Cat Training

Sometimes, your cat attacks your feet when you sit down for a rest. Or he may bite and scratch your feet as you walk around the house. Does your cat hate you? On the contrary, he is playing with you, and showing that he loves you. Nevertheless, all this biting and scratching can hurt, and is not fun for you.

There are several reasons why your cat will attack your feet and legs (besides the fact that he is short and can’t reach your face when he swipes those claws of his). First of all, when he stalks and pounces on your feet, he is just playing – enacting a hunting game. He is pretending that your feet are his prey, like a mouse or bird. He is just following his natural instincts. If you have ever seen a litter of kittens play with each other, you will understand. They tumble around, roughhousing. But there will also be one or two of them who will be stalking their playmates, bellies low to the ground, ready to jump and pounce on their target.

This leads to the second reason – kitty is just playing and wants the attention of his favorite human being – YOU! He has excess energy, and wants you to play with him. Although your little tiger is just doing all this to show you his affection, you want him to stop biting and clawing your feet and legs. After all, it hurts. But you also don’t want to punish him. After all, he is just doing this because he loves you.

The first thing you can do is to play with kitty regularly. You should do this two or three times everyday. Depending on how active your cat is, ten or twenty minutes of playtime in the morning and at night should keep him happy and satisfied. This will bleed off his excess energy and at the same time show him that he is Number One in your life. If he bites or scratches too hard, you may want to play with him using cat toys. A toy mouse which squeaks when your little tiger pounces on it will work well. Just drag the rubber mouse along the ground for him to chase.

Besides playing with him, brushing his fur, bathing him when necessary and trimming his claws are also important activities. All these cat grooming activities provide more opportunities to spend quality time with kitty. And there is a side benefit of trimming his claws – it hurts less when he scratches you.

Another thing you can do is to put a collar with a bell on your cat. This will help to give you a few moments warning when kitty pounces on you from ambush. At the very least, it will keep you from being surprised and tripping over him. If you carry a spray bottle of water, you can squirt him with a little bit of cold water just as he leaps on your feet. This won’t hurt him, but will surprise him and he won’t like it. You want to catch him in the act to discourage him, so do not spray him after he finishes pouncing on you. Remember: Only squirt him with water as he is pouncing on your feet!

Your cat attacks your feet because he is playing out his natural instincts as a hunter. He is also playing with you, just as he played with his litter mates as a small kitten. You can never really stop this behavior, but you can keep in under control. Regular scheduled playtimes, using cat toys instead of your hands and feet – these are just some of the ways you can use.

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Cat scratch disease is also known as cat scratch fever. This disease strikes people who are infected by the Bartonella henselae bacteria. In almost all cases, cat scratch disease occurs when the person was scratched or bitten by his cat. The cat itself does not catch cat scratch disease. It is just a carrier. Now, before you panic and send your cat to the pound, the National Center for Infectious Diseases (CDC) estimates that 40% of all cats carry this disease at some time in their lives. Considering how many cat owners exist in the world, clearly, this disease is not very infectious or dangerous.

But how do you know whether you were infected by cat scratch disease? The first thing you want to look at is the place your cat bit or scratched you. Is the wound infected? (Note: If you cannot find the wound, then you do not have cat scratch disease.) Then you want to check your lymph nodes. Are the nodes around your head, neck and upper limbs swollen? Do you also have fever, headache, fatigue, and a poor appetite? These are the typical cat scratch fever symptoms.

What can you do? The first step is always preventative. If you own a cat, or play with cats, you will definitely get bitten or scratched. What you should do every time you get scratched is simply to clean the wound with soap and running water. Then clean it with an antiseptic like peroxide and apply an antibiotic cream (neosporin works pretty well). Just applying these basic hygiene practise will prevent most cases of infection from cat bites or scratches, not just cat scratch disease.

What if you have already been infected – your wound is swollen and reddish, your lymph nodes are swollen and you have a fever? Then just go to your doctor. He will probably give you an antibiotic, and maybe drain the wound if necessary. You should also send your cats to the vet. Let him make sure they are not still carrying the bacteria. Otherwise they may infect you again, or infect other people.

In the long run, you need to train your cats not to bite or scratch too hard. Your cats need to learn how to show affection without drawing blood from you. And you need to learn not to provoke or over-excite your cats.

Provided that you are not the one who provoked the cat scratch, you can spray kitty with water every time it bites or scratches you. This means you will need to carry around a spray bottle with you at home. Spray kitty consistently when it bites you, and it will learn to stop biting you. Remember to spray when it bites – not 30 seconds later, or 1 minute later, or 5 minutes later. It will only learn if your response is immediate. Too many people spray only after the cat scratched or bit, then they complain that the technique does not work.

