Hello everyone. Long time lurker, first time poster here. Been reading these forums for a while as I was searching for a bengal kitten. About 6 weeks ago we welcomed a baby boy to our home. He's not our first cat (our first bengal though) but it has been a couple of years since our previous cat passed away. Everything has been going on well with baby Leo, many thanks to the advice found on this forum. We have followed every peice of advice we found on here, as well tips from the breeder, and from our experience with our previous cat. Up to 2 weeks ago he was very peaceful and loving. While he's still acting this way for most of the day, he's has this habbit now of acting up just before bedtime. I am self employed (work from noon till 10pm), and my wife is currently unemployed. We have this routine where I play with him as soon as I wake up, then I feed him, then I go shower (Leo will observe of course) then I have a mini play session just before I leave for work. My wife says that Leo will go back to sleep soon after I'm gone. He'll wake up around 3pm, finds my wife, and she feeds him his second meal of the day. He'll then sleep, wake up around sunset, wife will play with him for about an hour or so till he's tired. He'll then rest at the main door to greet me when I come home. I play with him for about half an hour or so. At this point he looks all tired, becomes very affectionate, and generally wants to chill out. At around midnight we give him his final meal and we get ready for bed. Leo recently started enjoying sleeping on bed, used to sleep on the ground next to our bed. It's at this time where he flips out. For some reason he keeps attacking my hands and actually bites and scratches, not play bites. He's drawing blood every single night. Both of my hands are filled with scratches. Now I do understand that he's just a young kitten (approaching 5 months of age, will be neutered in 2 weeks) and I am very patient with him. I tried playing with him for about 20 mins after his meal, where he'll calm down a bit, but as soon as I am in bed again he'll flip. Mind you, he doesn't do this to my wife, he hasn't scratched her once (she actually says he likes me more than her!). I also tried giving him 5-10 minute timeouts in the ensuite bathroom, where he'll come out calm and all, and as soon he jumps up on the bed, he'll attack my hands. I'm not displaying any anger torwads him or anything, I just want to address this issue before he gets used to this and it becomes part of his routine. Should we move his last meal of the day to an earlier time? From my past experience with cats, they usually chill down after meal time, but not with Leo, he becomes much more active.
He has a cat tree in our bedroom, tons of toys. A scratching post in the living room, 2 litter boxes. He's otherwise very well behaved.
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.
|