Biting

riley1

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My new cat (six weeks) is still biting me.  I know she wants to play badly because she bites & bunny kicks anything she can.  She appears to have no limits to play time.  Their are nice toys all around but she prefers the fishing pole type.  Also she is getting sick of the fishing pole toys.  She likes Da Bird the best & things she can kick & bite. I think I have been doing the right things:  if she bites me  while I am lying down I push her to the floor.  I try to have a larger toy handy to give her instead.  If nothing works I put her in a room for a time out.  Lately she has been spending a lot of time in that room.  One night I played with her for an hour, 30 min, then fed her.  After eating she was right back at the door to the toy closet.  I think she is at least a year old.  Anything else I can do?  I am try to convince her that mom is not a toy!

She is also frantic to eat.  I feed her a 5.5 oz of Instinct divided into 3 meals with water  & then give her an oz or so right after night play.  That last oz causes her to gain weight.  She eats cheerios & the leftover almond milk left in my bowl if I don't put it in the dishwasher.  She took a wrapper from a muffin from the garbage & was eating the crumbs.  She got an empty pudding container & was licking this as well.  She is up on the counters looking for any spill to lick.  The slow down bowl did not work.  She consumed every thing in record time.  I asked about this on the nutrition forum & have tried many of their suggestions but none have worked so far.  She has been wormed & her fecal showed nothing.  The vet said she is too young to have any diseases but I think I am going to have blood test anyway & maybe another worming.   Does this seem like a normal chow hound to you guys? She seems really hungry to me .

Sorry about all my posts & repeat posts lately.  I have a lot of book learning about cats, but this is only my second one.  The first one kept his weight down himself & always had food available.  He never was interested in people food; not even tuna.  After going outside with me he was never interested in fake prey.  He also slept a lot more than she does but was 5 when I go him.
 

Columbine

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Asha does the bite/kick thing with me sometimes. I don't put her in time out, I just pull my hand away, turn my back and ignore her. She's getting the message slowly. The most important thing is to never do anything approaching 'hand play' or allow anyone else to do so. Rather than putting her in a time out, you could just walk away. Physically placing her in time out gives her attention immediately following the undesirable action.

Have plenty of big toys she can kick...Asha loves this toy...its almost as long as she is!
http://www.purrsinourhearts.co.uk/Bunny-Kickers-Cat-Toy
Asha's other favourite is kicking the hell out of a couple of old rag rugs I've got...so simple, yet so satisfying to her.

As I said in the other thread, your girl may be genuinely hungry and need a little more than she's getting.

Lastly, 6 weeks isn't very long to get to know each other. Chill a bit and enjoy her (says the woman who's obsessing over every breath out of place with her newbie ) ;)
 
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mservant

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If your cat is around 1 year of age she is likely to still be growing and as a playful younger cat she will need enough calories for both of these.  It is always a fine line with a food motivated cat how much you feed but I am inclined to agree with Columbine here.   Your cat sounds like she is enjoying having lots of interactive play time so run with this until you can tire her out, hard as that might seem.  Biting is a natural cat behaviour and she will learn from you that it hurts when she bites and that you do not want her to as long as you do not react to her doing this and however inadvertantly encourage the behaviour.  Best line of defence is avoidance so when you think she is getting to the biting stage step back from what you are doing and divert her like you have been, get that big toy between you and her, or sit / stand very still and ignore her. If she bites it is hard but you need to remain still and ignore or she will think the game is still on.  Time out will not mean anything to her if it is used too often or for too long:  try what Columbine has said and when she has a cute look or posture, or walks away you can offer a reward so she gets the message that this is what you want.

You can add food in to the active games but make sure the food given this way is measured and is part of the daily allowance.  Little bits of food in hard to reach places, dry food or treats thrown so she has to chase after them, tastes or licks of food at the end of lazer light games etc.  Hide and seek with you and you carrying some tasty food she wants so she can get that as the reward at the end instead of your arm or leg....  If she is food driven it is a good way to keep her active, and also to give the food reward when she is playing without the biting.

Good luck.
 
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