I Have a Biter!

Ladies and gentlemen, I am sad to announce that my new kitty is a biter. He bites down really hard and won't let go. I don't know how to get him to stop. I tell him to stop, but then he just attacks my legs. I have a bunch of bite and scratch marks on my calves.

 

I have one cat that never has learned to play nice. He is a pretty nervous cat to start with and doesn't really care to be touch too much. He never did get too bad on the biting and scratching, but I have learned not to play with him.

Check out this article and see if you can find any solutions that might work for you.
http://www.2ndchance.info/aggressivecat.htm

 

I'm sorry to hear, steph84. I have never had a biter before, so I can't give much advice. How long have you had your new kitty? I just added Azzario into the family and he has only been around a few days, so I have yet to know if he's a biter. So far, he plays nicely with us, but I guess one will never know until later?

 

My older one used to attack me. It wasn't nice, I know how you feel. I tried to get rid of her, pretty brutal sometimes, but she would come back and attack me even harder. But I'm afraid she would still be doing this if I hadn't taken the other cat so she can offload her anger in fight...

 

You may want to try doing a lot more personal interacting with your cat using cat toys and lots of things for him to jump on or through. Try to teach the cat that he can bite toys, but not hands. The only way to do that is to keep giving him things that he knows that he is allowed to bite and scratch. Give him a scratch pad for his enjoyment, not because they really trim nails,(they don't) but because it gives him something else to scratch.

Remember, try lots of interaction, and do not accept this behavior. Keep working on getting him to stop.

 

It sucks. Between my own cats and my friends cats, I've got multiple holes in my shirts and shorts from them sinking their claws into me and/or biting me for no reason.

 

Zod is an ankle grabber, he likes to grab and then bite my ankles, but not too hard. Since he's a housecat, I trim his claws so that when he DOES grab me, it doesn't hurt so much. The biting thing, you might have to try something weird that I did a few years ago with a bitey cat.

I applied tea tree oil to my ankles and lower calves. He really didn't like it, so when he got close and got a whiff of it, he would back off and look quite annoyed. The little swine didn't bite my ankles anymore though! Give it a shot. Either tea tree, any citrus essential oil, or another sharp scent like peppermint.

 

How old is your kitten? It may be that he's teething right now the way my newest kitten seems to be (he's also very bitey). When he starts to bite you give him a tap on the nose and a loud stern "No" to go with it. You could also try giving him more toys to play with and playing with him so that he uses them as chew toys instead of your legs or hands. My kitten seems to have taken a liking to this small hedgehog stuff animal that my son had and he wrestles around with it and bites it.

 

I had a biter once.

It was a stray kitten I brought back from the market, where lots of cats are abandoned. It bites for no reason whatsoever. It's not like it's annoyed or angry about something. It would just walk up to me and bite whatever is nearest to its mouth. Maybe that was why it was thrown away in the first place.

What I did was to stop it with a very fierce grunt. It was too small to be smacked anyway. I made a sound like a very angry animal, something like a cross between a wild boar and a pregnant cow. Somehow that worked. Maybe you can try it.

 

Now that is quite a combo!!

 

Woah, so sorry to hear that, I hope things are much better now. A bitter isn't easy to deal with, I had a bitter once, but fortunately he started biting less once he grew up. Hope it was the same for you.

 

Question to the biter (cat) person. One how old was it? Do you have other animals? And is it possibly a feral cat?

A lot of cats don't tolerate other animals (or too many of them), my Paddy was literally abandoned and left to 'feed herself' in the street for 2 years before we got her (owners moved away). Poor Paddy was 1/2 feral and VERY distrustful (hey she's been hurt and rejected by people who wanted her, but then just dumped her outdoors!) of people. I already had 3 other cats and a border collie (thank God she was used to the dog - since they had one too) - and everyone wanted to get on "Mommy s" lap. God forbid she was on there first and someone unknowingly jumped up - everyone (me too) got scratched and bitten - mostly me. I have learned to 'blow' on her (face) NEVER use hands to discipline a cat! Especially with Paddy as I suspected they also 'boxed her' with their indoor cat - when she used to live inside... Paddy is still very territorial, when let outside - but she loves and trusts us now completely.... So you see it's easier if we all have the whole picture so we can help you with your 'biter' situation.... I DID have an 'attack' cat, thou, wish I could have started over with her now that I 'know' what to do.... She probably had a mental problem thou - even my dogs were afraid of her :-(....

 

Well I wonder how this biter is "progressing". I had a biter as well but it was only my sheets and comforters. He bit up a single pair of shoes once. My favorite pair but I could not even be mad. In the case of the shoes I think I left them out as an invitation unknowingly. Those bites were sort of playful bites.

The bite and scratch at the cloth items left me baffled. Up to this I could make no sense of it.

 

1. How old is the cat? 2. was it abandoned and/or abused? (My Paddy was!) O.k., NEVER EVER 'hit a cat' - to discourage bad behavior, such as 'biting' YOU - BLOW on her/his face - they hate that!!! Took me two years for Paddy to finally come to 'trust' us... Was your cat and indoor/outdoor cat, if your area is safe to do so - flea treat him/her and let it go out - (PLEASE DO let it in!!!) mine go in and out and STAY IN at night... Also, if it's clothes related, he/she may just be 'what I call "Nesting" "..... LOL can't 'bother' her when she's 'nesting'.... (So cute) Good Luck!!!!

 

I have the same issue, and my biter is three years old. She shows no signs of stopping her behavior and I've tried everything to get her to quit her nonsense. She just likes to bite. Hard, and refuses to give in. (She's as stubborn as her "mommy" in that regard.) I will try the above suggestions, such as blowing on her face, although that will probably just drag her attention away from my hands and I really don't want to train her to bite my face.