Why does my cat jump on my nephews head??

[Jennyhaschicks]

I can't figure this one out.. I have a kitten who is almost 9 months old. When my nephew is here he jumps on his head and attacks him. Not playing actually trying to hurt him. I did get this cat from my sister so for the cat's first 7 weeks (don't ask.. my sis is not good with animals) he grew up with my nephew. My husband thinks the cat remembers my nephew being rough with him.. Now my sister still has two cats at her place so maybe he smells the other cats?
I have no idea why this cat does this. I feel bad for my nephew who is 4 because he certainly doesn't deserve to be scratched.
Does anyone have any input?

 

[babyblue]

cat needs to be stopped and corrected every single time he looks like hes going to pounce. spray water bottles work well for this. cat may or may not remember rough handling from the dn, but the dn is 4 so its totaly the adult caretakers fault that it wasnet handled properly. if cat cant or wont stop then the child and cat must be seperated and thats the end of it. beware the cat may have picked up an attitude and atack all children.

 

[smileybritches]

yep it could be a smell scent issue, cats are very much about scents for communication. I would definitely try and correct the behavior, or keep them separated.

 

[redhen]

I bet the cat remembers the nephew being rough with him..

 

[thechickenchick]

Maybe redhen is right and kitty remembers this kid being mean

20 years ago I had a cat that would walk up and bite my nephew every time he was in our house. I never did know why. Jarod was never mean to Dummers and Dummers wasn't vicious, he would simply just walk over and bite him and turn and walk away. Jarod was only 2 or 3 so it would devastate the poor kid. Cats are like women (according to Men) you will never be able to read their minds or understand them, just love them when they give you the chance

 

[Jennyhaschicks]

I have two kids and they have friends over often and he has never once been viscous towards any other children. Odd. He does let my kids and other kids do anything they want to him. (not rough handling obviously)
I do keep them away from each other when he is here. I was hanging out laundry and had no idea the kids had let the cat inside the house.

 

[patandchickens]

Is he doing this while your nephew is sitting/standing? Or is he doing this when your nephew is lying down or resting his head against the back of the sofa or something like that?

If he is leaping onto your standing nephew's head, then I dunno what to say other than keep them separate

However, if he's doing this when your nephew's head is on the ground or a cushion or whatever, then, are you sure he is not just "wrestling", the version where the cat grabs hold of the other participant and holds on with the forelegs while kicking the bejeebers out of them, bunny-rabbit-style, with the hind legs? That is not an uncommon thing for cats to do. Actually I am not sure it is always play-wrestling per se, sometimes I get the impression it's "I'm pretending you're a large prey item I'm killing", but either way, it is not abnormal and not an *attack* per se. That is, its main intent is not necessarily to harm -- it is just the cat amusing itself. (Albeit in a way you don't want).

Who knows why it'd be just the nephew, but there are various plausible possibilities. The main point would be, separate them when at all possible, don't let the nephew put himself into a position where it tempts the cat if they are briefly together, and work on discouraging this kind of behavior (squirty gun, etc).

Good luck,

Pat