Happy cat that bites

I have a 7 month old male ragdoll who is the cutest boy ever! My only thing with him is he can bite quite hard. Not in an aggressive way, his ears are up, tail up, not hissing or growling. When I come home he will sit with me for about 10 minutes being really affectionate, but then he will latch onto my arm really tight and bite as hard as he can. As he is a raggy, he is HUGE and so, very hard to get off and very painful!

I have been looking at feliway but it seems like it's more for stressed or anxious cats, which he doesn't seem to be! Help!

He is still really young, probably dealing with hormones, and is needing to learn boundaries.  Usually, he would learn the limits of biting while playing with his litter mates.  Without little siblings to hassle, YOU get to fill that role. 

When he starts rough housing, give him something else to play with... I used to use a stuffed animal, a little larger than my kitty.  Then I could safely "play back" with the stuffed toy (not my hands).  Sometimes I would play really rough with her until she got the idea that it wasn't fun anymore.  You could even use this technique when he just seems to bite outta the blue.  If he gets the idea that biting will cause overly not-so-fun rough play in return, he may become less inclined to instigate it.  It might take time for it to sink in.

The other option is to cry out loudly and walk away when kitty bites too hard.  If he persists, push him away and ignore him for a while, until he's settled down a bit (kinda like a "time out").  You could even give him a literal time out by secluding him in the bathroom for 10 minutes.  This may be the answer for more of a "mood swing" problem.

Furmonster Mom said:

The other option is to cry out loudly and walk away when kitty bites too hard.  If he persists, push him away and ignore him for a while, until he's settled down a bit (kinda like a "time out").

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I've found this approach very effective--saying "NO" very loudly. They get the message. Cats can play pretty rough with each other and have to be trained to understand that our skin isn't as tough as theirs.

My last rescue cat would grab my hand very roughly with claws out, but he learned very quickly that that was not acceptable. He now grabs my hand with no claws out and licks it.

Some cats do get excited if you pet them too much and will nip at you. With those, you just have to watch the body language.

When my foster kittens nipped, i would stop all play and ignore them, or would put them in the bathroom for a min. just remember to be consistent, with whatever you choose, otherwise nothing will work.  Is he getting enough interactive play time with you to help burn off energy and does he have a tall climber or two?

Matt used to get wound up and grab my wrist with his claws and try to eat my knuckles right out of my hands. Like yours, he was not being mean...he just thought he was playing. 

I came to the conclusion that his previous owners had not taught him any 'manners' and set about doing it myself. 

As others have suggested to you, I cried out in pain and walked away. If he persisted I occasionally resorted to putting him in his crate to chill out-but he was a 2yr old, especially stubborn cat with well established bad manners who would attack my ankles if my hands weren't available.  A happy biter usually doesn't take more than a month or two(if extremely stubborn) to figure out that all the fun is gone if they bite.

If we let our cats 'bad manners' establish themselves, they can be very hard to break later on in life.

Thanks for all your replies!

He has a huge stuffed toy that I try and distract him with, which he will play with for about two seconds until he sees my hands again! 

The crying out is good, but it never works for me and my husband. We always walk away from him too and ignore him, and he will just carry on biting a leg or something else! I haven't tried putting him in another room just yet but I have heard that by the time you put them into another room, they have completely forgotten why they have been put there (he also likes to rip up the flooring in the bathroom and kitchen so I can't leave him in there unsupervised!).

I play with him for about 2 hours straight (an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening) as well as being around him quite a lot for rare cuddles! He has a trillion toys, 2 climbing posts and many more fun things (cat heaven in my front room, which the husband doesn't like!).

I guess I just need to keep on with him and persist!

Thanks for all your advice everyone!

I wouldn't worry about it. He's a kitten. If the biting really bothers you, try wearing a hand glove when you play with him. Maybe it's food allergies? When I first rescued my cat home from the shelter, he was skittish and used to nip me. Then I changed his diet, he stopped. He's like a different cat now-playful and friendly.

Putting the cat in another room does work for many cats. They remember why they did something wrong. Consistently place him in the bathroom for five or ten minutes and he will learn. It worked for my cat after two weeks. You may want to try more play sessions but for shorter lengths of time. They are built for short bursts of energy. I would focus on fixing this behavior to set goof precedent. 7 months isn't an especially young kitten to let things slide.

I have a similar problem but she is not being aggressive, her nips are more like pleasure bites.  She gets so excited, purring sooo much that she can't contain her love.  As she gets ready for me to sit down and cuddle, she will consider nibbling my ankles and as she sits beside me she considers about nipping my arm.  I've not read about it, so wondering if this expert crowd can shed any light on this.

Thanks, susan

elizabeth1st said:

I have a similar problem but she is not being aggressive, her nips are more like pleasure bites.  She gets so excited, purring sooo much that she can't contain her love.  As she gets ready for me to sit down and cuddle, she will consider nibbling my ankles and as she sits beside me she considers about nipping my arm.  I've not read about it, so wondering if this expert crowd can shed any light on this.


Thanks, susan

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I don't know if I'm an expert but I know cats. To me your problem sounds like over stimulation. Some cats can only "handle" so much attention before they start biting or scratching. I don't know what the psychology is behind it, but it's common.

If you see your kitty begin to flick their tail, this is a key indicator that they may be about to blow. They don't really do it intentionally, it's just in some cats nature.


As far as the original poster, the best advice I can give is to practice positive reinforcement. The same as you would with a child. When kitty does something good, no matter how insignificant, praise him- Good Boy! Kitty plays with his toys- Good Boy! Kitty let's you pet him without biting- Good Boy!

When he does something undesirable, a firm- NO is recommended. Do not punish them. Walking away is fine, ignoring them is fine, but in my experience time outs don't work. They don't understand why their being disciplined. The NO, needs to come immediately after the undesired behavior btw.

I hope this helps.