Have a bitey and scratchy little cat?
The first way to address your cat’s biting is to look at the reasons why they are biting you or scratching you in the first place. So it could be a number of things. It could be playtime aggression, it could be petting aggression, it could be that your cat is simply frustrated or bored or that he’s asking you to stop doing something you’re doing but you just don’t hear them. Here are 4 tips to putting an end to the feline fury.
#4. Play Aggression
Play sessions provide the best opportunity to teach your cat that it is not okay to bite, claw, scratch or play attack you when playing. However, it is completely natural for a cat to act out on their hunting skills in a playtime session but the cat should only be allowed to play using their paws and not their claws. If you think that your cat goes after you during playtime and this is not just an incidental contact, call a timeout. So if your cat acts out by scratching or biting you, just stop the playtime immediately and turn your back on the cat.
Do not resume playtime and ignore your cat completely for at least a minute. So after a few cycles of this, your cat should get the message. If your cat doesn’t get the message, you can send even a stronger message and in this way, you can change the scenery.
#3. Petting Aggression
If your cat becomes overstimulated at 5 minutes of stroking and petting then please stop at 3 minutes. Don’t push your cat over the edge and then wonder why in the world is he acting out on me?
Remember, that in this situation the cat will probably give you some pre-warning signs such as dilated pupils or he will wag his tail. once you see these signs- stop right away unless you want to be bitten or scratched.
Also, remember this, some cats love being stroked and petted and they enjoy human contact whereas others might enjoy human contact such as being sat on your lap but they just don’t like to be stroked, and that is something you just have to accept because you cannot change the basic personality of your cat.
- Related article: 6 Signs Your Cat Actually Loves You
- Related article: 5 Foods You Didn’t Know Were Good For Your Cat
#2. React Calmly
Never shout, hit, chase or lose temper with your cat because that will terrify the cat or make him completely confused.
The first thing that you should do when your cat acts out is to just stop what you’re doing, stop touching him and just freeze and ignore him because that is acting and is the opposite to acting like a prey object because prey object would move from the cat and so the cat would chase it. Also after freezing you can stand up and walk away in a dismissive fashion so your cat will receive the message.
#1. Drain Your Cats Energy
If your cat is attacking you outside of the playtime then probably he needs to drain some of his energy.
Spend time playing with your cat and make sure you include some playtime sessions even if it’s just 5-10 minutes during the day. Play with your cat until you can see that he is tired because a tired cat is going to be a lot less likely to attack you than the one that is bored or frustrated and has a lot of misdirected energy.
- Related article: 6 Signs Your Cat Actually Loves You
- Related article: 5 Foods You Didn’t Know Were Good For Your Cat
