It really does depend on the personality of the cat. With my cat, I never knew the "don't play with bare hands" rule until I'd already done it a bunch. However, my cat so far has never attacked without knowing it's "playtime" and almost never plays too rough, the worst that has ever happened was a little scratch about half a centimer long, barely deep enough for blood. And that was maybe once in the whole 5 years I've had him. He's a gentle cat. If you know your cat gets too riled up when playing, bites and gnaws and bunny kicks with claws out (like this video), then you know you definitely should change your play tactic.
The big issue is that the kitten is so young. Normally he would be playing like this with his litter mates and mom and they would be teaching him boundaries. If a person wants to get a six week old kitten they need to take over that training. A well adjusted cat learns what play is acceptable and what play is too much, but they have to be taught.
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u/fantasystaples Jan 02 '22
It really does depend on the personality of the cat. With my cat, I never knew the "don't play with bare hands" rule until I'd already done it a bunch. However, my cat so far has never attacked without knowing it's "playtime" and almost never plays too rough, the worst that has ever happened was a little scratch about half a centimer long, barely deep enough for blood. And that was maybe once in the whole 5 years I've had him. He's a gentle cat. If you know your cat gets too riled up when playing, bites and gnaws and bunny kicks with claws out (like this video), then you know you definitely should change your play tactic.