aggressive male kitten behavior

Question
Hi,  I am having a problem with a male kitten.  I don't know anything about his background because his litter was passed around 3 times and I decided to take him.  He is a little orange cat that Im guessing is about 10-12 wks old.  We got him  when he was 4-6 wks old.  His behavior wasn't as bad when we first got him...but the past 3-4 wks have been absolutely awful.  I have 2 kids that hide from him and cry when they even see him because they are afraid.  He used to let us pet him and he would bite and scratch 60% of the time but now its 100% of the time.  me or the kids can just be sittin there and he will attack us.  He even does it in our sleep.  Its not just a little bite either...it really hurts bad.  He will come from behind and just jump and attach to you with claws.  the more you tell him no and make him stop the worse it is. Ive tried the water bottle but he actually likes water!!!  What do I do?????  I had plans to get him neutered and de-clawed but if nothing is going to change then I would rather just put him outside.  HELP!!!!  

Answer
Kristal,

The kitten is behaving like kittens do. Kittens have very, very tough skin and engage in very rough play with lots of biting and scratching. Unless kittens are socialized to us soft skinned humans, their play will seem like they are attacking and trying to hurt us.

We socialize our kitrtesn so that we "play" the picking up, stroking, soft talking "game". If the biting/scrtaching behavior begins, we scruff the kitten, put it down and walk away.  Everyone in the family consistently follows the same technique.  Usually, fairly, quickly the kittens get the idea and know that thye play with people gently. It is critical to impress on the children that any rough housing with the kitten is STRICTLY forbidden.

Please let me know how it goes.

Best regards... Norm.