We have a beautiful Bengal kitten of 4 months and she seems to act like any other Bengal from what iv'e red on here. The only trouble is when we are playing, and sometimes when we are not playing she will suddenly attack. Her front paws are wrapped around either mine and my wife's arms or ankles and she will bite and dig her very sharp claws in. Any advice as how to stop this or is it normal and we should accept it
Thanks
Mark

Yes it's normal, no you shouldn't accept it. My cats got a "time out" when they did that (after I yelled out in pain). At 4 months you've probably got another 6-8 months of that behavior regardless, but the key is to start training your cat now, because you can imagine how big of a problem that will be once she grows into a big strong adult Bengal, and still thinks your arm is her chew toy. What you'd like is to have your kitten use a "kicker toy" instead of your arm, so make sure your kitten has one (or two), and pull that along the floor and see if you can get her to attack that the same way (wrap, bite, kick). You also just need to establish that when she does that it isn't tolerated, but when she's not doing that you are playing with her and meeting some of those needs to hunt interactive prey (so dabird types of toys).

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The little monsters 3

My boy used to do this when he was younger, to discourage it i would just distract him with a toy to take his attention away from this.

As Brian says a good kicker toy is very useful I have several for my 2 cats, although my girl has never been a biter she loves her kickeroo.

Just out of interest are you from Bristol

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Clare
Magic (brown spotted boy born 31 March 2012)
Pearl (seal Lynx Point girl born 1 October 2015)
Bristol, UK

Yup, I had this problem as well. But Miko learned pretty quickly that whenever he attacked my feet, playtime would stop. Most of the time it happened, I would exclaim "Ow!" pretending I was in a lot of pain, go to a room closeby and close the door for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, I would go outside, find one of his favorite Dabird attachments, and start playing with him. Once he starts playing with the toy, I often congratulate and encourage him, so that he knows that when he is playing with the toy, it's all good times! And so he recognizes that when he plays with my toes, fun time is over.

If she pounces out of nowhere (not during playtime), then I'd be willing to bet that she's trying to tell you she's bored and wants to play :) I'd still give a time out in this scenario, and play with her after the time out, but perhaps it might mean you need to schedule a bit more play time regularly in your schedule in the future.

Also, at the moment when she attacks you, try your best not to move. Stay still like a statue & very slowly try and take your hand or foot away from her. And then remove yourself from the area immediately. I've also found it helps to regularly trim their nails, if they will allow you, so that the scratching hurts less.

I'm lucky that Miko has caught on pretty quickly to this, he still has a tendency to pounce at my legs or feet if I ever let him under the bed covers, so I have stopped letting him under the sheets for the time being.

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Matt

Kittens love to pounce. You'll have to teach them the word "NO." Also, you need to have a toy handy to distract the kitty. I've had many kittens and they love to attack your ankles as you're walking, so you have to be prepared.

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The little monsters 3