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- Dec 8, 2019
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Hello Everyone,
I've had my cat Koko for just over 2 years (He turned 2 in March). I got Koko as a kitten when he was about 9-12ish weeks old and he was neutered at 5 months old. I have NEVER EVER played with my hands, even when he was a kitten or encouraged biting. When he would bite as a kitten I would always walk away and ignore him because I read that was a good idea to get him to stop.
I LOVE Koko to bits but am at a loss for what to do about his biting. He'll be siting somewhere so I come to pet him and it will be ok for about 10 seconds then he latches on and bites and grabs my arm and starts really going at it. Or he'll come to me for pets and after a few seconds he'll bite my arm really hard. I do pay attention to see his body language (swishing tail..etc) and he has none, it's an attack out of the blue. So I started barely petting him but then sometimes he'll jump on my desk while I study or do work and he'll come sit on my paper or something, I go to move him or I am simply writing and ignoring him and he latches on to my arm and gives me a pretty good bite. I am tired of having scratches and bite marks all over my hands and arms.
Just now I was doing some homework and he jumps on to my desk and sleeps on my papers (I have 6 finals this week and despite that I still stop to play with him throughout the day) so I moved him over and he bit me and scratched me very good. So I scruffed him and lost my cool a bit and yelled at him to stop ( I NEVER ever pick him up when scruffing, just pull on the skin to get him to let go and then let him go and I never yelled super loud but louder than I would like to). So now I feel extremely guilty for yelling at him but I need a suitable method of punishment because ignoring him is not working. He seems to think that biting me will make me leave him alone so leaving him alone has backfired on me.
Anyone have any advice? Giving him up is absolutely NOT an option, but something needs to change.
Thank you.
I've had my cat Koko for just over 2 years (He turned 2 in March). I got Koko as a kitten when he was about 9-12ish weeks old and he was neutered at 5 months old. I have NEVER EVER played with my hands, even when he was a kitten or encouraged biting. When he would bite as a kitten I would always walk away and ignore him because I read that was a good idea to get him to stop.
I LOVE Koko to bits but am at a loss for what to do about his biting. He'll be siting somewhere so I come to pet him and it will be ok for about 10 seconds then he latches on and bites and grabs my arm and starts really going at it. Or he'll come to me for pets and after a few seconds he'll bite my arm really hard. I do pay attention to see his body language (swishing tail..etc) and he has none, it's an attack out of the blue. So I started barely petting him but then sometimes he'll jump on my desk while I study or do work and he'll come sit on my paper or something, I go to move him or I am simply writing and ignoring him and he latches on to my arm and gives me a pretty good bite. I am tired of having scratches and bite marks all over my hands and arms.
Just now I was doing some homework and he jumps on to my desk and sleeps on my papers (I have 6 finals this week and despite that I still stop to play with him throughout the day) so I moved him over and he bit me and scratched me very good. So I scruffed him and lost my cool a bit and yelled at him to stop ( I NEVER ever pick him up when scruffing, just pull on the skin to get him to let go and then let him go and I never yelled super loud but louder than I would like to). So now I feel extremely guilty for yelling at him but I need a suitable method of punishment because ignoring him is not working. He seems to think that biting me will make me leave him alone so leaving him alone has backfired on me.
Anyone have any advice? Giving him up is absolutely NOT an option, but something needs to change.
Thank you.
catster100, welcome to TCS!
so I'll say 'No' firmly and distract him with a ball or his toys or just knock on the table to create a noise to distract him or if I notice that he's ambushing me, I change direction and walk else where to get past him.
