Kitty that bites...

Please excuse me if this is a topic that has been covered before, but I
have just joined this group....

I have the most lovable/loving, affectionate adult male cat name Jack
who was homeless whom I took in off the street. He is just the most
affectionate and cuddly and sweet kitty cat I have ever known. My
"problem" with Jack is this.

I am new to the world of having a cat. I am, or have always been,
basically a dog owner -- I do have Welsh Corgi. But I have now become a
cat person, too. I love Jack to bits....but my problem with him is that
he bites.

He was a cat that lived on the street, all the time. He was "owned" by
people next door, but they had another cat who would not allow Jack
inside their house, so Jack was basically an outdoor cat, and homeless.
I adopted him, and as I said, I love him very much. He is just like a
baby, so sweet and affectionate, just can't get enough hugs and pets
and skritches.

It's when I'm petting and nuzzling and skritching, and he gets all
excited that he will bite my fingers -- and they are not soft bites. I
have had to put bandaids on broken bleeding fingers now twice. I have
popped him gently on the nose to try to break him of doing this, and it
seems to be working to some extent. I kind of bop him softly on the
nose and then put him away from me, so that he can get the message
that's not acceptable.

Is this the right/wrong thing to do? Do you have any suggestions? As I
said, I am new to the cat world. But I do love this sweet boy, he is
such a dear!

He is not yet neutered -- I do intend to do this. And being an indoors
cat only is new to him. But he seems to love it, having a comfortable
life, and all the food he wants. My Corgi Susie was out in the back
yard a lot, and became familiar with Jack, so they are not new to
eachother -- they get along very well.

I love this boy, I just don't like the biting, and am sometimes afraid
to pet him.

Suggestions? Ideas?

+Jeri, with Susie and Jack

Sounds like you're doing the right things. Most likely, he's just
getting a little over stimulated. Try to pay attention to his ears
going up and his tail swishing - those are the danger signs. With a cat
who over-stimulates - the best thing to do is take breaks in the
petting and cuddling - give him a few minutes to calm before you
resume. The expression of your displeasure will also encourage him to
control himself - just give him a little time and a little help by
easing up when he swishes the tail or puts his ears back.

And thank you for loving the little guy. Sounds like he was lucky to
find you!

Susierenee wrote:
Please excuse me if this is a topic that has been covered before, but I
have just joined this group....

I have the most lovable/loving, affectionate adult male cat name Jack
who was homeless whom I took in off the street. He is just the most
affectionate and cuddly and sweet kitty cat I have ever known. My
"problem" with Jack is this.

I am new to the world of having a cat. I am, or have always been,
basically a dog owner -- I do have Welsh Corgi. But I have now become a
cat person, too. I love Jack to bits....but my problem with him is that
he bites.

He was a cat that lived on the street, all the time. He was "owned" by
people next door, but they had another cat who would not allow Jack
inside their house, so Jack was basically an outdoor cat, and homeless.
I adopted him, and as I said, I love him very much. He is just like a
baby, so sweet and affectionate, just can't get enough hugs and pets
and skritches.

It's when I'm petting and nuzzling and skritching, and he gets all
excited that he will bite my fingers -- and they are not soft bites. I
have had to put bandaids on broken bleeding fingers now twice. I have
popped him gently on the nose to try to break him of doing this, and it
seems to be working to some extent. I kind of bop him softly on the
nose and then put him away from me, so that he can get the message
that's not acceptable.

Is this the right/wrong thing to do? Do you have any suggestions? As I
said, I am new to the cat world. But I do love this sweet boy, he is
such a dear!

He is not yet neutered -- I do intend to do this. And being an indoors
cat only is new to him. But he seems to love it, having a comfortable
life, and all the food he wants. My Corgi Susie was out in the back
yard a lot, and became familiar with Jack, so they are not new to
eachother -- they get along very well.

I love this boy, I just don't like the biting, and am sometimes afraid
to pet him.

Suggestions? Ideas?

+Jeri, with Susie and Jack

Also, when he goes to bite you - slightly push your hand INTO him and
now away from him. That will throw him off - as the normal thing would
be to pull away.


Susierenee wrote:
Please excuse me if this is a topic that has been covered before, but I
have just joined this group....

I have the most lovable/loving, affectionate adult male cat name Jack
who was homeless whom I took in off the street. He is just the most
affectionate and cuddly and sweet kitty cat I have ever known. My
"problem" with Jack is this.

I am new to the world of having a cat. I am, or have always been,
basically a dog owner -- I do have Welsh Corgi. But I have now become a
cat person, too. I love Jack to bits....but my problem with him is that
he bites.

