Male Cat Treating His Human As A Toy

[LeeroyTheCat]

My cat Leeroy (approx 2.5 yrs old, male) is extremely playful and energetic, which I love, but he does not know the difference between his toys and my arms or legs. If he wants my attention he will essentially just start stalking me and gnawing on my body. He knows he is biting flesh and never applies full force, but its enough to leave scratches and draw a bit of blood every time - and obviously it hurts.

I play with him (with my full attention) for at least 30 minutes every day including right when I get home from work. He loves chasing objects on strings and I bring him to exhaustion (panting) every time. This never seems to be enough for him, he will follow me and give me play bites until I continue. I am eventually forced to put him in "time out" by closing the door to my room until he calms down. I really hate doing this, he meows in protest but I don't see any other way around it. This separates him from his litterbox and food so I know he doesn't like it either.

I know I most likely created this behavior due to playing with him by hand when he was a kitten. He would gnaw on my fingers/hands and I thought it was harmless and cute... maybe even a phase as a kitten. As an adult this same gnawing now hurts and cuts me.

I rescued Leeroy and his brother from the side of a road approximately 2 years ago, they were both very malnourished (his brother was worse, was even smaller than Leeroy and was ill). I suspect they were abandoned, though could have been feral. I took Leeroy in (my buddy adopted his brother). After taking him in to get neutered I learned that one of his testicles never dropped, and the surgery required to get him fixed I could not afford right then. I had to wait a couple of months to fix him, I don't know his true age but if I had to guess he was probably close to 1 years old before he got fixed. I suspect this may be contributing to his behavior as well.

Is there anything I can do to try to abate this behavior of chewing on me like a toy? I know I may be to late due to his age. Thanks for any advice! I hate having to kick him out of my room to get anything done.

P.S. He never hisses or shows any signs of true aggressiveness, it is playful intention (just painful for me)

 

[Ardina]

Hi and welcome to TCS! It seems that Leeroy has learned that hands and legs are playthings, so you'll have to retrain him to understand that they are not. The way to do that is by only playing with him with wand toys and others toys that are at a distance from your hands (which you're already doing!). When he attempts to bite and scratch you, reprimand him with a short "eh-eh" sound in a tone you don't normally use when talking with him, and immediately stop the play session. Walk away and ignore him, shutting yourself away in a different room if necessary. I would recommend shutting yourself away rather than him so that you don't give him any attention including negative attention when he's biting/scratching. After a couple of minutes, resume playing with him with a wand toy. Limit the periods of ignoring him to only a few minutes so that he doesn't forget why it happened. After a couple of repetitions of this, he will learn that scratching and biting you ends playtime. Eventually, even the warning tone will be enough to stop the behavior. He'll learn even faster if you reinforce good behavior. Carry around some treats in your pocket and when you see that brief moment when he's about to bite and remembers not to, praise him and give him a treat.

Edited to include this: It's really really important that you be consistent. Make the warning sound and ignore him each and every time he bites/scratches. Don't tolerate it some of the time and not at other times.

Good luck! You'll have a well-trained cat in no time!

 

[moorspede]

I agree with Ardina but I'd like to add, if you get a stuffed toy, my cats loved Kong Kickeroos, carry it around and distract him with it when he wants to get rough. He can bite and bunny kick it until he's expelled his energy.