Needs To Be More Independent

KLDexter

KLDexter

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
12
Purraise
21
Location
Minneapolis, MN
My 7 month old cat, Gigabyte, is one of the most affectionate cats I've ever had. She would LOVE it if she could just snuggle and play with my husband and me all day. I work from home but I still work a production based job and can't play with her all the time. When she gets bored she gets more aggressive and starts biting us, trying to get us to play with her. We've spent quite a bit of money on toys, cat towers, and scratch posts for her but she always loses interest quickly unless we play with her. We've gotten a few mechanical/electronic toys that we thought we could turn on when she gets bored and we aren't able to play with her (SmartyKat Hot Pursuit, electric flutter butterfly, etc.) but she only is interested for the first 2 minutes and then goes right back to trying to get us to play with her. We try to rotate out the toys so she's not overwhelmed by the options. We've tried catnip since that would keep any cat I've had before her occupied for at least 20-30 minutes but she absolutely won't touch anything that has to do with catnip. We've talked to our landlord about possibly getting another cat but our apartment complex only allows 1 cat per unit. Her normal "I'm hungry" nips are usually just that, nips. Her "I'm bored" bites are chomps and hurt. We've tried positive reinforcement when she doesn't bite and punishing her/walking away and ignoring her when she does bite but it doesn't seem to affect this behavior at all. The worst is when my husband and I head to bed because she's always hyper around that time. Sometimes my husband stays up and plays with her but I think that's just making it worse because she's not able to get used to our schedule.

Any ideas on how to train/encourage her
DSC00726.jpg
or what toys we can purchase to allow our cat to be more independent when it comes to playing?
 
Animal Freak

Animal Freak

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 18, 2016
Messages
1,765
Purraise
645
She's a beautiful cat. It's best to get her on a schedule and stick with it though. Sometimes it's hard to ignore them, but giving in to what they want teaches them that they can get away with it. If she's hyper around bedtime then that should be a time to play with her. With my cats, I play with them right before they have dinner. Getting a meal after play completes the hunting process: hunt, catch, kill, eat. Then she should be ready to sleep shortly after that.

If she's food motivated, then you might want to try treat dispensers/puzzles. Some cats need more stimulation than others. Treat dispensers are simple, but they make the cat work for their meal. You can make them too. Take a water bottle and cut some holes it in just big enough for treats to fit through. My cats are too lazy and two of them aren't as food motivated so I can't recommend any puzzles, but there's plenty to try.

Some people make a yowling/pained sound when their cat bites them. I haven't had to try it myself, but it could be worth it if it stops her from biting. Otherwise giving a firm "no" and ignore her when she does so. It's best to stay calm and don't yell at her. Cats don't take to negative reinforcement very well so punishing them doesn't usually work.

I wish I could be of more help, but I'm sure others will come along with advice too.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #4
KLDexter

KLDexter

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Jan 9, 2018
Messages
12
Purraise
21
Location
Minneapolis, MN
Animal Freak said:
She's a beautiful cat. It's best to get her on a schedule and stick with it though. Sometimes it's hard to ignore them, but giving in to what they want teaches them that they can get away with it. If she's hyper around bedtime then that should be a time to play with her. With my cats, I play with them right before they have dinner. Getting a meal after play completes the hunting process: hunt, catch, kill, eat. Then she should be ready to sleep shortly after that.

If she's food motivated, then you might want to try treat dispensers/puzzles. Some cats need more stimulation than others. Treat dispensers are simple, but they make the cat work for their meal. You can make them too. Take a water bottle and cut some holes it in just big enough for treats to fit through. My cats are too lazy and two of them aren't as food motivated so I can't recommend any puzzles, but there's plenty to try.

Some people make a yowling/pained sound when their cat bites them. I haven't had to try it myself, but it could be worth it if it stops her from biting. Otherwise giving a firm "no" and ignore her when she does so. It's best to stay calm and don't yell at her. Cats don't take to negative reinforcement very well so punishing them doesn't usually work.

I wish I could be of more help, but I'm sure others will come along with advice too.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the suggestions!

We play with her for about 45 minutes (mostly fetch [I swear she's part dog] and with wands) before she eats dinner (which is right around our bed time). We feed her (we hide her food so she has to hunt for it) and then get into bed. After she finds the food and finishes eating she runs into the bedroom ready to play some more and has taken to biting our hands, arms, or even faces to try to get us to play with her. I wake up VERY early for work so I am not able to always stay up and keep playing with her, unfortunately. Maybe she'll grow out of this as she gets older and it's more of her just being a 7 month old kitten.

We have tried 1 food puzzle that was similar to the bottle one you're describing which she figured out very quickly (within 10-15 seconds) so I think we might need to try to find a harder one for her. So if anyone has any puzzle suggestions, I'm all ears! :)

I also read about making a pained sound but she doesn't really care. The most effective response so far has been walking away from her and not acknowledging her for a period of time but sometimes that doesn't seem to even bother her and she'll just follow me biting my feet or wait at the door for me to come back out of the bedroom so she can bite my feet or legs.

We try to got out and leave her to her own devices several times a week but it seems like she just mostly sleeps while we're gone instead of playing with her toys.
 
A

ArchyCat

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Nov 22, 2017
Messages
1,202
Purraise
1,801
Location
Texas
Have you tried hissing at her? That's what a mom cat or other cat would react to such bites.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top