How can we keep our adult cat from biting during play?
Friday May 9, 2008
From the FAQ archives. Franny answers this question and offers behavioral modification tips.
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We have adopted a 15 month old Maine Coon Cat who with lots of patience has developed a loving personality. But we still cannot stop her from biting us when we try to play with her. My wife in particular seems to get the brunt of it each time. Is there a way which we can show her that her "staff" do not appreciate this behaviour and we would appreciate it if she stopped this bad habit?
Related Reading:
Does Your Cat Bite and Scratch?
Photo credit: A well-behaved Jaspurr © Franny Syufy
- Posted by Janet Tobiassen DVM, Guide to Veterinary Medicine
Comments
If your cat keeps biting, perhaps you could have its teeth shaved down. You can do it with dogs so I would assume (?) you could do it with our feline friends. I had my dogs canine teeth shaved down and despite the high dollar amount, the pay off was tremendous. Soiler no longer bites and when he does, it’s ineffective at best. It altered his behavior too. He’s not as aggressive as he used to be and he gets along fine with my two cats.
Just an idea.
That must be a ritual you practice in your country Sayid. We dont shave our animals teeth down in THIS country…the land of the free. How does your cat even eat now???
My cat Snuffles used to bite but my husband, Billy, and I would explained to him that biting is bad. After a few stern talkings to, Snuffles seemed to have gotten the clue.
i never heard about teeth shaving down oh well what else we can do to our animals? declawing, may in the future remove teeth, that is terrible.
My siamese mix likes to bite too when he plays or even in the morning if i do not get up at HIS time, he “bites” my face and also get in my nose hole with his claws and is scratching a little.
But i do not have any marks from that or bleeding, so of course i do not like it, but i never would remove his claws or shaving his teeth.
franny has good tips i try few of those and if they do not help, i just have to get up when the alarm clock ring the first time, feed him and not push few times the snooze botton, smile
Hi
this is a learned behavior and the only way to change is to get your cat to learn another behavior.
When playing with your cat never use your hands only ever use a toy. If they go for your hands, don’t make a sound, don’t react. simply get up and move away silently. If you do this everytime your cat will realise that the game is over when they bite and will change this behavior realising that the game goes on longer when they play nicely.
Teeth shaving in canines is fairly common in the US. The vet only shaves the larger canine teeth so that they are even with the rest of the teeth.
My cat bit me one time while we were playing. I picked her up by the scruff of her neck and told her “NO!” I did that one time and it never happened again. I think each cat is different and will respond differently to each method of correction.