Do you want to correct the biting habit of your cat? While learning to stop kittens from biting, be patient with her. The cat is biting for a reason. Try to understand the reason and handle her carefully. There are wrong ways and right ways to stop kittens from biting.
You must ignore her if she is angry and frustrated. Don’t shout at her. Balance your behavior with her as you might handle your kid. For me, I take care of my Kitty just like my baby, the most important member of my family.
How to Stop Your Cat From Biting
Tips to Stop Kittens From Biting
1. React calmly to your cat
Never shout or hit your cat. Losing your temper with your cat will terrify her and she will become nervous and confused.
- Treat your furry feline nicely.
- Never punish your cat. This causes suffering without discovering the actual reason.
- She always expects a pleasant response from you.
2. Separate yourself from the cat when she bites you.
Don’t touch the cat and hold your hands away.
- Stand up slowly and remove her from your lap.
- Let her calm down.
- Don’t start cuddling or petting her as she can get confused.
When my cat used to bite and scratch, I walked away from her. In this way, a clear message goes to her that I did not like it.
3. Give your cat some space to walk away
Give her some space so that she can calm down.
- If you do not give her the space to walk away, she may attack you. And why is that? She is thinking that you are trapping her.
- Don’t feed your cat till twenty minutes after her biting and scratching incident. She may take it as an award.
- Show her silently that you are not happy with her.
4. Encourage your cat to change her behavior
- It is the nature of the cat to always react positively to positive enforcement. Therefore, you must reward her appropriate behavior.
- Ignore and withdraw yourself from her negative behavior.
- Give her a catnip mouse to bite. Appreciate her for biting the toy.
- In this way, she can differentiate between right and wrong practice.
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5. Take the help of gestures and body movements
- If the cat is biting or scratching you, say “no” in an authoritative tone.
- Point a finger at your cat with a fierce look. She will understand that you are angry with her.
- Don’t talk or look at her for 10 minutes.
- If your cat is dominant or aggressive use the clapping method to control her. If she bites, then clap loud and say “no.”
- She will start recognizing these actions.
6. Ignore the cat.
- Walk away when your cat starts biting or scratching you.
- Repeat this whenever she bites you.
- Ignore her for 5-10 minutes.
- In this way, she will get used to it and will learn.
- This method is best for all kinds of cat and kittens.
- This is the best way to discipline your cat.
7. Preventing biting and scratching
Teach your cat her limits when she plays with you.
- If she nips you during playing, pull your hand away.
- Stand up and walk away.
- Your cat will soon learn that this is her limit and you do not like it.
- I taught my cat in the same manner and have done it consistently so now she knows that biting is wrong.
- Pull your cat away gently if she is giving you love bites and you don’t like them. Pulling the cat gently away will make her uncomfortable.
8. Give cats toys to play with
While playing with the cat, it can happen that she might bite you.
- It’s always a good idea to provide toys, like a catnip mouse, fishing toys, or a laser light pointer.
- Cats bite, chew or scratch for fun and not to harm you.
- Avoid their biting on your hands by using a fishing pole toy.
9. Provide plenty of time to play and also neuter her
- Set aside a 5-10 minutes sessions to play with your cat.
- Play with her until she gets tired.
- Running will stimulate her mentally and help her be physically fit.
- A tired cat will not attack you.
- My neutered cat is more sociable and home loving.
10. Recognize pre-striking signs of aggression
- Dilated pupils, ceasing to purr and skin rippling show that your cat is angry.
- If she growls, whines or hiss then take care.
- Large pupils of the cat while playing in your lap can be a little bit dangerous.
- Look out for all these signs in your cat and take precautions.
11. You must understand the reason for biting and scratching
- Was your cat was raised by humans or orphaned?
- Hand–reared kittens are not familiar with litter life.
- These cats are grown aggressively.
- Young kittens separated from their mother early don’t learn how to avoid nipping.
- Young cats bite to explore their environment, which is quite normal.
12. Figure out if your cat is stressed or anxious
- The stressed cat will lash out.
- Your cat can become stressed by the change in environment or new people.
- If the environment of the house is noisy, she can become stressed.
- When my cat is stressed, I take the special care of her emotional needs.
- Turn down the noisy TV; maintain a calm atmosphere in the house.
- Don’t cry or shout in front of the cat.
- Differentiate between your cat being over playful or aggressive
13. I take special care of my cat if she is sick or in pain.
- A sick cat can become defensive and can attack.
- Keep her away from harmful foods for cats.
