Grabbing my leg

[immortalflower]

I've had cats all my life but my current one is doing something new that the others haven't done and I'm trying to figure out his reason.

He is a lovely 4 month old, so very gentle and has been surprisingly well behaved for a kitten so far.  He even only scratched the furniture for a few days before he learned to scratch on his scratching post, it didn't take much shooing at all.

Now... he is occasionally grabbing our legs and attempting to bite a bit but his mouth is too small so he really is only pressing his teeth.  The bit I don't understand is... he doesn't seem angry at all, nothing about his body language suggests he is upset.  I'm leaning towards it maybe being some sort of wanting to play.  The weird thing is he is very slow about it, so he isn't doing it in a frenzy of excitement.  He just sort of comes around your leg and quite gently puts his front paws around your ankle and then sometimes presses his teeth against your leg.

So, we are discouraging him from doing this and I hope he gets over it quickly like everything else.  It seems to mostly happen first thing in the morning so I am thinking maybe an invitation to play?  At first we thought it was because he was hungry but he doesn't always do it before he is fed, sometimes it is after.

Other than this, he is very gentle and hasn't bitten or scratched anyone on purpose.  And the vast majority of time he doesn't even go for a toy if it lands on or next to someone's foot (I find that restraint rather amazing!)

 

[misterwhiskers]

You need to immediately discourage this, in my opinion. When my cat started doing this, I didn't take it seriously, and it continues. As much as I try, he can go from "sideways biting" to a full scale bite with a rabbit kick. Try a little "holding down"...like his mama would do. My guess it's play-practice, and your leg is the equivalent of big game. I would not encourage this at all. It's cute when they're 4 pounds but when you're sitting on the loo at 3 am and a 16 pound cat goes after your nekkid leg, it's not so cute. [emoji]128549[/emoji]

 

[talkingpeanut]

I agree with the above. He's playing with you like he would with his litter mates. Either walk away and ignore him completely or follow the advice above as mama cat would do. This doesn't sound like aggression at all.

 

[kitty kisser]

My cat Ms.Pink used to ambush us from under the bed while we where walking to the restroom. I got another kitten Princess and now she just pounces her. Expect occasionally when she will gently bite the top of my foot and then quickly starts licking it. They know they are being bad!!

 

[immortalflower]

I will definitely discourage it.  I was just trying to figure out what prompts this behavior.  I've been finding lots of purposeful play seems to counter a lot of misbehavior very well... I read that online before we got this kitten and it seems to be doing the trick for the most part.

It is not all that practical a lot of the time to grab him and hold him down, especially when it is the kids who get grabbed.  Do you think clapping our hands and a loud NO will work as well?  I am also going to talk to my kids and make sure they don't do any rewarding actions right after this happens so there are no positive associations.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Clapping and a loud no scares him, but doesn't teach him what is wrong. You only need to hold him down for ten seconds or so. Or walk away completely. Yelling is not a good solution.

 

[detroitcatlady]

Ignoring the behavior does help. My male cat used to constantly attack my feet and legs especially under the covers while sleeping or bare legs/feet if he saw them move. I tried everything and nothing worked aside from ignoring him completely or getting up and leaving the room. The best thing to do is make sure you don't reinforce this behavior accidentally even though it is just him being playful he needs to know that it is not ok. Some cats will perceive being yelled at or you making a loud noise as you giving them attention of some sort and could actually make him do it more.

 

[losna]

Tempest has started doing this as a show of affection. She reaches out, grabs and bites. It's clear she is being loving from her body language, but she has serious fangs. I've found the best way to discourage it is to say, "Ouch! Too rough!" and walk away.

It is important that you, and everyone in your house, must be consistent with whatever you choose to do to discourage him. Make sure you get your kids to understand that they all need to do it too, and if they have friends over they need to make their friends do it as well.

 

[immortalflower]

Clapping and a loud no scares him, but doesn't teach him what is wrong. You only need to hold him down for ten seconds or so. Or walk away completely. Yelling is not a good solution.

Ah, now this makes it make sense for me.  I was thinking it was obvious that a clap and no would be connected to the action... but my cat wouldn't make the same connection.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Hekitty will very occasionally grab and bite, but if I say, "OW OW OW" she backs off immediately.  I don't yell it, just say it very emphatically.