He was a cat that lived on the street, all the time. He was "owned" by
people next door, but they had another cat who would not allow Jack
inside their house, so Jack was basically an outdoor cat, and homeless.
I adopted him, and as I said, I love him very much. He is just like a
baby, so sweet and affectionate, just can't get enough hugs and pets
and skritches.

It's when I'm petting and nuzzling and skritching, and he gets all
excited that he will bite my fingers -- and they are not soft bites. I
have had to put bandaids on broken bleeding fingers now twice. I have
popped him gently on the nose to try to break him of doing this, and it
seems to be working to some extent. I kind of bop him softly on the
nose and then put him away from me, so that he can get the message
that's not acceptable.

Is this the right/wrong thing to do? Do you have any suggestions? As I
said, I am new to the cat world. But I do love this sweet boy, he is
such a dear!

He is not yet neutered -- I do intend to do this. And being an indoors
cat only is new to him. But he seems to love it, having a comfortable
life, and all the food he wants. My Corgi Susie was out in the back
yard a lot, and became familiar with Jack, so they are not new to
eachother -- they get along very well.

I love this boy, I just don't like the biting, and am sometimes afraid
to pet him.

Suggestions? Ideas?

+Jeri, with Susie and Jack

Susierenee wrote:
Please excuse me if this is a topic that has been covered before, but I
have just joined this group....

Hello

Yeah, he's just affectionate, this is how they show affections

he is REALLY affectionate, I remember you writing about this

be sure to clean your bites real good.. you'd be surprised just how
dirty their mouths are.

just say OW! and pull back.. and don't resist... yeild when he bites
down.. don't pull real quick... but say OW! make some eye contact...
change your tone a little... he'll pick up on it..

I know people like that too

they ain't had none in a while so when they get some they prove that
they've never had any... like, they might laugh really loud and
obnoxious in a public place.. but they don't realize they are doing
this.. they might even snort and force you to put your sunglasses on.

oooookay

My cat was a two month old orphan when I rescued him and he was very
wild. He would get over excited and latch on to arms and legs even if
we were passing. We were covered in bites and scratches because we used
to take him to the garden and then pick him up to bring him back
indoors. We had to devise strategies like throwing a towel over him and
picking up the whole bundle. This used to calm him down too. After
neutering he grew much more tame . But he's still a biter. Bites my
feet to wake me in the morning, sometimes gently. I don't reward him by
jumping up at once and doing whatever he wanted done. So he knows this
is not acceptable behaviour. A firm "No", and time out in another room
also works. Also rewarding afectionate behaviour with playtime or
treats. So neutering at the right age, and a lot of love and patience
are what I suggest
Susierenee wrote:
Please excuse me if this is a topic that has been covered before, but I
have just joined this group....

I have the most lovable/loving, affectionate adult male cat name Jack
who was homeless whom I took in off the street. He is just the most
affectionate and cuddly and sweet kitty cat I have ever known. My
"problem" with Jack is this.

I am new to the world of having a cat. I am, or have always been,
basically a dog owner -- I do have Welsh Corgi. But I have now become a
cat person, too. I love Jack to bits....but my problem with him is that
he bites.

He was a cat that lived on the street, all the time. He was "owned" by
people next door, but they had another cat who would not allow Jack
inside their house, so Jack was basically an outdoor cat, and homeless.
I adopted him, and as I said, I love him very much. He is just like a
baby, so sweet and affectionate, just can't get enough hugs and pets
and skritches.

It's when I'm petting and nuzzling and skritching, and he gets all
excited that he will bite my fingers -- and they are not soft bites. I
have had to put bandaids on broken bleeding fingers now twice. I have
popped him gently on the nose to try to break him of doing this, and it
seems to be working to some extent. I kind of bop him softly on the
nose and then put him away from me, so that he can get the message
that's not acceptable.

Is this the right/wrong thing to do? Do you have any suggestions? As I
said, I am new to the cat world. But I do love this sweet boy, he is
such a dear!

He is not yet neutered -- I do intend to do this. And being an indoors
cat only is new to him. But he seems to love it, having a comfortable
life, and all the food he wants. My Corgi Susie was out in the back
yard a lot, and became familiar with Jack, so they are not new to
eachother -- they get along very well.

I love this boy, I just don't like the biting, and am sometimes afraid
to pet him.

Suggestions? Ideas?

+Jeri, with Susie and Jack

My cat was a two month old orphan when I rescued him and he was very
wild. He would get over excited and latch on to arms and legs even if
we were passing. We were covered in bites and scratches because we used
to take him to the garden and then pick him up to bring him back
indoors. We had to devise strategies like throwing a towel over him and
picking up the whole bundle. This used to calm him down too. After
neutering he grew much more tame . But he's still a biter. Bites my
feet to wake me in the morning, sometimes gently. I don't reward him by
jumping up at once and doing whatever he wanted done. So he knows this
is not acceptable behaviour. A firm "No", and time out in another room
also works. Also rewarding afectionate behaviour with playtime or
treats. So neutering at the right age, and a lot of love and patience
are what I suggest
Susierenee wrote:
Please excuse me if this is a topic that has been covered before, but I
have just joined this group....

