Tips to teach a cat not to bite

Cats are a bunch of virtues. They are very intelligent animals, and, generally, very affectionate. However, they may exhibit unpleasant behaviors, such as bites and scratches with which certain kittens give us while we are playing with them.

Although many cat owners tolerate these affectionate bites, do not forget that this behavior can lead to uncomfortable situations with the visits, especially if there are children involved. Therefore, in this article, we give you some tips to teach a cat not to bite.

Why do some cats bite?

In this article we will focus on the bites provided during the game, which are a product of the excitement experienced by cats at this time. This phenomenon is also known as aggressiveness by game.

Anyway, cats can exhibit aggressive behaviors against people who include bites by other motives. We will briefly review those situations below, to help you distinguish aggression by play from other behavior problems. Discover below why cats bite their masters:

• Organic causes: there are diseases that can trigger aggressive behavior in cats, such as the feline immunodeficiency virus or hyperthyroidism, for example. It is advised to visit a veterinarian to rule out processes of this type before you begin to treat this behavior as a behavioral problem.
• FearSometimes cats can react aggressively when they feel threatened. In these cases, the cats tend to adopt a clearly defensive posture, standing on their side, arching the back and ruffling the hair. Fear can develop during the stage of socialization of the cachorro cat, but they can also acquire fears in their adult stage, due to traumatic experiences, for example.
• Aggressiveness per game: it is the one we will talk about in this article, and it differs clearly from the previous cases because it happens while the cat is playing with us, or when it tries to incite us to play, and it does not show any other sign of aggression. It usually occurs in cats that, for the rest, are not aggressive or fearful, and do not react violently in those situations.
• Other causes of aggressiveness: the premature adoption of the cat, the lack of attention by the owners or education can also be responsible for feline aggressiveness, without forgetting the character of each individual.

Teach him from puppy

As in most behavior problems, they are obtained better results If the problem is corrected early, when the cat is a puppy. Knowing how to educate a small cat is not always easy and requires time and a lot of patience.

As children, cats are still more playful than in adulthood, and it’s also fun to play with them. On the other hand, at this stage, their bites and scratches are less painful than those of adult cats.

In any case, even if we enjoy the game and it does not hurt us, we should be aware that if we do not correct the problem now it will be more complicated to fix, so it is advised cut the game when the kitten bites or scratches us, using one of the methods described below, and never reward or reinforce this behavior.

How to prevent my cat from biting me?

There many ways of cutting this behavior, however, some are more effective and indicated than another. If you want to know how to teach an adult cat not to bite or what to do if your cat 2 months bites a lot, keep reading:

The best technique, as often happens, is the simplest: stop playing with him when he bites or scratches us. For this it is enough to hide your hands, for example in your pockets, and ignore them. For a playful cat, ending the game is a severe enough punishment, and usually nothing else is necessary.

Rewarding is also very simple and positive: for this we must play with the cat and pay attention when it is relaxed, not biting. Through the voice, caresses or a tasty treat we can reinforce calm play behaviors and positive, something that helps them remember better. Through positive reinforcement, the cat is more likely to understand and repeat a behavior.

Many people, in addition, wonder how to nag To a cat when biting, however, physical punishment is highly discouraged, as, in addition to being unpleasant, they are not effective and can be very harmful, aggravate behavior.

Taking a cat by the skin of the neck, as mothers do with their puppies, is a good way to make a cat relax. They even sell special tweezers, which do not damage the animal’s skin, which are used for this purpose. However, if your cat is not used to this type of exercise or is already an adult, we do not advise you to apply this method.

There are those who advise emit a sharp scream or blow a whistle when the cat performs this behavior, on the basis that it is a measure that resembles those adopted by the mother when her kitties bite her, which is none other than giving a shout. Although in principle it is not contraindicated, if these techniques are used they must be done with care and without abusing them, since they could increase the stress, excitement and nervousness of the animal.

It is enough to give a whistle or a cry of pain just at the moment the cat bites, without beginning to scream or to blow the whistle incessantly, putting the nerves to the cat, and, incidentally, the neighbors.

Play calmly

Does your cat bite you playing? Does it bite you too hard? Convert a nervous and aggressive game into another relaxed and less harmful It is the objective that must be pursued. It is important to understand that it can take time to teach and that the cat understands correctly.

For this, it is advisable, first of all, do not neglect the entertainment of the pussycat, and if time permits, it is highly recommended to spend some time every day playing with the animal, between ten and twenty minutes.

It may be interesting to use toys type “fishing rod” or similar to avoid hurting us directly, also, in this way we can reinforce him whenever we want. It is also convenient to provide the animal with toys that are suitable to improve their well-being, such as kong or intelligence toys.

Finally, as extra tricks, we can make sure to improve the environmental enrichment of the home and even make use of synthetic pheromones.

If you want to read more articles similar to Tips to teach a cat not to bite, we recommend that you enter in our behavior problems section.