Getting my kitten to stop biting

DeVryGuy · April 2007

I'm having some trouble weening my 6 Month Old kitten off of play biting (which really hurts quite often). How can I teach him that biting his toys is fine but biting me is not okay?

Also: kitty pictures

Knifa · April 2007

Cute kitten

Perhaps using a spray bottle would help? Spray him a little bit when he bites you and it should stop him from doing it.

DeVryGuy · April 2007

I probably should have mentioned what I have been trying.

Spray Bottle therapy deters him from biting at the moment (meaning he'll run the hell away for a little while), but over the last four months have not really shown a decrease over all. Loud noises seem largely ineffectual (somtimes he'll run off. Sometimes he'll just keep on play biting)

Omnicron9999 · April 2007

Cute little bugger.

My aunt had a cat that liked to do the same thing. It usually comes from us humans playing with it in a manner that it thinks our hands are tasty eats (or that is is OK to eat us).u

The way she fixed it: Any time her kitten started to bite her fingers, she stuck it down the cats throat a bit. Not in a way that was cruel or anything... Simply to make it unpleasant for the cat. The cat doesn't puke mind you.

If you want another method, you could put hot sauce, or lemon juice, or something unpleasant to cats on your fingers. Negative association, should make the cat not want to put its mouth anywhere near your hands.

Heir · April 2007

This is what worked with my cats:

As long as they played nice I would praise them and give them treats.

But, the moment one of them bit or clawed too hard, I would yell very loudly, "OW!" (VERY LOUD), and then immediately walk away from them and ignore them for a few minutes.

I would go back afterwards and play again. If they got carried away and bit again, I would do the same thing.

Only took a day for them to get the hint.

Octoparrot · April 2007

He's still going to be a kitten for probably another 3 months, and play fighting and biting you is going to a big Need for him, since toys don't deliver the interactivity he needs. But if you want him to stop biting I'd second the "push your finger onto the back of his tongue" technique. Hot sauces, lemons, or those unpleasant chemical Fooey products usually end up in your mouth through some chain of events, and possibly like my newest cat, he might enjoy them and attack/chew more.

And has he chewed through any of those computer cords yet?

Aurin · April 2007

Normally anytime my cat tries to bite me, I just push on his lower jaw a bit. It's holding his tongue down and he doesn't like that much, so he doesn't bite my hands. Saying 'OW!' really loud seemed to have more of an effect on my other cat, so he doesn't bite either.

Cute kitty too.

rayofash · April 2007

Everytime she does it, blow in her face. Kittens hate it but it doesn't hurt them. She'll learn. If it doesn't seem to be working, blow in their face and then stop playing with them and ignore them for a few minutes, they hate that even more.

Loud noises also work. I hiss at my cats, which actually works a lot better than it sounds.

I have 10 cats by the way.

Axim · April 2007

if worst comes to worst there is always the isolation tank

Dog · April 2007

You know, I was just searching the web for the same exact thing about 2 weeks ago. My kitty loves to bite my arms and feet (especially when its time for me to go to bed), and I ended up doing a combination of the spray bottle and the loud OW/NO.

Though that works most of the time, he still tends to go back into strike mode and make another leap at my precious fingers a few minutes later. I'll have to try the throat thing.

(@ 8 months)

n1t0 · April 2007

You could try scruffing the bastard. momma cats do it.

rayofash · April 2007

Axim wrote: »

if worst comes to worst there is always the isolation tank
[IM G]http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a251/lol4chan/CatWasher.gif[/IMG]

B&!

That guy should be shot.

Fellhand · April 2007

Spray water bottle and make sure you scream out "NO" everytime he does it. He'll associate the noise and the spray with his behavior after a while.

rayofash · April 2007

Fellhand wrote: »

Spray water bottle and make sure you scream out "NO" everytime he does it. He'll associate the noise and the spray with his behavior after a while.

The problem with this is he could become afraid of you.

Raggaholic · April 2007

I've had a friend who's kitten would do this and this is what she said worked for her. Everytime her kitten would do this, she would hiss at it and then "sit" on it. She wouldn't sit on it like she would a chair, but she'd put pressure on it pinning it in place so it couldn't go anywhere or do anything. She said that adult cats also do this to kittens to show them who's boss.

Take it for what you will.

mcdermott · April 2007

rayofash wrote: »

Fellhand wrote: »

Spray water bottle and make sure you scream out "NO" everytime he does it. He'll associate the noise and the spray with his behavior after a while.

The problem with this is he could become afraid of you.

With our kitten/cat, we just yelped when she bit. It's how other cats convey the message that "hey, that hurts." It worked fine, and she rare does it anymore, even when we're playing with her vigorously. And when she does, we just yelp again and she instantly stops.

rayofash · April 2007

Raggaholic wrote: »

I've had a friend who's kitten would do this and this is what she said worked for her. Everytime her kitten would do this, she would hiss at it and then "sit" on it. She wouldn't sit on it like she would a chair, but she'd put pressure on it pinning it in place so it couldn't go anywhere or do anything. She said that adult cats also do this to kittens to show them who's boss.

Take it for what you will.

This works too.

Medopine · April 2007

The uber simple but maybe not what you're looking for solution - stop playing with the cat with your hands. I have a sort of feathery-thing-on-a-stick thing I use to play with my cat, and it keeps my hands far away while he gets to play his little heart out.

My cat used to be a biter as well but he did grow out of it after about a year. In the meantime, all the solutions posted in this thread are good. Don't forget to praise for good behavior.

Cimmerii · April 2007

Try giving her a light tap on the nose with two fingers when she bites too hard- The equivalent of another cat swatting her is what your looking for, It's just a cat form of "don't do that!" and has worked well with various kittys I've lived with. Reinforcing with "ow!" will help too.

BahamutZERO · April 2007

rayofash wrote: »

Everytime she does it, blow in her face. Kittens hate it but it doesn't hurt them. She'll learn. If it doesn't seem to be working, blow in their face and then stop playing with them and ignore them for a few minutes, they hate that even more.

Loud noises also work. I hiss at my cats, which actually works a lot better than it sounds.

I have 10 cats by the way.

Blowing on their faces is a very effective way of doing it. My friend recently got 3 kittens and trained them this way, even Hermes "Bitey McBiteyourhand". Now when he makes a blowing noise they stop whatever it is they are doing and look very guilty. Works for teaching them not to climb on the table and such as well.

Penny Arcade

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