason that so many people are getting so frustrated with you, I think.
If you really and truly feel unable to defend yourself against a kitten then yes, this is normal kitten behavior and yes, you should never try to own one again.
Know thyself I guess...I probably wouldn't ever get another pet if I were you...I personally have grown up with pets as a kid but have refrained from buying one as an adult simply because I'm uncertain of if I would be able to juggle my personal and professional obligations on top of raising a pet.
Also why I haven't had kids yet :P
My mother-in-law, however, did not pick an awesome kitten, and she still goes for the face, the eyes, or whatever else she can reach years later. While I was dating my husband, this fairly small cat jumped out at him from a dark spot and very nearly took his eye out; the fact that he wears glasses saved his vision, and even with them she really took a chunk out of him.
I'm locking this thread. The questions asked here were not written in code, nor were the responses. Do not stop into threads just to pass judgment, because no one cares.