Cat Bites

Mittens bites at peoples feet and legs alot. Even during play he'll run up to you and bite my hand or start attacking my feet. Is there a way to keep him from biting? He's 10 months.

If you find an answer, let me know! My Hannah does this and she's about 8 months old. However, she doesn't attack feet, she just likes to gently chomp down on your finger, hand, neck, face, whatever's in reach!

Stephanie

I have the same problem, with only one of my cats. Don't know why he likes biting my fingers, but I was hoping he would stop as he got older. He's almost 7 months now... Please be careful as I got bitten by a friends cat, and it became extremely infected, to the point where I had to go to the emergency room and get a tetnus shot. It was one of the most painful things I've endured.

When he bites you stay very still resist the instinct to jerk your hand away, this is how prey would act in the wild. All you have to do is say "ow" but try and making it sound like meow as much as possible. Your cat is only playing with you, if he wanted to hurt you would bleed, and will stop if he senses you are hurt.

My cat does that. I even stay still when she does it and ball my fist so it wont hurt as much, but she keeps doing it. She bites anything in reach when im playing with her. Shes 13 months.

I would second what sims2fan said.
Also I must caution I lot of owners from encouraging their kittens to do this behaviour. They start when when they are young and owners think it is cute. It doesn't hurt then because they still have their baby teeth, then the permanents grow in and well it isn't fun anymore. And let me tell you, it can continue for years and years if it isn't dealt with properly.

Never play with your cat with only your hands or other body parts. Make sure your kitty has plenty of cat toys. If they have enough toys to relieve their boundless energy on, they won't be as likely to after you. So the next time they go for your hand, remain firm. Say a very loud "NO". Then grab one of their toys and start playing them, drawing their attention away from you to the toy. Over time the behavior should stop, but with some cats this can take a long while especially if it has been going on for years. You just have remain patient and keep on top of it.

cat dvm is so right. I adopted a 6 mo. old who apparently was taught to play with hands. Everytime I would pick him up, he would really chomp down on my hand. After quite a few months, expressing my pain, telling him no, and giving him lots of praise when he stopped, he rarely bites, and if he does, it is never as hard as it used to be.

Maybe it depends on the cat. We have always trained our cat not to bite, we have tried everything from firm "no", short air-blows, dropping him, shouting at him, sending him to the naughty room - no luck, the cat still bites, and not just a little love-nibble, he claws and chomps on arms and hands like a maniac. It can be when he is picked up or during play, or it can be just out the blue, like walking through the front room will sometimes trigger a cat clawed into your arm, attcking it for dear life, or sitting on the sofa may also lead to the sudden attachment of a beast with sharp claws and teeth.

I generally look like I had a fight with a cactus, and I am hoping it will get better after he has had the snips, as he is getting way too big and strong for this. Blood is also difficult to clean out of a cream carpet....

He doesn't do this all the time, otherwise he would be an out-door-only cat by now.... most of the time he is a very loving, cuddly and playful cat, and I can never work out what triggered it. It's certainly not because we are doing something he doesn't like. When he needs to be bathed, he just complains pityfully and tries to scramble out of my arms, but he doesn't even use his claws for that (and bathing is soemthing he really, really hates). Maybe it's just playing, or maybe he is just plain mad, but I wish we could make him stop.....

You DROP him as punishment?!?!?!

And Im pretty sure its not going to work to shout at him!