How to Play with a Kitten
Posted on April 14, 2009
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When playing with a kitten, it is important to behave in such a way that you don’t inadvertently teach them to scratch. Just like children, kittens learn by playing, so if you’re not careful you can teach them some bad habits that will come back to haunt you later on.
The first thing is to make sure you are not encouraging scratching by playing with them with your hands. If you are tempting them to bat at your hands, you are going to get scratched at some point. Instead, you should be sure that you always play with them using fun cat toys that keep their focus on the toys and away from your hands. Toys like pole cat toys are great because they keep your hands far from the action and out of reach of claws.
Kittens should always be told “No” if they accidentally scratch you. At a young age, most kittens don’t know to retract their claws or that scratches hurt, but they won’t learn if you don’t teach them what is right and wrong. One training method I have used is to lightly tap the kitten on its nose with one finger. Supposedly this is how their mother would discipline them. You have to make sure not to be too rough, of course, but they generally don’t like the surprise of getting tapped on the nose!
How to properly play with a kitten is only one of many things you should know about your kitten’s first year of life. Kittens are active, growing animals and the amount of care they require should not be underestimated.
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