Biting me when I leave the kitchen

[SrBridgerton]

Lately my cat has been biting me whenever I leave the kitchen without feeding him. I think it might be out of frustration? It seems like he’s demanding to be fed when he wants. He’s 1.5 years old about 11 pounds and he’s fed about 230 calories of mostly wet food.
His automatic feeder goes off at 5:30am and he’s fed wet food at 11. When I get up to make myself breakfast around 9 he bites and claws my leg a bit as I'm walking away. sometimes he'll do it very softly but he also bites down hard if i go in and out of the kitchen too much. when it does come time to feed him he usually only eats half of his portion and goes back to it later, which is fine but this makes me think he’s not biting because he’s hungry.
Does anyone elses cat do this? how can i stop this behavior? It started about two weeks ago and I’ve only had him for two months.

 

[cmshap]

Just wanted to add the suggestion that this might be a play-related/pent-up-energy thing. Are you playing with him a lot?

Sometimes cats who don't get enough energy out will "attack" feet/ankles as you walk by as a way to expend built-up energy. And sometimes they will only do it in a certain area/room, or when you move between a specific point A and point B.

It could be food-related, but this is another possibility.

 

[TARTARA]

Just wanted to add the suggestion that this might be a play-related/pent-up-energy thing. Are you playing with him a lot?

Sometimes cats who don't get enough energy out will "attack" feet/ankles as you walk by as a way to expend built-up energy. And sometimes they will only do it in a certain area/room, or when you move between a specific point A and point B.

It could be food-related, but this is another possibility.

Nice reply indeed !

 

[SrBridgerton]

It’s possible. He’ll bite with his claws especially on mondays if we were out over the weekend and didn’t play with him as much. Today I’m playing with him as much as he wants to see if it’ll make a difference which hopefully it does. It’s always in the hallway from the kitchen to our room that he does it.
Very helpful thanks!

 

[cmshap]

It’s possible. He’ll bite with his claws especially on mondays if we were out over the weekend and didn’t play with him as much. Today I’m playing with him as much as he wants to see if it’ll make a difference which hopefully it does. It’s always in the hallway from the kitchen to our room that he does it.
Very helpful thanks!

I'd be surprised if this wasn't the answer. My almost-10-year-old cat still pounces on my feet sometimes if I haven't played with him enough.

If your cat is young (and it sounds like he is), literally play with him to exhaustion, where he likely will plop down on the floor and refuse to continue. See if that helps.

 

[susanm9006]

Agree that it is probably pent up energy but he also needs to learn biting isn’t okay. When he does stop, face him and say “no biting!” loudly in your sternest mom or dad voice and then walk away from him. He is old enough to recognize that tone and your disapproval. You can also use this if he comes up behind out and appears ready to bite. If “no biting” or similar doesn’t stop him then try a good loud hiss.

 

[cmshap]

Agree that it is probably pent up energy but he also needs to learn biting isn’t okay. When he does stop, face him and say “no biting!” loudly in your sternest mom or dad voice and then walk away from him.

This is how I got my cat to stop biting my hands (because when I was an ignorant first-time cat owner, in the beginning, I played with him using my hands).

I started shouting "NO" and then moving him off my lap onto the floor, and ignored him for a while. I'd also stand up so he couldn't jump back up on my lap. It was annoying (sometimes I'd be standing in my living room watching TV... lol) but I knew I had to be firm.

 

[cejhome]

Try to do a high pitched OWWWWW (not yelling, but loud) when he does it. Our Buddy (2.5ish years old) is a nipper. Nips calves or ankle to get you to play, to let you know he is starving, to sass back if I fuss at him, to make him come in off the screen porch at night, etc. He has learned to just do it very lightly though, so it just tickles! The first time I did the high pitched OWW, he got very big eyes. He learned very quickly to just do baby tickle nips.

He also likes to nibble, but he is very gentle - sort of like kissing. I guess its his version of kissing, since he loves to have his forehead kissed. He's shove his head at me from my desk (and any table, and the kitchen island) and that means "kiss my forehead". He did try to nibble/nip my face once, and I did the OW thing. He just give me a very very gentle baby nibble now. He was just trying to "kiss" - he wasn't wild or upset. He's such a character!

 

[TARTARA]

Cats are a "wierd" kind of animal... we never really know what they really want... ! Probably we have to pay more attention on them, and hopefully we can understand what they want... !?

Probably isn't anything "wrong" with your cat he just acting just a little bit differently... !?

 

[cmshap]

He also likes to nibble, but he is very gentle

Willy still does this too, actually. I mentioned above that I broke him of biting my hands, but he does still "bite" sometimes. Only when he's content and purring while on my lap... I will be petting him, and he will turn around and put his teeth around my hand, but doesn't apply any pressure. Then he immediately releases.

I can't tell if it's affectionate, or just an old habit that he has learned to tone down. Either are okay with me as long as he doesn't BITE-bite anymore.

 

[SrBridgerton]

This all makes sense… he usually wakes me up in the middle of the night to come sleep on my chest and for pets which is fine but the first few weeks he had the bad habit of biting my hand when I fell asleep and he wanted more pets. I did say OW really loud but that was mostly because he would wake me up with a bite. He didn’t stop since I would be loud and ignore him after. Guess I have to try that with this habit of his.

 

[Meowmee]

It could be as everyone said he needs to play more. Play till he drops with wand toys etc. Get him running around a lot. Say ow, no loudly, hiss etc for the biting.

Quinn does that too sometimes. I think that’s just his personality, that’s the way some cats are. He’s a lot better about it now but he will still do it sometimes… he does it to the other cats too when wrestling.

He likes to dominate everyone including me. If I tell him not to do something and it’s something like don’t hiss at one of our new additions or something that he really wants to do he can sometimes get mad at me and jump on my leg and bite me but not a real bite. His favorite is to jump on my shoulder, and bite my hair and my ear to reprimand me lol

Since this is a new thing with your cat, it could be activity related or somehow food related. Another suggestion is to get a playmate for him- cats like to have other cats to play/ wrestle with especially if they are very active cats. My guys are wrestling/ playing all the time.

 

[cmshap]

Another suggestion is to get a playmate for him- cats like to have other cats to play/ wrestle with especially if they are very active cats.

Personally, I wish I could do this, but I just wouldn't be able to responsibly afford a second cat. Not everyone can do this. I'd love to, if I could.

 

[SrBridgerton]

I wish I could get him a second cat! When we adopted him they wanted him to go to a home with no cats, he likes to be the center of attention so that might be why they wanted him to be in a single cat household. I work from home so I’m usually able to give him all the attention he asks for.
Yesterday I played with him for almost an hour total he had so much energy. He swiped at my husband once when he left the kitchen but it was very soft and half hearted. I’m going to keep trying to tire him out and hopefully he learns to swipe softly