I adopted a 1 year old kitty about 6 weeks ago. He had been picked up by animal control a month or so before I adopted him (unneutered) and then was taken in by a rescue and fostered. Ollie is very active and playful, uses his scratching post perfectly and is generally super sweet. However, he does nip at me. Sometimes, it seems it he just being playful, other times it seems that it is his way of getting my attention (trying to wake me up, for example). I have read up on how to handle this on various websites, and have tried walking away and ignoring him. I work from home 3 days out of 5 and give him several play sessions a day. He also has access to the sun room that allows him to watch birds and squirrels in my backyard, so I think he gets lots of stimulation. I love him to bits, but his bites hurt.
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Cat Who Nips At Me
- Thread starter suzan30
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- Feb 25, 2013
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My cat used to do that too but as he grows older he stopped. Now, he only bites if you touch a spot that he doesn't like. And is your cat still not neutered? If that's the case, you should get him fixed ASAP because nipping is nothing compare to being overly aggressive and spraying all over your house.
I agree first and foremost ^ but cats will only do something over and over that they see works. For whatever reason, your reaction is something he wants. If your reaction is something he does not want, he will stop - it may take days, or weeks, but he will stop. Just continue to ignore him and leave the room, and he'll see that there are other ways to get your attention. If one time in every sixty times, you still respond to him, he will think there's a chance it will work. He's just in that stage where he just wants to go, go, go. Ps: for the biting while sleeping thing...my younger one does that...you can't really control your response in a half-asleep state so we would put him out of the bedroom if he woke us up with biting in the morning. He stopped and he now just meows in the morning. Not ideal, but better. Good luck!!
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Thanks for the responses. Ollie is neutered--the rescue did it before I adopted him. I was just wondering if the relatively late neutering might be part of this. I will try to be more consistent in my responses. I hope he retains his playfulness as he gets older, but I will not miss the nips.
