It is never a good sign when your cat develops a habit of biting. It is not only painful but can potentially be harmful to your cat itself if left unattended.
Cats who bite are prone to get infected so immediate medical assistance Is necessary for your cats’ health and safety.
Before going forward with any preventive measures and figuring out how to stop a cat from biting, you should try to identify the reason for the latest biting habit development.
Why do cats bite?
Question of century and answer that a lot of cat owners are still looking for.
Most of the cats do not bite out of spite or in anger but they bite when they are stressed, fearful, or frustrated. The fact that should not slip from a cat owner’s mind is that declawed cats are more likely to bite than cats with claws.
Common Reasons For Cat’s Biting
1. Irritating Petting
Often cat owners overlook the signs their cats give them constantly before getting a bite. Always be attentive towards signals that your cat gives indicating its irritation due to petting or interacting. You might not want to overlook these warnings,
- Tail twitching
- Flattening of ears
- Suddenly dilated pupils
- Cat focusing on your hand
- Body getting stiff after touch
Most cats have a higher patience level and give several warnings before escalating directly to biting so allowing your cat to decide when it is enough with the petting can lower the intensity or can cause your cat to drop the biting habit.
2. Playing aggressive
Kitten and young cats play aggressively but this aggression occurs when the cat has been left alone or has been separated from a sibling. It is further characterized by when your cat ambushes your ankles while walking or by biting your hands out of ordinary.
Here are some ways you can allow your cat to drop the habit,
- While playing with your kittens, avoid using hands to scratch their belly so they scratch and bit, the same behavior is equally unappealing. If your cat does not leave your hands alone when in a playful mood, try using a stuffed toy while playing and encourage your cat to bite on it.
- If your cat bites you hard enough that you squeal, to the best of your ability try to keep that ’ouch’ sound in and try as much as possible to stay silent and not let your cat know that you reacted when bitten.
Most cats show aggression due to boredom and frustration. Planning the playtime in the morning and the evening can really help build your relationship with your cat and eliminate the cat’s frustration.
3. Fear, Pain, and Stress
Putting your cat in a completely strange situation will get you nothing but constant gnawing and biting. if you think that a major shifting in the environment is going to happen soon or a sudden change by moving into a new home, you can take certain measures to help feel your cat is safe and sound.
- Teach children of your house how to properly play and interact with the cat. A lot of kids don’t realize and communicate roughly with the cat. Your cat feels cornered when kids are constantly playing with the cat even when your pet is not in the mood or being too loud and towering around your cat can make your pet feel pressured.
When your cat feels pressured, it tends to bite as a defense mechanism, make sure to give your cat a safe space where kids and other strangers do not go.
- If you notice your cat’s agitation when you put it in the cage for a visit to a vet, you can make your cat familiar with t5eh cage by leaving it open and out. Hiding and keeping 6the cage somewhere in the closet and only using it to transport your pet to the vet, brings a sense of insecurity in your cat so when you take your cat to a vet, it bites out of fear.
- However, along with fear, if your cat is not a bitter and suddenly bites you, there is a higher possibility of your cat being in some kind of pain.
Cats are highly proficient in hiding their pain and so your pet may not let you feel it but if there’s a sudden bite, take your feline friend to a vet on an immediate basis.
4. Communication
Buying a pet out of excitement is cute and easy but owning the responsibility of your small companion and giving a certain amount of attention to your cat daily sometimes becomes a difficult task.
Many cat owners after a few months start to lower the amount of attention to their pets and so the pets find ways to get attention.
If your cat has started biting you lately, it is time to first realize if you’re really being attentive to your cat after coming home.
Often the most common reason for cats picking up a new habit of biting comes when they want you to be attentive and play with them. Take some time out for your cat and engage in productive activities with it.
These are simple yet effective ways that can make you understand how to stop cats from biting.
Never Let Yourself Punish Your Cat For Biting
Any type of punishment in turn for biting is not healthy and worsens your relationship with the cat.
Always keep your cool and stay as calm as possible whenever your cat is triggered to bite. Cats often can’t connect the dots and punishing him for biting may make him go distant from you.
If the above methods are not working on your cat and if you’re still wondering ‘how to stop my cat from biting’ then your case is an exception and we recommend you take professional veterinary consultancy.
We all love calm and mature parents and so do our cats!
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