How can you keep a cat from thinking fingers and hands are toys and not to bite them?
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010 at
7:24 pm
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I trained all of my cats over the years not to bite by biting them back.
Just a light bite on the ear or paw will correct the behavior. It’s how the momma cat corrects the kittens. Also, putting them down and ignoring them helps too.
Don’t yell or hit, they don’t understand it and will just look at you like you’re crazy.
you could give them toys or you could get a certain kind of yucky tasting stuff just for that. As long as you don’t lick your fingers. LOL
don’t use your hands or fingers as toys! never hit a kitty, especially when you’re trying to teach them something is bad to do! that will only teach them that you hit…
yes, it’s oh so adorable when they’re little, but as they grow they won’t understand that it’s hurting you.
when you reach out to pet your kitten & it launches at your hand (to play) pull your hand away & say no. then give your kitty a toy to play with instead. try ribbons or catnip toys (they have all sorts of shapes, sizes, crinkly, sparkly, jingly, rattly…)
playing with kittens with fingers & hands encourages rough play & aggressive behaviors…this causes problems as the get bigger & stronger…
we adopted a kitten that had been treated like that. she was downright vicious when we brought her home! she literally tried to tear flesh from your hand when you reached out to pet her. we taught her not to do that as suggested above. we’ve had her for over a year now & she is the sweetest most gentle kitty!!! you’d never know she left a kitten mouth shaped bruise on the palm of my hand (that lasted for 3 weeks)
Do not hit or yell at your cat. Yelling and hitting (even gentle thwaps on the nose) will just give you an angry and resentful cat.
We adopted a 8-year-old neutered male last year and have the same issues with biting as yours does. I asked our vet and this was her advice:
When your cat bites, give a gentle, but firm "no" (cats have exceptionally good hearing, so screaming isn’t going to do anything but irritate them). Stop petting them or snuggling them or playing with them. If they are on the couch or bed with you, put them on the floor. If the cat approaches you again, give them another chance, but if biting occurs again, repeat the "no" and ignore them again.
Another tip is to make sure you never use your hands, feet, fingers or toes to tease or initiate play with your cat. When someone does this, it’s teaching the cat that those items are toys. Use cat toys instead to initiate play.
Simple – don’t use them to play with the cat.
I took this advice with my two and they don’t bite.
give them toys
You can try saying No and tapping him gently on the nose. If that doesn’t work, or he get overzealous with his biting, you can make like a mother cat. My cat Oh Sawma, terrorist kitty, is now two and has had a biting problem ever since I rescued him as a kitten off the streets. He can be a real Jeckyl and Hyde with the biting, especially when he’s excited. I finally tried a trick used with puppies and, to my surprise, it worked. When he starts to bite, grab him gently by the scruff of his neck, look him in the eyes, make a loud, commanding, cat-like merroww sound, then let him go.