How to stop your cat from biting you

You know how you always seem to excite your cat into biting your soft hands when petting them? Don't you wish that your cat would stop that? But do you know why they keep doing that? Well, I will share some of the reasons as well as steps on how to curb this behavior in your cats.

Why do cats bite?

Cats seem to display this behavior for a number of reasons, whether it is a house cat that you keep or a cat that lives in the streets. Some of the reasons for it are as follows.

Showing dominance or responding to a threat. This could be the case when a cat is persistently biting and does not back down. A cat usually does this if it feels threatened and is trying to fight back. This tends to to happen with cats who are encountering another cat outdoors in a territorial dispute, or a cat that has a history of abuse and are easily frightened.

Feeling irritated. Did you notice that a cat might seem playful when you are stroking them and the next moment it looks angry and starts to bite? Yes, it means that it has had it with the stroking and petting, there might be something that you are doing that is irritating them and it is trying to tell you that they have had enough for the time being.

Natural instinct. Apart from being irritated, cats just have a natural disposition to bite, because they can hunt for prey. Playing with them using a toy or just using your hand will naturally trigger their hunting behavior and they will start to bite you. But don't worry, usually when this happens, their bite usually would not be so painful. Just make sure you do not pull away your fingers all of a sudden, just let them bite and pull away slowly!

Boredom. Yes cats get bored too! And apart from playing with something, they can just opt to bite you.

Medical issues. Your cat might bite you if you touch their mouth to check, because it might have some medical issues needed attending such as gum problems. Do take you cat to a vet for any medical problems.

How to stop biting

Once you have determined that it is not because of any medical problems, you can get to see how to make your cat stop biting. It is important to know that yes you can train your can not to keep biting you, and you will have to take into account the cat's age as well as the reason that it bites. It is good to teach them at an earlier age as they will come to know that what they are doing is not acceptable and they will eventually get used to it. You can do as follows.

1) Provide your cat with plenty of toys to play with so that it doesn't easily get bored. It is important to give the cats toys so that it will learn to bite the toys instead of biting human hands or feet.

2) Play with your cats, it is not enough just to leave them playing on their own. You should interact with them as well. However, when your cat starts biting you, you can immediately walk away and end the game. That way your cat will know that what they did has ended the fun, and eventually they will learn not to do it.

3) You can also train your cat if they bite you by making some noise to show that you are unhappy with the behavior. Do this as a means of telling them that they need to stop, not as a punishment. When they do display good behavior, praise them verbally and pet them. You can say "Good cat".

Take note that you should avoid physical punishment such as hitting your cat, as the cat won't understand and it would not learn anything. What it will do is just making it more aggressive to defend itself, or it could become afraid of you.

4) Apart from praising, you can give them some treats to show that you are happy with them if they behave. However, you don't want to be treating them all the time, so you use a clicker and pair them with the food that you are giving by making a "click" sound every time you reward them. Once you have done this enough, you can eventually stop the treat and just sound the clicker to make them know that you are happy with them and this will train them.

Be gentle and loving to your cat even when trying to train them. You do not need to shout or hit them, just remember that cats can learn and be trained, but it might take some time but it will get better. In the mean time, just enjoy your time with your furry feline friend!