Play Biting

[cheddar]

I'm having trouble teaching Cheddar to stop the play biting on my hands and fingers. He doesn't bite hard at all but don't want to encourage that sort of behaviour on people. Advice, tips, suggestions?

 

[dalya]

Omg I just signed in to talk about the same problem! How old is your cat? Mine, Dolce, is 3 months. And he only started biting 3 weeks ago when he was 11 weeks old.he bites really hard! My hands are full of marks from his scratching and biting! He bit my lip yesterday and it swelled up! He bit my nose also once! I have no idea why he's so aggressive! I spoke to the vet about this on Friday. He said if he bites again I shouldn't fight back or hold his head. He said I should let him bite without fighting back. Then he'll stop on his own and will figure out that biting is useless. Then he'll stop biting in the future.

I don't know if this will help! I am trying it this week! But my hands really hurt me! If anyone knows some new ways to train him to stop please let us know!

Just so you guys know, I tried chewing toys. NOT WORKING!

Keep me posted please!

 

[stephenq]

Hi @Cheddar

what a great name and cute photo!

I'm assuming your cat is a kitten?

For dogs, play is mostly social. for cats its mostly predatory (playing is practice for killing the "mouse" so what you don't want to do is teach your cat that your hands are the mouse. Never play with your hands, always use a toy.  When she goes for your hands, toss a little toy (toy mouse) to distract her and when she goes for the toy reward her with a small treat she likes, then she gets to "eat" her prey.

Give her time outs if she nips you, and you can say "no" in a stern voice.

here are some good websites on the subject.

http://consciouscat.net/2012/02/23/play-aggression-in-cats-biting-the-hand-that-teases/

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/guide/cat-aggression-biting-rough-play

http://www.perfectpaws.com/cat_biting_and_cat_clawing.html#.U95g6UggZyU