Male Cat Bites me alot

Question
i have a male kitten, hes about 8.5 months old..  we got him when he was only 3 weeks old.. the mother stop feeding them early. But my cat seems to show a lot of aggression even when no one is playing with him. And mood swings... one moment hes all cuddly and purring, next he is attacking me and biting.. when he was a little kitten he would nibble, but now he chomps at me.. and will drawl blood. Iv tried the water bottle iv tried that cat repellent, iv even tried taking his treats away.. I don't no what else I can try... please any ideas would be much appreciated

Answer
Hi Rikki-

It is odd if a mother stops nursing early-if a kitten is taken away from mother and its littermates before 8 weeks- behavior problems such as unprovoked aggression and litterbox aversion often show up when they are adults. This may be what happened to your little guy. Many people unfortunately take underage kittens to shelters and this ends up happening.

He did not get proper social skills and many people unfortunately separate them too early and cause a tremendous disservice to the kittens.
I am not there to see what is going on but i would highly suggest having a behaviorist work with you to assess if he is capable of behavior modification and/or if there is something you are inadvertently doing to encourage this behavior.

As a side note, I would say the top two reasons why i see aggression in adult cats is they were taken from their mother too early and also humans are way to rough, use their hands  as "toys" and don't know how to read a cat's body language and don't have cat body language skills.
Most people overstimulate cats which causes them to be acutely  annoyed and end up swatting and biting.

The sad part is a shelter would put him to sleep for sure for the aggression even at a "no-kill shelter" as they have behavior safety standards-even no-kill shelters. This type of behavior would not pass behavior to get him up for adoption.

It is important he has adequate stimulation, exercise, climbing outlets to release some energy as well. Is he indoor only? This would require a lot more play with him but keeping yourself safe-for ex with a wand toy or "da bird" toy. Direct him to climb cat trees but moving the toy along the cat tree. Make sure he has access to windows to see birds. Boredom also leads to behavior problems.

I would explore body language to see if you can redirect him if he starting to become aggressive and re-direct him if that is possible. The one thing i have also seen is some of these underage cats have cognitive dysfunction so learning is an issue sometimes. You may be able to explore medication as well. It is a complex situation and it is vital information that you mentioned the 3 week adoption and separation from mother situation. Those weeks they should be with mom and littermates are vital weeks where they learn appropriate use of their mouth and play with other kittens and the mother also shows them proper skills.

I hope he has full cognitive function as he will be able to learn by behavior modification.
Best of luck,
Shanti