 

[catlover73]

My youngest cat Casey is now a little over a year old and I adopted him when he was 7 weeks old.  He would be laying on you cuddling or hanging out while you were petting him.  Sometimes he would wrap his paws around your hand or wrist and just chomp.  When he started doing this I would immediately tell him no biting in a normal tone of  voice and walk away from him.  He learned fairly quickly that he does not get attention when he does this.  He still does it once in a great while and I respond the same way I did when he was a baby.  He also used to chomp on my other cats when he wanted to play my biggest cat who is very gentle got annoyed and pinned him to the floor a couple of time until he calmed down and the behavior stopped.

I adopted my oldest who will be nine years old later this month when she was six weeks old.  She was separated from her siblings by the time she was four weeks old.  She played too rough with my other cats at first but they quickly taught her boundaries.  When she was a kitten she loved to groom our faces but she would also randomly chomp on our noses.  When she would chomp I gently would tap her on the nose while saying no biting in a normal tone of voice and put her down/walk away from her.  She learned quickly that biting our noses was not an acceptable way to show affection.  Once in a great while she still does it and it is handled the same way as when she was a baby.

 

[immortalflower]

Ok, holding him down momentarily is not at all having the desired effect. Instead, it is ramping up the moment entirely more and he then wants to bite and scratch me in a more aggressive way... so it is turning the moment from something likely more playful into something not so playful. I am going to go back to a sharp no and a clap.

 

[talkingpeanut]

All the advice given to you above still stands - a sharp no and a clap will scare him but not teach him anything.  Walking away from him or disciplining him like his mom would is your best bet.

 

[misterwhiskers]

Ok, holding him down momentarily is not at all having the desired effect. Instead, it is ramping up the moment entirely more and he then wants to bite and scratch me in a more aggressive way... so it is turning the moment from something likely more playful into something not so playful. I am going to go back to a sharp no and a clap.

Try holding him down longer--10-30 seconds. (not painfully or in a way that restricts breathing). You'll know it's working when he gets really pissed, but skulks off in a huff. [emoji]128548[/emoji]

 

[losna]

Try holding him down longer--10-30 seconds. (not painfully or in a way that restricts breathing). You'll know it's working when he gets really pissed, but skulks off in a huff. [emoji]128548[/emoji]

Hehehe that sounds like Sinbad after he does something naughty that causes my husband to hold him down. Too brief a hold and all it does is rile Sinbad up so he's bunny kicking. The right length has Sinbad really mad but just stalking off all grumpy. 

 

[immortalflower]

I was holding him at the neck/shoulder area for the count of ten.

 

[talkingpeanut]

Try to do it until he reacts, as other posters or saying. Or just walk away. Punishing him through methods he can't understand won't help.

 

[lizcat]

Oh,god now I feel awful. I've always gently shook Onyx off when he's done this. I'll try your other suggestions next time.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

Oh,god now I feel awful. I've always gently shook Onyx off when he's done this. I'll try your other suggestions next time.

Dear heavens, don't feel awful.  Having a cat unexpectedly latch onto a body part can be more than a little off-putting.  If, not knowing what else to do, you merely gently shook him off, you've done well, indeed.  We've all had moments in our associations with cats when instinct overcame any knowledge we might have garnered along the way.  When Hekitty was about 7 months old, she was under a table. I walked by, and she launched at my ankle without a sound.  I jerked my leg, and she went flying a good 9 or 10 feet.  I spent the next two hours apologizing.  Her attitude was pretty much, "Hey, no blood, no foul" after the first 30 minutes of sulking.  We both survived, she better than I.  Of course, three days later, she launched again, but I was better prepared that time.

 

[lizcat]

 
Dear heavens, don't feel awful.  Having a cat unexpectedly latch onto a body part can be more than a little off-putting.  If, not knowing what else to do, you merely gently shook him off, you've done well, indeed.  We've all had moments in our associations with cats when instinct overcame any knowledge we might have garnered along the way.  When Hekitty was about 7 months old, she was under a table. I walked by, and she launched at my ankle without a sound.  I jerked my leg, and she went flying a good 9 or 10 feet.  I spent the next two hours apologizing.  Her attitude was pretty much, "Hey, no blood, no foul" after the first 30 minutes of sulking.  We both survived, she better than I.  Of course, three days later, she launched again, but I was better prepared that time.

Thank you for the encouragement. I'm new to cats and try to do everything "right," but don't always succeed. We're lucky our kitties are so easy to forgive, huh?