How can I get my kitten to play appropriately?

That kind of goes into some of the stuff that we already talked about, setting them up for success by not ever allowing your hand or other body parts to be seen as toys. Use things that they're allowed to play with whenever you're interacting with them. And that doesn't have to be anything complicated or fancy from the store. It can be a string or a ball, or an old stuffy or something like that, but just set them up for success by giving them good play options.

Let's say they are climbing on furniture that you don't want them on. Try a cat tree and play with them on that. Maybe you hide a little bit of their kibble for them to find. You don't want to overfeed them. But you can hide some of that to attract them to that area. Perhaps you have a toy that's their favorite toy that you put at the top, and you have the kitten go chase and find it. There is a product that has them scratch on surfaces that you want and not on surfaces that you don't. It's made by FeliWay called FeliAttract. And so you put that on the appropriate scratching area, and it attracts them to that.

Avoid using your hands or feet when playing with them to prevent them from associating your hands and feet with toys and provide appropriate toys like wand toys, laser pointers, and treat-dispensing toys.