- If the cat is suffering from loss of weight, vomiting and thirsty take her to vet.
- Short tempered, yowling and biting cat are the reasons to worry about her health.
- When she recovers from her illness, she will not bite.
I have taken all these precautions to correct the bad habit of biting in my cat. I recommend you follow all these steps. If you are not getting results, consult a vet.
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Guest post by Linda Butts
I’m Linda Butts, the founder of Pawsometalk.com. It’s a great honor for me to be here and have a chance to share my experience of raising cute kittens. I hope you guys like this article and if you think it’s useful, let’s share it with your friends!
My problem is when my kitten bites, he latches on and won’t let go. He doesnt break the skin too badly, but he bites down with the force of a darn pitbull. I’ve tried scruffing him and he doesn’t relax his grip. I had to resort to flicking him in the nose to get him to let go. ? I’m not proud of that, but I couldn’t get him to release his grip. He’s only 11 weeks old and I’m afraid that this is going to instill bad behaviors when he’s older. People have suggested squirting him with water, but I don’t want him to associate water with fear and punishment because he does have to be bathed due to inadequate grooming habits.
He unfortunately did fall ill at 9 weeks old where he was vomiting, refused to eat or drink anything, and developed horrendous diarrhea. We took him to the vet and the first two visits were fine as far as the thermometer goes, but the third visit is when we had a bit of a snafu. The vet had me hold him steady because she couldn’t. I held him best I could and he was squirming really badly. She slipped and the thermometer seemed to jab him in the rectum pretty badly as he yowled in pain. When this happened he bit down on my hand pretty hard, but didn’t break the skin. Since then, the biting has steadily gotten worse, and he hated being held. I’ve tried to encourage him with positive handling by handling him and giving him a great when I do, but hes still really unhappy about being held.
He’s VERY high energy, more so that any other kitten I’ve had, and I’ve had 14 previous kittens. We play with him constantly as does our female 7 year old cat. He never seems to get tired. I know most kittens sleep about 18-20 hours a day, he seems to sleep maybe 8 of we’re lucky. He’s also started eating like a horse. Due to his illness he was pretty well under weight. When we adopted him at 8 weeks old, he was 2 lbs 2oz and by 9.5 weeks he was 1lbs 12 oz. He’s since bulked up to a whopping 2 lbs 14oz, but he’s eating CONSTANTLY. The vet recommended feeding him baby food (chicken and gravy by Gerber which is just chicken, water and corn startch) to help with his not eatting previously. He ate 3, 2.5oz jars of it yesterday and about 1/3 cup dry food. The concern is that he’s putting on weight, but he still feels really bony. His spine, ribs and hip bones are very easily felt. I’m just concerned that I’m doing something wrong with him.
I hope he continues to eat well and gains weight as he should. My first thought for biting would be squirting with water since nothing else has seemed to work. If you keep a squirt bottle on hand and spray one squirt when he bites. This stream is unpleasant and a bit of a shock, though not painful. I don’t think it’d have too much of a similarity to bathing if, when you bath him, there is warm water and you gently and slowly get him wet. It’s a much different feeling. I know many are against the squirt bottle, but when all else fails, I don’t see it as harmful if not abused (which goes for a great many things). Some would suggest a jar of coins or something to rattle. This could also startle him off, but personally, I find this much more scary than one quick squirt. Hope you find what works and that he grows a bit calmer and more secure in being held for you. What patience you have! Good thing he has you to work with him, sadly, many would not take the time or discomfort to help him.
Fantastic post! With Bear … I’ve learned two things. He swats and bites when he’s bored. And when he’s in attack mode, I grab the nearest toy to distract him long enough to put some distance between us.
ps – Missed you at BlogPaws, Leah 🙁
I was so sad not to go. Have my ticket ready for next year. I watch the tail start o twitch and I know to get a toy or it’ll be me shredded to bits in a second!
These are great tips! I have always been gentle… and when I get a little crazy, my human has always been good about quietly discouraging my behavior.
You do have the best kitty mama, so you’I know you’re in good hands.
Chuck will give a little nibble when he’s had enough play or petting; I wouldn’t call it biting. Patty O’Malley, one of my friendly ferals, will nip at me when he feels that I’m not paying 1,000% attention to him, but I give out a loud ‘Ouch!” or walk away. Great post!
Rascal will nip me if I don’t get out of bed to feed him after I’ve ignored his meowing for too long. And Rocco will bite when he’s had enough petting. I always watch his body language when I’m belling rubbing. He loves it until he’s suddenly done!!