Heh..
Right now, ok Nikita gets pretty excited around food. She never gets human food but that doesn't stop her from getting rather hyper when there's food around.
I don't let her onto the kitchen table when I'm eating and she knows that but she ends up starting to attack my feet instead in a sort of displacement for the energy she's built up being so super interested in the food.
I then either banish her from the kitchen or just put on shoes which makes her loose interest so really it's not a huge problem. She also only does this when I'm eating alone.
Anyway this was happening again now just a few days ago, I could see her getting more and more worked up prowling on the floor of the kitchen, her tail getting twitchy, meowing and just general "hyper Nikita" build up. So I went and put shoes on just to prevent her from thinking about attacking my feet.
She didn't calm down and I could see her there on the floor getting more and more worked up and then suddenly when I was eating BAM! she pounced up from the floor and onto my upper arm/shoulder and bit my clothes.
She hung there for a very short time but then fell down, she's 12 lbs and fortunately wasn't intending to hang on with all her might.
I was rather surprised, I wasn't exactly expecting to get pounced on like that but she didn't hurt me at all, it was more of an attention thing if anything. I banished her from the kitchen and continued eating, just so she wouldn't think it was something that worked to get me playing with her and then once I'd finished my meal and cleaning up I had a big long play session with her to get rid of her built up energy.
But yeah.. heh, I've said before that I think one of the reasons it works to have cats as pets is that they're not bigger than they are. I know Nikita doesn't want to hurt me but if she were a lot bigger I don't know what state I'd be in right now.
It's been a few days and she's not done it again so I think it was a one off but yeah, not something I was expecting.
ETA: I have 'attacked' in scare quotes in the title of this post because she didn't actually attack me.
Yes she pounced at me which she shouldn't have, but she did it with claws in and her bite wasn't a proper bite, she got a part of my hoodie in her mouth but didn't bite down. Then fell off me a second later. It happened very quickly, no damage done to me or my clothes.
This is not something I encouraged her to do and not something I want her to do. I don't think she'll do it again and if she does I'll have to lock her out of the kitchen if she starts "floor sharking" (great term btw) while I'm eating.
Her attacking my feet while I eat however is a real problem but it's something I'm working on. She does it to get attention so ignoring her is the best solution so far. Either by closing her out of the room or by putting on shoes which she doesn't attack. With cats though it can take a while before these sort of measures start to make a difference. They're stubborn beasties. The foot thing started quite recently (as in the last month) when I began cooking more at home and eating in the kitchen rather than in front of the tv so I'm still waiting for clue into the fact that gunning for my feet isn't going to work out for her.
Right now, ok Nikita gets pretty excited around food. She never gets human food but that doesn't stop her from getting rather hyper when there's food around.
I don't let her onto the kitchen table when I'm eating and she knows that but she ends up starting to attack my feet instead in a sort of displacement for the energy she's built up being so super interested in the food.
I then either banish her from the kitchen or just put on shoes which makes her loose interest so really it's not a huge problem. She also only does this when I'm eating alone.
Anyway this was happening again now just a few days ago, I could see her getting more and more worked up prowling on the floor of the kitchen, her tail getting twitchy, meowing and just general "hyper Nikita" build up. So I went and put shoes on just to prevent her from thinking about attacking my feet.
She didn't calm down and I could see her there on the floor getting more and more worked up and then suddenly when I was eating BAM! she pounced up from the floor and onto my upper arm/shoulder and bit my clothes.
She hung there for a very short time but then fell down, she's 12 lbs and fortunately wasn't intending to hang on with all her might.
I was rather surprised, I wasn't exactly expecting to get pounced on like that but she didn't hurt me at all, it was more of an attention thing if anything. I banished her from the kitchen and continued eating, just so she wouldn't think it was something that worked to get me playing with her and then once I'd finished my meal and cleaning up I had a big long play session with her to get rid of her built up energy.
But yeah.. heh, I've said before that I think one of the reasons it works to have cats as pets is that they're not bigger than they are. I know Nikita doesn't want to hurt me but if she were a lot bigger I don't know what state I'd be in right now.
It's been a few days and she's not done it again so I think it was a one off but yeah, not something I was expecting.
ETA: I have 'attacked' in scare quotes in the title of this post because she didn't actually attack me.
Yes she pounced at me which she shouldn't have, but she did it with claws in and her bite wasn't a proper bite, she got a part of my hoodie in her mouth but didn't bite down. Then fell off me a second later. It happened very quickly, no damage done to me or my clothes.
This is not something I encouraged her to do and not something I want her to do. I don't think she'll do it again and if she does I'll have to lock her out of the kitchen if she starts "floor sharking" (great term btw) while I'm eating.
Her attacking my feet while I eat however is a real problem but it's something I'm working on. She does it to get attention so ignoring her is the best solution so far. Either by closing her out of the room or by putting on shoes which she doesn't attack. With cats though it can take a while before these sort of measures start to make a difference. They're stubborn beasties. The foot thing started quite recently (as in the last month) when I began cooking more at home and eating in the kitchen rather than in front of the tv so I'm still waiting for clue into the fact that gunning for my feet isn't going to work out for her.