Cats bite people for various reasons.
Sometimes it is on purpose, perhaps due to fear, and sometimes
the cat didn't intend to inflict harm, but was just playing
too roughly. Or, a person doesn't stop petting or
holding a cat who doesn't want any more handling.
The two most common
reasons tame pet cats bite are due to:
Early Training Matters to
Prevent Biting Kittens, or Why Kittens Should Stay with Their
Mothers for 12 Weeks
When kittens are kept long enough
with their mothers and littermates, they learn that biting and
scratching for real hurts. They learn to keep their claws in
and to not bite for real when playing. Mother cats
discipline kittens who get too rough when they play with
her. First she might hiss. Then she will finally
sit on a kitten who bit her in play and won't stop from
getting hissed at, gently holding him down by the neck with
her mouth, so he can't wiggle out from under her, giving the
cat version of "time out". A littermate who got bit will
squeal out, startling the one who did the biting, helping to
modify the behavior.
Kittens should be kept with their
mothers and littermates for 12 weeks, so they have time to
really learn to not play too roughly. They can only
start learning "kitty manners" at 6 weeks of age, and it takes
a few weeks for them to fully internalize the lessons to where
they become the normal way to play without thinking about
it.
Most of the kittens and cats
reported to be biting and scratching people in overly rough
play are those kittens and cats who were taken from their
mothers and littermates too soon. If for some reason the
mother needs to be separated from the kittens, the kittens
still should remain with each other, or at least in pairs, for
12 weeks at least. A single young kitten should be
paired with another young kitten to play with and learn about
not being too rough while still young. Kittens should
really be adopted in pairs.
If you have an only kitten, read
on to learn ways to prevent play aggression biting from
occurring.
Too late now, the kitten/cat is
biting!
If one has a cat or kitten that is biting, see the articles
below for help.
One of the most common situations people tell,
complain, or ask about is with tame pet kittens or cats
grabbing a hand or maybe a leg, and then biting them. In
this situation, the kitten is almost always not attacking with
the intent to hurt or repel the person, but is really just
playing. This is called "play aggression".
Kitten and cat play is replicating hunting
behaviors, which are instinctive. The kitten, or sometimes
adult cat, will lay low, watch and wait for the "prey" to come
by, then pounce and grab onto the "prey" with claws and the
teeth to hold down and effectively "catch the prey". Or,
a person may go to pet a kitten, and the kitten suddenly grabs
onto the hand with claws and sinks the teeth in. In
these scenarios, people sometimes feel that the kitten or cat
is "attacking" them for no reason and is an "aggressive
cat". That is not really the case, though. In a
way that is what the kitten did, and it was an aggressive type
act, but it was not an "official" attack, or real
aggression. Rather, it was just play that was too
rough.
A hand moving towards the kitten seems like a
bird to be caught to the playful kitten mind. A person's
foot can be a mouse to be pounced on and caught. Even if
the kittens never saw a bird or mouse, their instinct is to
chase and catch small moving objects. Kittens use each
other as pretend prey too. When there aren't things in
the environment for kittens to pounce and catch, they make do
with what they can find that seems fun to catch, which is
often people's hands and feet. Moving things are
intriguing to cats and also stir up the hunting
instinct. So even if the cat has toys, something moving
independent of the cat making it move is always of greater
interest.
Cats Need Toys, But Not Your Hand
Never play with cats or kittens with
your hands, and don't allow anyone else to either. The kitten
will not be able to understand why sometimes it is ok, but not
other times. If hands are used to play with kittens,
they have been trained to attack hands. Also, kittens
and cats will just simply get overly stirred up and react like
they would when catching real prey, which involves digging in
the claws and grabbing with the teeth. It might seem
cute and harmless in a tiny kitten with little baby teeth and
small softer claws, but it will really hurt when that kitten
does it as a full grown cat.
Before any type of discipline or correction is
tried (which NEVER includes hitting and certainly not biting
the kitten or cat in return), the kittens or cats must first have toys to play with. Little fake mice,
small soft balls they can bite into, crumpled paper, etc. are
all "staples" kittens and cats should have available.