I have the most lovable/loving, affectionate adult male cat name Jack
who was homeless whom I took in off the street. He is just the most
affectionate and cuddly and sweet kitty cat I have ever known. My
"problem" with Jack is this.

I am new to the world of having a cat. I am, or have always been,
basically a dog owner -- I do have Welsh Corgi. But I have now become a
cat person, too. I love Jack to bits....but my problem with him is that
he bites.

He was a cat that lived on the street, all the time. He was "owned" by
people next door, but they had another cat who would not allow Jack
inside their house, so Jack was basically an outdoor cat, and homeless.
I adopted him, and as I said, I love him very much. He is just like a
baby, so sweet and affectionate, just can't get enough hugs and pets
and skritches.

It's when I'm petting and nuzzling and skritching, and he gets all
excited that he will bite my fingers -- and they are not soft bites. I
have had to put bandaids on broken bleeding fingers now twice. I have
popped him gently on the nose to try to break him of doing this, and it
seems to be working to some extent. I kind of bop him softly on the
nose and then put him away from me, so that he can get the message
that's not acceptable.

Is this the right/wrong thing to do? Do you have any suggestions? As I
said, I am new to the cat world. But I do love this sweet boy, he is
such a dear!

He is not yet neutered -- I do intend to do this. And being an indoors
cat only is new to him. But he seems to love it, having a comfortable
life, and all the food he wants. My Corgi Susie was out in the back
yard a lot, and became familiar with Jack, so they are not new to
eachother -- they get along very well.

I love this boy, I just don't like the biting, and am sometimes afraid
to pet him.

Suggestions? Ideas?

+Jeri, with Susie and Jack

Susierenee wrote:

It's when I'm petting and nuzzling and skritching, and he gets all
excited that he will bite my fingers -- and they are not soft bites. I
have had to put bandaids on broken bleeding fingers now twice. I have
popped him gently on the nose to try to break him of doing this, and it
seems to be working to some extent. I kind of bop him softly on the
nose and then put him away from me, so that he can get the message
that's not acceptable.

Is this the right/wrong thing to do? Do you have any suggestions? As I
said, I am new to the cat world. But I do love this sweet boy, he is
such a dear!

He is not yet neutered -- I do intend to do this.

I'm not sure that neutering will have much effect on the biting -- I've
had both neutered and intact males and don't remember a difference with
regard to affection and biting (in fact, I think the intact males were
somewhat more gentle and affectionate, but it just might have been
differences in individual temperment).

We have a newly rescued stray young male (rescued 4 weeks ago, neutered
three days later). Shortly after he was neutered he began the biting
thing. I asked the vet for suggestions, because my mom's reactions
(yelling and hitting him) seemed to exacerbate the situation -- like it
was a game that he wanted to play and her reaction was upping the ante.
Anyway, the vet said to get some Arrid Extra Dry spray deodorant and
spray our hands, arms, legs and feet. RugRat would hate the taste if
he bit, and the bad behaviour would cease. I tried that once or twice,
and he wanted nothing whatsoever to do with my extremities -- he
actually shyed away from my hands. However, that means no " petting
and nuzzling and skritching" -- so I opted for a different approach.
Now I watch for the signs (the ears, eyes and tail) and when he looks
like he's about to bite, I say "Ah Ah! No No! No skin!" --- not loud,
not harsh, but firmly with lots of eye contact. It seems to be working
fairly well. He will still sometimes close his teeth onto my hand, but
just till he's in touch with the skin (not really a "bite") -- I firmly
remind him "no skin!" and he backs off.

BTW, be very careful about rubbing, petting or touching his belly or
back paws. All the males that I've had were easily over-stimulated in
both of those areas. My females both like gentle belly rubs (one even
calms down magically when her belly is stroked) but the males didn't
respond at all well to it. Most of the cats I've had seemed to be
somewhat ticklish on the back paw pads and claws and didn't enjoy
anyone touching their wee little toesies!

And under no circumstances should you make a game out of the biting
attacks! I did that with one of my cats -- kind of rubbed my hand
under the blanket near him, encouraging his natural instincts to attack
whatever was moving under the cover. I also had kitty slippers --
bedroom slippers that looked like two tuxedo cats (this boy was a
tuxedo cat). I would tease him with my slippers and get him rolling
around, attacking the "kitties" on my feet. These were very dumb things
for me to do. I created a cat that attacked hands and feet, whether I
was prepared for the attack or not

Good luck!
Elizabeth