If your cat tends to bite or scratch you during playtime, then you need a different approach. Play with your cat normally. When he bites or scratches you, stop playing and ignore him. Too many people just continue playing – unfortunately, this teaches kitty that biting or scratching is good.

As you can see, cat scratch disease is not a big deal. As long as you practice basic hygiene, and train your cat not to bite or scratch too much, everything should be alright.

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Cat biting is the second most common cat behavioral problem after inappropriate cat peeing. Many cat owners just do not understand cat biting behavior, and fail to deal with it properly. Some owners get into a bad relationship with their cats, and end up putting them under. This is very sad. Do not let this happen to you and your cat.

The first question you want to ask yourself is: Does the biting draw blood, and when does it happen? If your cat bites you very often, and frequently draws blood, this is a behavior you want to stop. The best way is to carry a squeeze bottle of water with you. Anytime you are bitten, immediately spray a little bit of water at your cat’s face. You want to lightly shock kitty, not drench it. This sends a message to him that biting is not appropriate behavior. If you do this immediately and consistently, you will eventually break your cat of this problem behavior.

Sometimes, you are having fun with kitty, either petting him or playing with him, and he suddenly bites you. You want to take note of his body language – is he sending you a message to “STOP!”, or has he just switched to a different game? If he is telling you to stop, then you should stop. Maybe he has gotten bored, or just wants to do something else. You need to respect your cat – that is the only way to have a good relationship with him. On the other hand, if he has switched to a different game, then the ball is in your court. Do you want to play this new game, where he bites you? Or do you want to stop?

Now, you need to know the difference between your cat biting you and nipping you. One draws blood, the other does not. Cat bites which draw blood can be potentially dangerous, and is a behavioral problem you should stop. If kitty just nips you playfully, or gnaws on your knuckles or toes, he is just showing that he loves you. All of you new cat owners out there – this is NOT a problem. Repeat: this is not a problem.

Some cats just do not know how to control their strength. Sometimes, they were removed from their litter-mates or mother too early, and never learned that biting too hard is wrong. Other times, it is the fault of their owners. You may have unknowingly encouraged the cat biting problem. Either way, playtime can get pretty painful – unless you start using cat toys. A plushie or soft, stuffed toy is good. Let kitty play and wrestle with it instead of your fingers. You will both have fun without the pain. Another good toy is a little ball which bounces well. Or something which you can drag along the ground and let your cat chase after it.

Remember, do not over-react when your cat bites you. You need to be sensitive to your cat’s moods – is the biting a message, and when is it a behavior problem you need fix?

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Playing with kitty – that’s why we become cat owners, isn’t it? But what happens when play turns to pain, when kitty starts biting and scratching and drawing blood? Animal behaviorists call this play aggression, but who cares about the big words? What really matters is how you can get rid of it? First, you need to know what causes cats to become aggressive when playing with you. Once you know what causes the problem, you can learn how to fix it.

Play aggression normally occurs in kittens which are taken away from their mothers too early in life. A normal kitten, raised with littermates, quickly learns to bite and scratch with less intensity. They learn that playing rough will either cause their playmates to retaliate or to stop playing. You can recognize this behavior from the kitten’s posture. It lashes its tail, flattens its ears and its pupils dilate. This is soon followed by biting and scratching.

To correct this behavior, you need to redirect your kitten’s attention to another acceptable object. Drag kitty’s toy along the floor, or throw the toy around and let kitty chase after it. A good choice for this would be a ping pong ball or something similar which bounces nicely. A soft, stuffed toy the same size as your kitten is also good. This lets kitty wrestle with it, closely simulating the way young kittens play with each other. Encourage play with this wrestling toy when your kitten starts to play rough.

You need to keep things under control. Set up 3 or 4 consistent times everyday to play with your kitten. This conditions your kitten so that it knows not to bother you at other times.

When playing with your cat, do not encourage it to chase after your hands and feet. This can also cause play aggression. In addition, if your cat tries to play with you outside your scheduled playtimes, you should ignore it. Otherwise it will start ambushing you when you climb down the stairs, or go around a corner, or when you go to bed. That would be an accident waiting to happen.

Sometimes, just ignoring kitty does not help. In this case, try using some kind of noise maker. You just want to startle it, grab its attention and break its momentum just before it pounces on you. Never physically strike your cat. A painful strike will make your cat afraid of you and avoid you. On the other hand, a harmless strike will just encourage it to continue its behavior. Either way, this is not what you want.

To enjoy playtime with your cat, you need to contain its aggression. Follow these tips consistently and with patience, and you will be able to have fun playing with your cat.

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