Cat play biting - how to stop?

EllaC

I'm fostering a one year old cat for the DSPCA at the moment and although she's lovely in every way she has a habit of trying to bite and paw me when I'm petting her. I don't think she's trying to attack me as she doesn't hiss or anything. She acts a bit like she's playing with a bit of string and I'm the string.

Any tips on how to stop her doing this?

anniehoo

If my cat starts that craic and is being a bit too rough, i let my arm go limp and a make a loud abrupt hissing kind of noise.He gets the message pretty sharpish after that.

Reloc8

Try what annie said. If that doesn't work...

I had a similar thing with our cat, who was more or less a wild kitten which we took on, the person who's shed the litter was in being about to dispose of them to the authorities.

I presume as with our situation these are fairly strong bites, almost of a chewing/gnawing action, if you know what I mean, i.e. painful and uncomfortable. I think ours was basically quite unsocialised and just not good at controlling her play. We tried pretty much everything (raised voice, remove her etc.) and nothing worked.

I read a tip online that stopped her very quickly when implemented - when she bites your hand/finger, put a finger gently as possible into her mouth and press, again gently down on her tongue (try it yourself - very uncomfortable even with gentle pressure). I did that a couple of times and she stopped almost overnight.

You're trying to put your finger into as opposed to accross her mouth so to speak.

MsFifers

Let out a loud squeal and then walk away and ignore the cat for a while. It'll get the message that the fun stops when it bites.

EllaC

Reloc8 wrote: »

Try what annie said. If that doesn't work...

I had a similar thing with our cat, who was more or less a wild kitten which we took on, the person who's shed the litter was in being about to dispose of them to the authorities.

I presume as with our situation these are fairly strong bites, almost of a chewing/gnawing action, if you know what I mean, i.e. painful and uncomfortable. I think ours was basically quite unsocialised and just not good at controlling her play. We tried pretty much everything (raised voice, remove her etc.) and nothing worked.

I read a tip online that stopped her very quickly when implemented - when she bites your hand/finger, put a finger gently as possible into her mouth and press, again gently down on her tongue (try it yourself - very uncomfortable even with gentle pressure). I did that a couple of times and she stopped almost overnight.

You're trying to put your finger into as opposed to accross her mouth so to speak.

I had planned to try this yesterday but I cannot figure out how to do it without risking getting my finger bitten off!

Graces7

Wear thick gloves..

I had a Siamese who used to nip me as a sign that I was kin to him; they do not realise that our skin is not like theirs so they are acting as if they are playing with other cats.

it is an honour!

He never grew out of it so I used to get used to pulling my sleeve over my hand when he was on my lap.

It is often a socialisation issue; they are not used to human play.

Diversion is good; a piece of string etc.

And yes, aversion, as in loud hiss.

morganafay

I've had a few cats that do this, at first it's cute, then it really hurts!

What I did was just everytime the cat starts biting/scratching, put it down on the ground and ignore it, if it jumps up again then put it in another room for a while or just walk away and ignore the cat. If they are biting you really hard and won't let go, hold the scruff of their neck and pull them off and put them on the ground. Sometimes that's the only way to make them let go! They get the message that biting = no more playing . . . hopefully.

You could also try growling/hissing at them, but for some of them it makes them just growl back! :rolleyes:

Or maybe anytime they bite, give them a teddy bear or something to bite instead.

Reloc8

EllaC wrote: »

I had planned to try this yesterday but I cannot figure out how to do it without risking getting my finger bitten off!

LOL.

Actually, her bite is really pretty weak and won't do you a whole lot of damage. I wouldn't do it with an adult cat though.

Basically, cat is chewing on your finger, you poke your finger into its mouth lengthways. Apply downward pressure (lightly) to the back of the tongue. Do it quickly - you may have to hold its head a little bit - its easier to do than it sounds. You should also reinforce with a strong verbal command ('Ah ah!' or 'No!'). Expect the cat to shake its head and disgust and try and spit your finger out.

First time I did this the kitten, once my finger was out of its mouth, bolted out of the room and ignored me for the rest of the day. You could almost read from her that I had gone and changed the rules, and spoiled her fun.

The next day she was at it again and I did it to her again. She pretty much stopped biting people after that except when over-excited in play and the verbal command alone stopped her from then on. She quit completely after a couple of weeks of this.

I stress that nothing else worked with this kitten - i.e. verbal commands, scruff-of-the-neck treatment etc. If anything she seemed to relish the attention in a perverse way. Again, she was at least half if not fully wild when she came to us. She clearly needed a very strong negative reaction to get over it.

MsFifers

Reloc8 wrote: »

LOL.

Actually, her bite is really pretty weak and won't do you a whole lot of damage. I wouldn't do it with an adult cat though.

Have to say a 12 week old kitten drew blood from me with a bite (was trying to get her to take a tablet) - their teeth are like little needles! You have to be careful with cat bites a vet told me, as cat saliva has tons of nasty bacteria. So I'd proceed with caution on that one!

Reloc8

^ this is true to be fair they can certainly break the skin. It does depend on how grizzled your hands are

magnumlady

I've got a cat (he just arrived one day). That bites my legs whenever I'm at the washing line! Any advice? Apart from not going to the washing line.

babychuckles

I find the best thing that works on my lot is to blow a quick breath in their face. It tends to take a couple of times but works for me.