la petite moi

So, I'm not sure if anyone can help me on this one...but...

My kitty bites a LOT. We try and pet him, and he just bites! Hard.

So, does anyone with a cat have any advice as to get him to stop?

JustJess

Cats respond best to loud unpleasant noises that occur right as they're doing the thing you don't want them to do. I.e., when he bites, Yell, Clap your hands, or Hiss. Yes, hiss. You have to be the "top cat" to him. If he doesn't respond to the noises, it's time for the water bottle. But ONLY squirt/make noise when he's actually biting, or he won't get it. Be consistent, very consistent, and be patient. It'll take a couple weeks to get him to stop.

We trained our Punkin to stop pouncing and toe-biting while we were sleeping by shoving him off the bed the minute he jumped up and squirting him when he pounced/bit. It was rough for a while with the lack of restful sleep, but he now sleeps like an angel on our bed. Quadro (yes, you!! ) let him get away with a bit too much when he was young, so he still plays rough, but nothing like it used to be.

Also, if he's young, some of that will be kitten-play, so some of that will lessen simply with maturity. But don't let him think it's okay... once they do, it's much harder to get them to stop. Keep us updated! I promise this is good advice. Pro-mise.

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pig

these are the truest words i've read (about cats) in a long time. i let mine get into rough play when she was younger, and now she thinks she's joyce gracie jujitsu master extraordinaire.

i used the water method on her for a while for other stuff that really bothered me (fighting other cats i used to have around) and it works. after a while the mere presence of a water gun would send her flying at mach speed meow for cover.

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JustJess

That's so funny to see - both cats go running if they hear/see me pick up the squirt bottle. It may seem crazy, but it makes me feel good - yes, they actually have been well-trained. The female can be dissuaded from stupid actions just by my saying "ah, ah ahh!"

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pig

I suppose mine could be dissuaded from stupid actions if I sold my soul to Satan and had her banished to the 9th level of Hell in trade. Well, that's not true - she's about as well behaved as I need her to be right now.

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maleficent

are you sure that sweet kitty isn't injured? when i had my cat, she had some sort of skin infection that when i touched her, it caused her a lot of pain, and she'd bite me (to get the touching to stop)... but if she wasnt touched she was fine...

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canuckguy

as well if you play with your cat using just your hand they can get confused on if your playing or petting.

calvin88

one of my cats is still a kitten, about 4 months. So when she starts biting, I just stop playing and ignore her. Do the same thing for her meowing too. Did it for my other cat, and he rarely bites now and rarely meows to get attention because he knows he won't get it by meowing. He knows to just come and jump on my lap haha. Kinda cool i think.

la petite moi

Mal, he has nothing wrong with his skin. His fur is long and luxurious, no bald spots or flaking.

onodrim

The water bottle mehod has worked best for me as well. Any time the cat does something bad, you spray them and they will eventually stop. The important thing, as has been mentioned, is to do it immediately so they don't get confused as to what the bad action is. Clapping works equally as well if you don't want to use a water bottle. Good luck!

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cyrnel

Have you tried biting him back?

A good friend's cat used to play hell with me. The guy was an auto-mechanic for many years before we hired him and keyboard-pussified his callouses. Before that he could basically break rocks with his hands. His cat played appropriatedly, and had done it from an early age. Enter me with my pasty, flabby mitts seasoned only by QWERTY. I regularly left that house with bleeding wounds. Stupid, psychotic feline.

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pig

I can't describe to you how much you would hate my cat.

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cyrnel

Hey, really, he was a cool cat. I enjoyed playing with him until the daemon emerged.

I think perhaps growing up as an orphan didn't suit his development. Having a King-Kong auto mechanic master only stroked and cemented his gang-banger tendencies. That puss took no prisoners.

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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

james t kirk

I have one cat that bites for no reason either.

She's about 7 - a Maine Coone Cat.

You can pat her head, but 75% of the time if you touch her body, she bites.

And bites hard at that, and can easily draw blood.

I've been trying for years to get her to stop, with no luck. I am told that it's a breed thing, and or, she's a wild cat. (She was bought from a pet store at age 6 weeks, so I don't get the wild bit.)

