Sometimes it happens that a small kitten or a full-grown cat starts biting. Many owners get lost in the moment, not knowing what to do or how to proceed. There are many reasons why a cat bites. It is important to understand what exactly made the cat do it.
Cats can start to bite when their teeth are erupting. Then their gums itch and they want to chew on something. The owner’s hand is a perfectly good option. In this situation, you should try not to hit the cat in any way, otherwise it may become a habit – it will think you are playing with it.
If the cat does not bite your hand, but gnaws on everything around it – furniture, shoes, even the TV remote control – this is the first sign of feline avitaminosis. You need to balance his diet, give him a vitamin complex. To wean your cat off this unhealthy habit, you can give things an unpleasant smell, for example by anointing them with star balm. If that doesn’t work, you can buy special collagen toys made in the shape of bones or pigs’ ears.
When an adult cat bites its owner, this is already a cause for concern. This is not normal behaviour and it is important to find out why the cat is behaving this way. It could be that you are not paying enough attention to the cat, you are not playing with it, you rarely pet it. In this case, the bite on the hand probably means that the cat is inviting you to play and pay attention.
A cat may also bite because it has unpleasant associations with being petted. For example, you had to take your cat to the vet for a vaccination. What does the specialist do? First, he tries to calm the animal down by stroking it, digging behind its ear, and then, unexpectedly for the animal, he grabs it and causes pain. Cats have long memories, especially of stress. As a result, every time you stroke a cat, it sees it as a danger. And if at first the urge to cuddle overwhelms, then the animal remembers the shock and bites your hand.
Weaning the cat from biting in this wayYou can go, but it will take a lot of time. You need to let the cat calm down, be as patient as possible and be very gentle with your pet. You will also need to use sedatives to de-stress the cat.
A cat may also bite its owner who is stroking its fur out of instinct. Some animals have more instinct, others less. This is linked to childhood, when small kittens are brought up by their mother cat. She often licks them, flattening their fur. Some get tired of this and resist their mother by biting her. This is also the case with the owner. When a cat gets fed up with being petted, it bites its owner’s hand, taking it as mother-speak.
In this case, the cat can and should be weaned. Every time the cat bites your hand, you should say in a stern tone “No!”. Cats remember intonations, so try not to sniff.
An emergency remedy for bites is to massage the gums. No cat likes to be stared at, so it won’t bother you for a while.