But, some kittens and cats might need to be shown how to play
with the toys. Demonstrate how to hit the toys to make
them move. Toss them a few inches in the air then
"catch" them when they hit the ground, to show the cats things
they might do with the toys. A stuffed mouse just
sitting still on the floor is not much fun for a cat who
doesn't know much about playing with toys.
Also be sure to provide some toys that
make motion easily to be more like prey moving on it's
own. A great toy is the Turbo Scratcher, a ball on a track the cat
can bat around. It doesn't take much effort for a cat to
make the ball go whizzing around, which the cat can then
chase. Older kittens and young adult cats especially
love it. A cat can get quite a workout with the Turbo
Scratcher! A variation on that is the The
Incredible Motor Mouse Cat Toy, which is a toy mouse on an enclosed track with cut
outs for the cat to stick a paw in to catch the mouse. It
comes in a small size with no battery powered option called Cat -N-Mouse. It is best not to put the
battery in the large Motor Mouse, as then the mouse goes
around too quickly and only in one direction, and can never
get caught, so is then not much fun for a cat. But
without the battery, the Motor Mouse is a great toy used a lot by older kittens and young cats. See right side
panel for images of these toys.
The kitten/cat has toys, no one uses
their hands to play, but the cat still bites!
and find out what to do to get the cat to stop biting from
play aggression.
Biting from Over stimulation
When you are holding a cat or kitten and he
becomes squirmy, put him down! If you don't he may
nip or scratch you to let you know she has had enough.
Cats and kittens become over stimulated from petting after
just so long. Some cats can't take more than a few
seconds. Even if the cat is not being held, but is
happily accepting some pets while lounging on the bed or floor
and purring no less, at some point, it will be too much for
the cat. Some cats go from purring bliss to swiping,
biting, "Stop NOW!" messages in a second. This may seem
strange, but think of it like humans being tickled. A few
seconds feels pleasant; longer than that becomes almost
painful and torturous.
Other times, the cat gets over stimulated into
rough play fighting, where the cat will quickly roll on it's
back and latch onto your hand, bunny kicking with the back
legs. This is not the cat "hating" you and trying to hurt
you. It's a just a cat you over stimulated into rough
play fight mode, doing what kittens naturally do to each other
in play.
All cats do, however, give some body signal
prior to striking out. Learn to read cat body
language. Ears going back and flat, even if just a
little, mean "I'm irritated". Tails swishing back
and forth also signals agitation or annoyance. The
faster the twitching of the tail, the more agitated the cat is
becoming. The body stiffening indicates the cat is no
longer relaxed. Of course, a cat crying and squirming to
get loose from you is obviously letting you know to
stop. Respect these communications and leave the cat
alone before the cat feels the need to bite or scratch.
Kittens don't like to be held much, not when
they are full of energy and there is so much playing to get
done in a day! So if you don't put down a struggling
kitten, the kitten may nip you. A kitten who would rather spend
a lot of time getting held and petted than off playing and
running around may be a sick kitten. The exception would be
when the cat is getting sleepy after a hard day's play.
Holding the cat longer, or forcing more physical
attention on the cat is not going to make the cat like it
more, but will in fact make the cat try to avoid you when ever
it can. It is nothing personal against you when the cat has
simply reached the limits of all the physical stimulation it
can stand at one time.
It is also possible that a cat has a painful
area on a part of the body and when you touch it, it hurts the
cat causing the cat to react with a bite or scratching. If it
seems that the cat is getting upset about a particular spot,
take the cat to the vet. Cats can get hurt falling from items
in the home, having missed a jump, or the cat may have pain
internally from an infection or other problem in the body.
Play Biting
Littermates teach each other that biting for
real hurts. Their baby teeth can't inflict the damage
adult cat teeth can, so one wants little kittens to learn the
lesson as little kittens.
A "must have" toy!
This is one of the best toys ever for cats and older kittens
to help work off energy and provide fun. The corrugated cardboard center can
be used as a scratching mat.
These cubes are
great for young, active cats! There are streamers inside
to be played with. You can have interactive play with your cat
by dangling something, such as an old sock, by one of the
openings for the cat inside to catch and pull in. Some cats
will even play with the cube itself and roll themselves around
the room, like Seamus does!
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