Feet Biting

katgoddess

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Sometimes Mango gets in the mood for feet biting/chewing. Aside from it being annoying, it hurts. A lot. This morning, he gave me a very deep gash from his teeth on my ankle. He's an "adult" now and it's beginning to hurt more and more.

He usually comes along and rubs against my leg and then it eventually leads to him plopping himself down and chomping. When my dog's around, she'll chase him off (I didn't train her - she's just very attuned to my emotions), but I want to stop this behavior, period.

I've tried the spray bottle, but honestly, it only makes him think twice if I have the bottle with me at all times. He knows when it's not. He also doesn't seem to understand the word "NO!" Or rather, he just pretends to not understand. Selective hearing.

Help?
 

sport

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Hi,
You may think that I am out of my mind (many do...LOL), but what I have found works, is if you HOWL as loud as you can when he bites you. HOWL like an animal in excruciating pain. That is the language they understand. overly obvious and silly sounding, I know, but it works. Howl loud...so the whole county can hear you...howl so loud that you scare the crap out of him. It has worked for me and everyone I know who has used this method to stop biting. It will take more than once...possibly three or four times, but he'll get it. Just think about what a cat or any animal sounds like when it is in pain and go for it. Best of luck to you and your little one with the big jaws.

Peace, Love and Tie Dye
,
Rob and Sport
 

shanynne

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Originally Posted by Sport

Hi,
You may think that I am out of my mind (many do...LOL), but what I have found works, is if you HOWL as loud as you can when he bites you. HOWL like an animal in excruciating pain. That is the language they understand. overly obvious and silly sounding, I know, but it works. Howl loud...so the whole county can hear you...howl so loud that you scare the crap out of him. It has worked for me and everyone I know who has used this method to stop biting. It will take more than once...possibly three or four times, but he'll get it. Just think about what a cat or any animal sounds like when it is in pain and go for it. Best of luck to you and your little one with the big jaws.

Peace, Love and Tie Dye
,
Rob and Sport
Completely agree! Howl, screech, scream, ooooowwwww, whichever. It's the only way he's going to realize he is hurting you, because right now he doesn't realize he is hurting you.
 

cc12

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Howling works. Mary was nipping my nose a little too enthusiastically for awhile. I started howling like a crazy woman and she hated the noise so she stopped. She did go for it one more time a week later and I ramped it up so dramatically that she even ran away from me.
Now she nips my earlobes, my chin and my nose but softer. She was only trying to love on me but ouch.
 

emmylou

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My cat's an ankle biter, too, but I worked on training him and the behavior is almost completely gone.

Two things I found worked best:

Keep toys handy in the areas where he tends to attack your feet. Then if you see that he's about to start on your feet, toss or swing the toy so he'll start attacking that instead. This isn't just an immediate solution; over time it helps him break the pattern of thinking of feet as playthings, since he learns to play with toys instead.

Pay attention to how the cat moves, and how you move. There are likely warning signs beforehand that tell you he's about to switch from rubbing to biting. When you see those signs, calmly and slowly walk away, removing yourself from the situation. Also, when you have a cat that has bitten your feet in the past, you tend to anticipate this, which results in you making quick or "shifty" movements around the cat... which the cat will interpret as prey or play behavior. If your body language is calm and you just ignore the cat, you won't send those signals.
 
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