Biting when Hungry - Ideas?

[dianamc]

Dandy is 6 mos. and we've had some biting issues with her.  One thing in particular I've noticed is that she starts biting me when she gets hungry.  Needless to say, this is very unpleasant and I've become wary of her around my face because she'll nip me on the chin.

Any suggestions on how we can teach her another way to communicate this?

 

[GemsGem]

This is a sign of affection. One of my cats always nips me on the chin when he's in his lovely dovey mood. It their way of showing love to you. Unpleasant I know but I don't know how to stop them sorry. I've never really thought about it before because it does not really bother me. I think it's kind of cute but maybe I'm just a crazy cat person :lol3:

 

[mservant]

Hi. I am wondering if combining the basic principles of managing biting behaviour, plus introducing clicker training for positive rewards might work for your cat?  

I have added a link here to a thread talking about clicker training.  It also has a link in it that describes the clicker training and looks at whether it might work for your cat:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/124095/can-your-cats-be-clicker-trained    If you do a web search for clicker training there are some really good short videos you can watch that make it really clear what to do.

If you have a look at the thread below where someone else asks about biting I go through the basic responses (or lack of them) in this.  One of the most effective things is to predict when it is going to happen so you can prevent it through slowly moving out of the position / situation where it is going to happen. It will be really important in terms of not appearing in any way to respond to aggressive behaviour with food so that the calm behaviour you want can be reinforced.  If this means making some adjustment to your current feeding routine this is worth thinking about. Whether it is timing, location, or type of food.  

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/269750/biting#post_3461962

Good luck.  I'm interested to know how you get on. This isn't quite to bad as a behaviour at 6 months but by the time he gets to 9 or 12 months it could be quite scary and unmanageable so you are right to start now.

 

[dianamc]

Thanks.  I have a clicker but haven't done much except to have her sit and I click when she gets her night cookies.  I don't know if the clicks registered.  I do find this unpleasant even though she hasn't broken the skin.  I'll look at the other thread.

 

[mservant]

Biting isn't great, and biting and demanding food is definitely not good.  I'm lucky my boy has never pestered or been aggressive about food, he is just a biter. He is very good now and knows it is not acceptable but it was a real issue when I first adopted him, and as he has always been super confident he thought nothing of jumping at my head.  Training on the no biting is definitely worth while. If he wants something he has to look cute and he knows it.    If he gets over excited and starts jumping and biting (usually playing when I'm making the bed) I still have to do the time out, but the conditioning really does work.

What is worth thinking about is any routine to Dandy's hunger, times of day, or triggers like before or after expected activities e.g. she sees you getting ready for bed, or for going out.  Or that 6 am hunger pang biting your face in bed.  If you can catch her before she decides she has to remind or gets anxious you might forget then she may be more settled, or alternatively feeding smaller amounts more regularly?

With the clicker training, from people who have found it works with their cats I think they had to be regular and consistent with it.  I think I was too late trying it with Mouse; he was about 1 1/2 and could get to anywhere I tried to keep the food out of reach! 

 

[dianamc]

She actually seems to be hungry when she acts up like that.  There are other times when her mouthing or attacks are other behaviors (annoyance or play aggression).  I can't seem to get her on a schedule.  We feed her about 4, sometimes 5 times, a day but right now she's zonked on the top of the cat tree and has been there for several hours.  I wish I could think of something to teach her.  Too bad she can't work the clicker!  She knows the sound of the pop-top and the microwave all right.

 

[mservant]

If you can isolate the play aggression and hungry aggressive demands for food from the annoyance like from over petting or being touched somewhere she doesn't like or space being invaded, you should be able to progress.  You can work on the ignore, ignore and 'ow', isolation principles for the other two, and add play reward for boredom and the pop top or microwave sound as positive reward for stopping biting on the hungry aggression.  She doesn't get fed until she stops the biting. Tough love?  It mustn't be a long delay that becomes like a punishment, it needs to be instant once she releases and eventually releases and settles - final goal not to bite starting off the process but knowing she will be fed and trusting you to feed without having to demand.

You could also try introducing the principles of hunting for food, leaving some in hiding places she has to look for, or throwing dry kibble for her to chase so it is a no contact interactive game with food.  Again if she comes up to you biting for more food you stop, and only restart when she  stops biting you - or starts off looking for play and is being cute.

 

[kcpaull]

I don't know if your cat is as bad as mine, but the only thing that keeps him from latching onto my arm and clawing it bloody while biting the heck out of my hand, is trying to keep food out for him so he never gets hungry. This behavior started when we first found him at 5 weeks old. He's 10 months old now and weighs 15 pounds and still growing. The only way to get him to let go of my hand is to blow in his face. I blow in his face and walk away so he sees that I don't condone the behavior. I wait until he has calmed down before giving him food, otherwise he'll associate attacking me with getting food and it will never end. The attacks have lessened quite a bit since he started hanging around with the youngest of our other cats who has been a mother so she knows how to handle him. He's also less aggressive in playing with our other cats.  I think he got separated from his mother before learning proper cat play manners and as our other cats had no experience with kittens, they were terrified.