What do I do about the biting?

kinsey's pet

TCS Member
Thread starter
Adult Cat
Joined
Jun 13, 2006
Messages
134
Purraise
0
Location
Conway, Arkansas
Kinsey bites me all the time and I dont know what to do about it since I cant spank her. I used to just blow in her face (she hates that) and it worked for a while but now it doesnt work anymore. Somtimes whan she bites me really hard and it doesnt look like she's just playing I bite her back just til it's uncomfortable (usually on the paw) to show her that it hurts, and it isnt nice. I mean, thats what you are supposed to do with children but I think she thinks I'm a nut when I do that. Plus it doesnt work that well. She just usually bites me AGAIN. I don know how to break her of it. Scolding her doesnt work. She doesnt seem to realize that an angry tone of voice is a bad thing. I dont think she realizes im angry.
 

gingersmom

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
May 11, 2006
Messages
8,028
Purraise
22
I cured Ginger of biting by following suggestions from a kitten care manual - everytime she bit me I would put my fingers into the back of her mouth, like a bit - not to choke her, but to show her that biting me only leads to a bunch of fingers getting stuffed in her mouth. It took about two weeks, and she stopped biting me COMPLETELY.

I had done something similar with my cockatiel, Alex - when he bit me as a young bird, I did NOT pull away, jerk away or react in any way except to tell him, "Go on, bite me! It does you NO GOOD!"

So it made sense to try it with Ginger as a kitten, and sure enough, after a couple of weeks of getting a mouthful of fingers every time she bit me, she decided it really wasn't a good idea.
 
Top