Usually if she bites me, I either put my finger right in her mouth, which she can't do anything then because cats can only rip with their teeth (unlike dogs who can crush). Or I pick her up and hiss back at her, which usually only freaks her out and gets her mad.

Usually the best thing is to ignore her till she calms down.

Astrocloud

Just simply make Yelp noises and leave him or her alone. Pretty soon the kitty will stop biting -depending on how ingrained the habit is.

leftyderek

The water bottle method should work just fine. Or you can use a water gun, which is also a good tool. My girlfriend is a fan of the 'sticking the finger into its mouth' method but I just can't do it- it just feels weird. What if you make your poor kitty throw up (I don't know if they have gag reflexes but...)?

Then again I don't see too many problems with my cat biting me. I mean, all the bleeding and stuff can get annoying. But on the other hand wouldn't it be nice just to leave a little bit of instinct in your kitty before taming it completely to a harmless home pet, so it still knows how to ambush little rats, birds or insects when it is having its little adventures out there?

(And usually if you are paying attention when patting/playing with your cat, you can *usually* get your fingers away before it bites you real hard)

BigBen

Had to jump in on this one:

My stepmother is a "Cat Person" and my father is definitely not.

A feral cat gave birth beside our house years ago, and the batch of kittens were adorable! They were absolutely terrified of people, and looked at us in the shadows with those sharp, wild eyes.

Except one. He was grey, and so fluffy it was hard to tell which way was forwards and backwards. He laid around our deck, looking for food handouts, and then eventually just walked into the house. He kicked the shit out of the other two cats and sat down to eat both bowls of cat food. None of that sissy kitten food for him!

I fell in love, and named him smoke. My dad was super-pissed that another cat had been "Smuggled in" without his consent, but he was quickly outvoted. We had a new member of the family.

After the trip to the vet to make sure it was healthy, Smoke continued to beat up on the other house cats. They hated him. My dad saw this, and found common ground with the little ball of fluff: They both hated cats. Smoke just happened to be one.

One day, when changing the sheets on the water bed, dad found tiny pinholes in the queen sized bladder. "What the fuck...?" was his response. My stepmom pointed out that Smoke liked to chase the air bubbles on the water bed. It seems that Smoke had put so many holes in the water bed that it was beyond repair. before my stepmom headed out to buy another bladder from the store (I don't know, at least a couple hundred bucks), she specifically said "Don't hurt that cat..."

As soon as she was out the door, dad turned to me: "Catch that fucking cat."

I did what I was told. Smoke looked like he knew he was in trouble. I was absolutely certain that this cat was going to die.

I held the cat, and dad opened the kitchen drawer. Oh shit, he's going to cut its head off...

He came towards us, and in his hand was A PAIR OF FINGERNAIL CLIPPERS!

Dad took one of Smoke's paws and started to gently trim his claws, like a well trained manicurist. I was shocked! He wasn't going to kill the cat after all! Smoke started to struggle, and I grabbed his neck and calmly told him "You don't know how lucky you are. Just sit here and take it."

I realized that my father had dramatically mellowed with age.

Smoke is still around, and is really fat. Like olympic sized fat. Like 25 pounds. His belly drags on the ground when he walks. He's on a special diet, and my dad and stepmom love him to pieces.

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jorgelito

Friggin' Ben man, you have the best stories, I swear. I don't like cats either but after reading your post, I want "Smoke" of my own....almost (I'm still allergic to the damn buggers).

james t kirk

If you want your cat to lose weight, stop feeding him cat food.

I put my cat on an a home made diet - chicken and fish and veggies and she has lost weight nicely. I had previously tried special "diet cat food" and she didn't lose an ounce.

A vet that I took her to explained to me that all cat food was poison for cats since it is made with lots of filler, ash, carbs, and crap that they can't use for anything else.

I started on a home made diet and her fur is better, her kidney levels have improved, and she no longer has dandruff.

Cat food = death for a cat.

http://www.tfproject.org/tfp/showthr...&highlight=cat