static electricity and cat's reaction

[rogerniris]

It's winter now and it's very dry in our home despite that we have several humidifiers, and I always tend to get more static electricity shocks than others. When I pet my cats I always got bad shocks (especially when they're rolling on the ground/rubbing on my legs acting cute and calling for petting, but produce tons of static electricity!). The problem is one of our cats act towards me as if it was an attack. Most of time she will stop cuddling and look confused, like "I'm being cute, why punish me?", or walk away, occasionally she will attack back by biting me - she has this unfortunate habit of biting when overstimulated or stressed. But I don't mean to hurt her at all. How should I let her know that? I could pet her to calm her down, but that might cause more shocks. Or I could offer her other good stuff like playing (she doesn't like playing though) or food, but wouldn't it confuse her more - "why punish me suddenly out of no reason and reward me right after that"? I don't want her to associate "punishment" with being cute and being pet. So, how should I calm her down/let her know I don't mean to hurt her? In general, how should I pet/interact with my cats in this dry weather? Now I pet her much less in afraid of being shocked and our relationship being affected 

 

 

[moorspede]

Misting your cat gently with a very fine spray of water will reduce static electricity. A humidifier will also, as will passing a pair of old nylon pantyhose gently over the cat's coat. Oh and an ionizer will also work. .   

 

[Norachan]

Another thing that helps is using plenty of hand cream and body lotion. Make sure you moisturise your hands every time you wash them.

You can actually buy anti-static bangles over here. I've never tried them though, not sure how effective they are.

 

[basschick]

if it's chilly in your hands and several humidifiers aren't enough, i'd suggest better humidifiers - we have acoustic guitars, and they have to be kept humidified or they may crack, so i've learned that some humidifiers are MUCH better than others.  for now, if it's chilly, you can boil pots of water on the stove or run a hot shower for a while.

 

[rogerniris]

So many good ideas above! I'll try moist my hands/cats first