Kitty Tried Biting Me

Good Afternoon,
My name is Daniel I recently adopted a stray cat last Wednesday to be exact. So far she has been really good when it comes to adjusting to a new home and new people. Today me and my partner decided we would sprit her when she got on a ledge and sat on our plants. She has been better but tonight their was an incident where she threw a fit after i sprit her and she knocked her water bowl over. After that I decided to put her in her carrier while I cleaned up the soil and water mess. When i let her out everything was good she came over to me to cuddle. I then was petting her for about a minute or so when she went from licking my hand to biting. I am just concerned that she is going to become aggressive due to us attempting to discipline her with spritzing. My partner is scared she might lash out while we’re asleep, however she is a really calm cat and I really don’t think that’s the case. I am experienced with cats but mainly older cats.

Cats don't respond to punishment - your cat isn't going to associate being spritzed with not doing some undesired behavior, instead she is going to become fearful or resentful of you (the spritzer). This is why she bit you - you're popping up and spraying her with water and obviously she doesn't like it.

Preventing her from getting into your plants is an easy fix: simply relocate your plants where she can't get to them. You need to redirect them when they're doing something you don't like, not punish them. Also, no need to crate a cat when you're cleaning up a mess - just put her in another room if she's getting in the way, most cats do not like being locked up in a carrier.

I think you had the perfect example of what punishing does to your cat as said above, it doesn't work, and often it brings the opposite results. In your case, as I'm assuming she was a stray outdoor cat, even if she understood what you didn't want her to do, it must have been really confusing to her, as she was always around vegetation and suddenly she's being attacked for that.

Cats and plants, it's a difficult topic. First of all, check if the plants you have are not toxic to a cat, quite a few common ones are.
I won't share any tips on how to make a cat not to ruin the plants as I was highly unsuccessful with one of my cat, he would play with them, eat them, try to displace them, dig holes in the soil, he greatly enjoyed spilling soil on a floor. It was never ending story and I got too tired with it and got rid of all the plants Some people place them in the places inaccessible to cats, like high cupboard, shelves that can't be jumped on, or in pots hanging directly from the ceiling that can't be jumped on. Hopefully you'll have more luck in teaching your cat that you don't want her to be around plants. She may still do it when you're away, though.
How old is she?

EDITED TO ADD: is she a kitten? If she is, she probably wanted to play with your hand as she would with her sibling. Never play with your hands, and hiss at her when she bites you too hard as her mom would do, you'll let her know this way it was painful. Have a soft toy or kickaroo toy ready to give it to her if she starts biting you during petting. If she's indeed a kitten, she shouldn't be the only one, for her emotional and behavioral health, she should have a company of another kitten/playful young adult cat.

I did give up spraying cats years ago, but I don't think it is necessarily bad provided you leave the sprayer in the area you want to defend and dont have to run for it. However, there is no reason for it to be your first choice method. Either simply keep removing the cat from the plant (repeated many times) or use a loud "no!" and then remove. With a brand new stray, might be best to try to the removal method first. It can take dozens of removals to teach a cat, if it works at all, but it won't cause the stress of spraying or even a loud no.

Cats bite for a lot of reasons, and if this cat bit while cuddling, it was likely either love bites or play bites. In both cases unconnected to the spraying. Love bites are usually lick lick gentle bite. They can be ignored if you are so inclined, although this may risk transition to play bites. Play bites tend to be rougher, sometimes come with nail action if they grab on and try to use the back legs, and should always be discouraged because they can hurt, and even cause wounds. I use a loud "no!" and disengaging.

If someone sprayed you with water, you might get aggressive, too. It upsets them and teaches them not to trust you. There are other ways to do it. I have nine and have never used a spray bottle. They rarely get on counters, and, since so many plants can make them sick or kill them, all of my plants are where they cannot get to them.

In addition to that, it is not abnormal for some cats to bite at you if you are petting them "wrong." My cat Fennimore loves to be combed, but he will often bite the comb if it gets to close to his belly.

Also if you were just petting her and she nipped at you, it could be over-stimulation, where it was just too much and she had enough.

How old is the cat? If it's a kitten often times it's a product of not understanding the difference between playing and hurting. They don't know that that biting hurts humans, after all they have never been around humans. Just yelp out when it happens. Try not to get anxious as that anxiety transfers to the cat. Our cats are now 12 and then understand that biting hurts humans and will not bite even if playing. The spritzing thing did not work with our cats either. They enjoy it! I would try to just move the plants so the cat cannot reach them. Our poor cat even tries to eat the plastic ones.

Remember your plant's dirt is similar to what she's been using as her litter box. It's going to be hard to explain the difference to her. Without a common language could you explain to another person why one toilet was different and not to be used as another one?

Remember also that your cat doesn't want to make you angry. You are bigger than she is and she knows you could kill her. She wants to get along with her. Try to make your rules those that will make sense from her point of view. That will work best.