Excessive Biting

[Galathiel]

My cat doesn't give 'love' bites .. she's not very lovey at the moment. She does more play biting. She was a year old when I got her, but I will say that she has great inhibition. She will occasionally do the strike like a snake tecnique at me but on the rare instances when she connects she just touches or scrapes. In fact, this week she got up on the couch beside me (shocking!) and laid down to wash. I touched her paw and she mouthed the back of my hand (she doesn't care for petting .. very frustrating as she is sooo .. fluffy!). I said in a disappointed voice, "Sienna! Don't bite me." She then proceeded to lick the back of my hand several times. I almost had a coronary. She is not affectionate but I have hopes for the future.

When I've had kittens in the past, time outs worked really well for a worked up cat. Many times it only took a minute for them to calm down and come to their senses (what little that kittens have!).

[jamie.lynne]

Sorry to let this post go dormant for a bit, but just wanted to thank you all again for your help & support.

We think Whiskey is slowly progressing in a better direction. The first thing that immediately helped was making a high-pitched squeal when she bites. Unfortunately, she seems to be getting used to that noise now & will continue her attack. BUT the attacks are becoming less frequent! Yay!!!

Something I've realized lately is that she seems to become aggressive when we come home from work & are in tired/irritable moods. I think she picks up on the irritability & is agitated by the fact that we don't give her as much attention as she'd like after we've been gone half the day. It's helpful for me to try to see it from her point of view. I know she understands our emotions, but she doesn't understand why we feel the way we do (and vice versa for us with her emotions, actually). It is frustrating on both sides & I think sometimes all of us just need calm-down time.

[librarychick]

You're getting the right idea!

There's one thing you should keep in mind though, she isn't getting upset because "don't give her as much attention as she'd like". She's getting upset because she NEEDS that attention. She's been home alone and bored all day, she isn't miffed and mad that you aren't giving her what she thinks she deserves...she's desperate for your attention. In other words, it isn't a 'want' it's a 'need'.

I know that just seems like semantics, but that's the difference between 'wanting' $50 for a game, and 'needing' $50 to pay your bills. It's $50 either way, but why it's being asked for makes a difference in whether/how we give.

She will pick up on your emotions too, but unlike another person she doesn't have the choice to willfully decide to be cheerful anyways. She'll smell you being upset, and her brain automatically switches into a similar mode. No choices, unfortunately.

I have to make a conscious effort sometimes to remember that my cats are cats, not people. If I'm having a bad day they are more likely to misbehave, but a large part of that is how I'm reacting to them. If I'm having a bad day, sit down on the couch, and immediately have 3 cats in my lap I might not like it. Any other day that makes me very happy. If I then shove them off, they'll get confused, and then bored, because I'm not following our normal routine of cuddling and petting them, so then they get up to trouble.
If I make the effort to get out the laser pointer, rather than cuddle them, I'm working off their energy, preventing them from doing 'bad' things, AND cheering myself up. Who can stay mad with 2-3 silly cats running into walls all over the place?

I'm glad she's improving! It takes a lot of work, but it's totally worth it in the end.