Won't Stop Yelling At Me And Biting Me!

Please, I am at my wits end with this cat. I have had him and his brother for 12 years, since they were kittens. He has always been rather fussy and is very intelligent. I recently left my husband and he had taken Lynx cat with him, but the cat was getting abused so I stole him back. He has been home with me and his brother cat again now for 5 months, but just in the last few weeks he has started to bite me like all the time. Whenever he is awake practically. He started to meow super loud at my neighbors wall in the middle of the night too.

He isn't being aggressive... it usually starts with him rubbing on me, then little love bites, then he freaking chomps down. He does it to the back of my legs when I brush my hair, do the dishes, am sleeping... He has clean litter, his favorite food, full water bowl, tons of toys, and I play with both cats at least once a day to make sure they get exercise. His brother is an angel.

He is purring while chewing on me and it hurts and I would do whatever this cat wants if I could figure out what he needs from me. Please, any advice you can give me, I am so frustrated after weeks of this.

Hello and welcome to TCS. Have you taken him to the vet to ensure there's nothing physical going on with him? It could also certainly be stress from all he's been through recently.

When he bites you, say "nooo" and "owwww" loudly and in a high pitched tone. That is how kittens let their siblings know they are playing too rough, so hopefully Lynx will understand that he's hurting you.

Until some other member reply, I'll post the links to some TCS articles that may be helpful. Good luck.

Cat Aggression Toward People
How To Stop Playtime Aggression In Cats
Is Your Cat Stressed Out?
Six Surefire Strategies To Reduce Stress In Cats
How To Deal With Cat "love Bites"?
Cat Bites - What Every Cat Owner Needs To Know

This is not advise I'd give to anyone else with a biting cat but your boy seems so happy he can't contain himself. With his recent ordeal he may need more attention. Extra cuddles, before he get to the love bite stage give him a very light bear hug. My Yoshi often "love" bites me too hard as he gets older and I can usually prevent it by giving him the closeness he wants with out getting hurt.

Again this is not something for your average biting cat.

Our cat Trin love bites quite hard (although not enough to break the skin). He's just so happy and the happier you make him the more he bites. He particularly likes to chomp through the bedding (especially if your soft flesh is inside) but he's not against chomping exposed skin as well.

Recently he started to lick my hand instead sometimes, very sweet, but then sometimes it's a bite and it is unpredictable.

Probably not great advise, because he tends not to pick up on "no bite" cues, but we have just learned to live with it and slow down the pets if he gets too bitey. At 10 years old we have given up and figure this is what he does lol. Hopefully since this is new behavior for Lynx cat the advise from rubysmama or Hellenww helps!

Thanks Ruby, Helen, and Karen! I will be giving all of your advice a try. Since this is not typical behavior from Lynxy I really hope I can get him to stop... he teeth are sharp lol. I appreciate the time you took to reply to me.

He is 12, I wonder if it may be a senility disease starting. His starting to cry loudly in the middle of the night caught my eye. You might do some research on this and talk to a vet.

If you feel your ex wasn't treating him right, he (Lynxy) might have been a bit disoriented/confused from the move and change of situation and did the ankle rub/nibble thing to help calm his own nerves and try to establish a bond with your ex, without your or his litter mate in the picture. I'm not accusing anyone of anything but most "non cat" people faced with a cat rolling at their feet and play-biting/love biting their clothes and wanting/demanding attention from their recent living arrangement upset are sometimes met with a swift kick or a shove away, etc. or are ignored/put into another room.
I'm no expert but my guess would be something like he's so happy he can't stand it but is still un-sure of his permanent living arrangements and the best offense is a good defense. Bite them before they can bite you. Combo emotion of love/happy/anxious/unsure.
A side note: I've noticed our own guys adopting different attitudes/behaviors depending on our own level of stress. When things are good, life is good, the animals respond and the annoyingly playful ones chill out a little, and the quieter types play a little more and everyone gets along better, but when something is really bad in our personal lives, the animals notice and sometimes are quieter than normal, louder/more obnoxious, etc. Just food for thought....take care of yourself, as well as them.

rubysmama said:

Hello and welcome to TCS. Have you taken him to the vet to ensure there's nothing physical going on with him? It could also certainly be stress from all he's been through recently.

When he bites you, say "nooo" and "owwww" loudly and in a high pitched tone. That is how kittens let their siblings know they are playing too rough, so hopefully Lynx will understand that he's hurting you.

Until some other member reply, I'll post the links to some TCS articles that may be helpful. Good luck.

Cat Aggression Toward People
How To Stop Playtime Aggression In Cats
Is Your Cat Stressed Out?
Six Surefire Strategies To Reduce Stress In Cats
How To Deal With Cat "love Bites"?
Cat Bites - What Every Cat Owner Needs To Know

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In dogs, imitating a scream-yelp stops this 99% of the time, but some get MORE riled up and in that case it's best to just get up and leave. If you're going to play rough, you'll play alone. It takes experimenting!
With our kittens in the past it's always been a sudden chomp that makes us yell for real, and most of them have responded with jerking their face up towards ours, leaning their ears back and widening their eyes like "Bruh, SORRY!!" It's rather kind of cute, but the biting/chewing/gnawing thing DOES get old. =(

I wish I had advice. I would try to make him feel as secure as possible along with tons of 1 on 1 play therapy. Because I'm a worry wart I would take him to the vet ASAP just in case he is injured or hurting. If after a month or three of doing all the above & a clean bill of health I would ask the vet about anti-anxiety medicine to try to reset him to knowing his world is secure. Not a permanent solution, just a short course of medication to get him out of the stressed out zone.

I have gone through a divorce. I know how it upends your world. To say it is stressful is like saying your spouse suddenly dying is stressful. Only people are not coming over with flowers/support & there is no funeral. You need to allow yourself to grieve and find your balance again. I would suggest doing something you enjoy every day. Personally I tried to look at the things I could do now that I was single (like buying girly hot pink curtains instead of neutral colors..... not having to clean after my x-hubby was on that list ..... and dating when I was ready.) If you can & want to a therapist might help you ..... I found screaming a few curse words in private a couple of times helpful My boys snuggled up next to me every time I cried. Animals know when you are hurting.

Has you loose stress, your cats will loose their stress to. Seek out joy & peace every day.