[Parker]

Token (5 mos) is a cat who only wants to be sweet at night. He's been like this since we got him, and we love nighttime Token. When he was little, we would be just falling asleep and he would come up and rub his little face on ours and purr. Then all of a sudden he would bite our cheek. At this, we usually sprayed him with water or yelled no. This didn't deter him because by this time we ticked him off and then he would continue to attack. At the time, I wasn't sure if he was trying to show affection by nipping our face, and then we startled him by reacting negatively and then that threw him into aggression.

After we had him for about three months, we returned to our hometown and Parker stayed with his grandmother and Token and I stayed with my parents. While we were home, he would sleep with me every night, and in the three weeks we were home, he only bit me once, and I was so tired I didn't react. Then he just laid back down and went to sleep. However, we got him neutered the first week we were there, and then after that was the first time he did the hand biting and trying to stand on my hand that my boyfriend mentioned in the previous post.

Now that we have returned to school he follows me and stares at me like I am the most interesting thing ever. If I am in the bathroom with the door shut, he throws a fit and wants in. Once in there he will just sit and stare at me, it gets sort of weird because he never does this with Parker.

For the first week we were home, he didn't do the whole face biting bit. At first, when he was little, he bit us both pretty equally. But the second week we were here he started biting only my face. Now it seems like he is doing it to actually hurt because once he does it once, he won't leave me alone until we put him on the floor. Spraying him with the water does no good, and he will continue to attack, and if I put my head under the covers he digs to try to get under there. It is so odd because before this he is purring and head butting, and then all of a sudden he just bites the heck out of me. I can't lock him out of the room because he yowls, and since I am not supposed to have a cat in the first place, this definitely won't work. I love him and love when he sleeps with us, but it is kind of unnerving and even sort of scary to not know when he will attack. He never does this to Parker anymore and along with the hand biting, I am wondering whether he is doing this because he thinks he is dominant to me. I really would like to correct this behavior and am at a loss for any solutions.

Has anyone else had any experience with reasserting dominance or stopping this behavior? Any advice is SO MUCH appreciated.

~Katie~

 

[Ianthe]

Unfortunately, I can't help you with this one.....when Gaylord attacks us and we try to reprimand him, he hisses at us 8O

 

[Jaxxxx]

There is only one solution for a problem like this you need to show him that ur in control if he does it again give him a whack.

 

[Jeanie]

Cats are the only animals that give love bites. A sharp "NO" has always stopped unwanted behavior for me. If something hurts, I yell. It's a reaction, more than a thought out behavior. I've never had a mean cat.

JD and Jaxx, I hope this doesn't burn, but I still think hitting your cat is wrong. They are only 1/10 our size-or less. It's just too easy to hurt something that small.

 

[Parker]

Token doesn't respond to No. He acts like he doesn't hear me and continues doing it. I hate to admit it but once he bit me so hard that I swatted him, it was more of a reflex than anything, and I felt awful afterwards. However, it only made him angry and he attacked even more, I think he thought I must be playing or he was thinking he would show me who was boss. Who knows. I don't really know how to describe him, he is a wonderful cat, but he is so d*@& stubborn!!!!!! He's not mean, just weird. This isn't a every night occurrance, just a twice a week or so thing, just enough to be very irritating.

 

[Dusty&Lou]

I would never, NEVER hit a cat. Especially in the case of Token, who is still just a kitten. You are much bigger than him and could easily hurt him, not to mention the broken trust between the two of you.

My kitty used to occasionally get really excited while purring and head-butting and he would start doing the same thing - he would be ferocious! The watergun, yelling, and flailing about usually only encouraged him.

I found the only thing that worked would be to plop him on the floor and ignore him. He slowly got the idea that when he played like this, I wasn't interested and the game wasn't fun anymore. It took some time though.

Hope this helps!

 

[Ioana]

Hi Katie,
the first thing you need to do is to re-establish the trust between you and Token that is shaken for the time being.
In order to better your relationship with your kitty any hitting, spraying needs to stop because you won't make any proggress with those actions.
Never ever play with your hands with your cat - you must always have something that comes in between your hands and him. Petting is one thing but offering your hands as "objects of prey" will only teach him to hunt them. And as for him hunting your feet I remember having read a similar thread that got the solution of tying a piece of thread to the pants that will make kitty go for that specific object not the feet.
When my kitty Frosty was little and rambunctious I tried putting him in a cage as *time out* - how silly of me - how could he ever understand that "I was punishing him". Plus as Dr Jean suggests punishing our cats is not recommended. It breaks the trust that the relationship between we and them needs to be based on.
Cats learn to understand the meaning of NO without yelling or hitting them. We have to translate to them through actions what they are allowed to do and what they aren't. So as tired as you are when he starts biting just play with him for 10 minutes : make him chase little balls, fishing pole toys ..and he will forget about the destructive behaviour . In time he will also understand that THAT is fun for both of you not him biting you (probably because he wants your attention). He needs to know where the *playground* is - so take him where the toys are and have small sessions of play in that specific area. Repetition is the key - they are incredibly smart and fast learners too. This is what I did with my kitties and I am very proud to say that they are very well behaved - it takes time and patience - just like educating little babies - it took me a while to learn to understand my kitties and Catforum plays the most important role in it.
Best of luck, Katie and please let us know as your relationship with Token will evolve. And trust me - it will! I remember when Frosty was a kitten the energy was at times too much and now I miss it :wink: