Why can't I pet my kitten?

It's hard to resist our new cute cuddly kitten!

But if we have trouble cuddling them, if they seem to bite and claw us instead of being snuggly and sweet, we might be making these classic mistakes:

Giving them our hand to play with. Our kitten needs to learn that our hands are not their toys. We are not teaching them this if we use our hand like a toy!

Always hold the toy with out hand far out of the "danger zone." We can even use a stuffed animal to play with them, but don't let them pounce on, scratch, or bite our hand.

They are just babies, and don't know they are hurting us.

Being too rough. A lot of people think cats want to rough-house. But let's be clear: they don't. They never do.

We can mistake our cat's refusal to back off or run away as a sign that "they like it." But what we've done is make our kitten feel that they have to defend themselves. This can make our kitten run away, or this can make our kitten feel like they can't back off, or we will get even rougher!

Either way, they won't be our friend. Don't teach our kitten to play rough with us; and we won't get scratched by our cat.

Trying to pet them when their energy is high. When our kitten is full of energy and wanting to play, anything that comes their way is going to get played with.

We should play with them until they get tired; then we want cuddling, and will welcome it.

Trying to pet them when they are distracted by something else. If our kitten is intent on wrestling something, our petting hand is remind them of something to wrestle. If they are stalking a toy mouse or chasing a ball, they can only think about one thing at a time; and if they are feeling like play, play is what they will think about.

Wait until our kitten starts slowing down, lying down, or finding places to sleep. Then gentle petting will make our kitten happy.

Then they will love us.

Raise the kitten right! See how to keep our kitten cuddly.