4 Tips To Prevent Your Cat From Biting You
Biting and scratching is part of the game for cats. However, this doesn’t mean you can’t prevent your cat from biting you – these pets can adapt their play through learning, like any mammal species.
Often this behavior, aggressive or not, gives cats a reputation for being grumpy or unpleasant. In this article, we will analyze this behavior in felines, to better understand it and give you some tips to avoid it.
Why is your cat biting you?
Biting, for cats, has several uses: hunting, carrying objects, defending themselves, eating, playing and a long one and so on. However, when the bites are repetitive and focus on the human being the animal lives with, they require analysis to correct this behavior. Why does a cat bite its human being? There are many reasons:
- Play: Cats play hunt and hands or feet are often good candidates for fictitious prey to practice with.
- Organic causes: An atypical increase in aggression and biting can be indicative of pain or illness in the feline. Diseases must be ruled out before a causal diagnosis of this behavior is made.
- Fear and / or Stress: A cat that is in a constant state of fear, anxiety, or stress will be a cat that scratches and bites even following gestures that it should recognize as harmless.
- Traumatic experiences: Abused or picked up cats on the street, for example, are prone to develop aggression. Poor socialization of the puppy also leads to these types of behaviors.
As you can see, none of these causes reflect the feline’s personality. While it is true that some cats are more aloof than others, respect for their space will never be a reason for biting or aggression.
4 tips to prevent your cat from biting you
As with any truly effective method of modifying an animal’s behavior, punishment is not an option. There are many things you can do to prevent your cat from biting you without resorting to anger or violence. Here are 4.
1. The benefits of a toy
A toy allows you to shift your cat’s attention to something other than you. This, in turn, is very helpful in keeping the cat’s nervousness levels within healthy limits.
By using fishing rod-like gadgets, which allow you to hunt for something that isn’t you, you encourage your cat to play with you without you being the toy.
2. Avoid reinforcing negative behavior
If your cat has gotten into the habit of biting you when you play with him, it is important that you let him know that your hands are not a toy or prey. To set this limit, it is usually enough to stop the game when it bites you. There is no need to scold or say anything, as you just need to be consistent with this guideline.
3. Prevent the cat from biting: the importance of the environment
If the feline has developed this behavior as a result of a sudden change in his routine, it is possible that the environment contains some stress factor that disturbs him. It is necessary to identify what it is and eliminate it, with the aim of creating an environment that promotes calm during the game.
4. Prevent the cat from biting: a question of socialization
When you adopt a kitten, they are very likely to spend their socialization period with you. If he lives with other cats, they will teach him how correct it is to bite in the game, but if you are only human and feline, you need to educate him.
It is important that you do not use your hands or feet to play with him and that you are consistent in correcting bad behavior. During this time, your feline’s behavior will be much more modelable, so you shouldn’t have much trouble getting to know and understand him.
One last tip to prevent your cat from biting you
It may happen that even respecting their space, filling their life with enrichment and using behavior modification techniques, the problem is not solved. Don’t despair – sometimes you need a professional’s help and that’s not a bad thing.
Both going to the vet to rule out diseases and seeing an ethologist are options that help at the beginning of the process or when you no longer know what else to do. Mastering communication with your cat is the key to a happy life for both of you and these professionals can help you achieve this.
