Since Stella was a baby I've had problems with her excessive "play biting". She was taken from her family at 5-6 weeks, so doesn't seem to have learned what is appropriate and inappropriate play behavior. I have heard that the proper thing to do in such a situation is to yelp/hiss as her and discontinue play immediately. The hissing initially startled her and worked, but she seemed to become immune to that quickly. Now if she bites me and I hiss at her she won't care at all. She also does not respect Alafair (my old kitty) when Alafair rejects her attempts to play. Alafair will repeatedly slap her in the face while hissing loudly, and Stella just stares her and continues the "game". I always discontinue playing with her if she does this, and I never play rough with my own hands- only with a toy. She doesn't seem to care. None of this ever seems to be done in a malicious way. From what I have gathered she just wants to play and doesn't know what not to do.
I was having a discussion about his with a guy I know, and he suggested that I bite her back when she does this. Not like chomp down on my kitten, but give her a little nip. My first thought was that this may show her that biting is ok, and that she would continue to do so. My second thought was that there's some validity to this. I haven't been around very many litters of kittens, but if I remember right siblings will nip at each other when things get too rough between them. What are your opinions of this? I need to figure out some way to curb this behavior, but I'm certainly hesitant to go around biting my cat. Not because I have a problem with putting my mouth on my cat (maybe I'm weird or something), but because it just seems unkind. Has anyone ever heard of this before?
I was having a discussion about his with a guy I know, and he suggested that I bite her back when she does this. Not like chomp down on my kitten, but give her a little nip. My first thought was that this may show her that biting is ok, and that she would continue to do so. My second thought was that there's some validity to this. I haven't been around very many litters of kittens, but if I remember right siblings will nip at each other when things get too rough between them. What are your opinions of this? I need to figure out some way to curb this behavior, but I'm certainly hesitant to go around biting my cat. Not because I have a problem with putting my mouth on my cat (maybe I'm weird or something), but because it just seems unkind. Has anyone ever heard of this before?