Biting

**slleipnir** · 01-17-2002, 06:04 PM

Ok, my cat is so evil. She doesn't seem to like people at all. Shes anti social, and bites people. Well only people like me, my mom, and my nieces. Mostly me. You don't have to do anything to provoke her either, just walk by. She'll like 'stalk' you, then run and attack your legs and bite. It was worst when she has claws, cause they'd be in your leg too. I'm not really sure what to do. If your facing her, she won't do it. Or if you yell at her. But she still sneaks up sometimes, and it HURTS! She always seems to be moody. I hear about all these nice friendly cats. Mine is NOTHING like normal cats. I mean, most are atleast affectionate for a little bit right? She never EVER is, unless her sleeping on my moms bed counts. We're always very good to her, and she was never hit or anything so I don't know why she seems to hate people. If we invite people over, she will hind the whole time.

Another thing is she jumps up on things, knocking them over. Or making loud noises in the middle of the night. Such as "scratching" at the door. She hits her paws against it, and its loud suprisingly. It's hard to sleep with all this she does. I heard that putting something sticky on where you don't want the cat to go will stop it. This is funny, but yeah she got STUCK in the sticky stuff, and my mom had to rescue her at like 3:00 am in the morning.

If anyone can help I'd be soooo thankfull!!

**tuxluvr** · 01-17-2002, 06:26 PM

Sleipnir

It sounds like partly normal kitty play or territorial issues. It looks from your webshots that you have two kitties - are they both "indoor only"?

Did one come before the other? Is the mean kitty the "original lone puss" whose territory was violated by a newcomer?

Ritzy can be an "ankle biter" - and it is usually just playtime behavior, but since she has claws and teeth, it is not a good thing - we have found that taking the palm of the hand and GENTLY pushing her away with a strong NO has had the best results in keeping her from continuing. No swatting, that only results in further kitty retaliation--and kittys NEVER forget.

As to the night behavior, we initially closed our bedroom door - which created great kitty anxiety and "door banging"....we have since discovered that giving her the run of the house and the freedom to choose where she spends the night has resulted in a much more peaceful household. She is, however and only cat and an only pet, so we have more latitude here that some may feel comfortable doing.

I believe you do not force a cat to live with you, rather you learn how to co-exist in the cat's world - to some extent.

**wayne0214** · 01-17-2002, 07:37 PM

slleipnir, does your kitty have access to the outdoors? It sounds to me like she is getting bored with her inside surroundings. I know that domestic felines are naturally outdoor creatures, and keeping them indoors all the time, I think, runs against their nature. I have never had a cat do what you explained. But all of mine do have access to the outdoors during the day time. when I bring the females and kittens in for the night, they are usually well behaved, except Jumper who sometimes gets into things.

...............wayne

**NoahsMommy** · 01-17-2002, 07:47 PM

Noah did that a little bit as a kitten. He stopped attacking me as soon as we got Noel. How does your cat interact with the other cat you have? Has this cat always acted like this?

I seem to remember a post a while ago about a cat that did this (oh Chuck....)

hee hee, and it was a mental thing. Does anyone remember that story? It was her fiance's cat that hated her.

**AmberLee** · 01-17-2002, 07:48 PM

Haven't seen behavior exactly as you discribe, but occasionally get 'overwound' and distructive (to say the least, sigh)

When I recognize the symptoms that he's getting 'hyper' early enough, I pull out one of the 'feathers on a stick' toy and whip it around. Let him work off his wild energy streak on the toy rather than on me or another human. Either he's getting mellower, or I'm getting better able to spot his moods. I'm sporting a lot fewer scars these days.

Good luck to you and your family.

P.S. on the Cat Health there is a thread on clipping cat's nails. It might be helpful to you???

**slleipnir** · 01-17-2002, 08:11 PM

Thanks everyone :]

The cat i'm talking about in my sig is Smitten. The cat 2nd to right is Patches, she was mine/my sister's cat. My sister got really sick and went to the hospital for a long time, and we kept Patches at my moms house. Smitten hated her at 1st, but they grew. I think smitten always found her to be annoying, cause patches was such a cuddly kitty and always wanted to be cuddled. Smitten is an indoor cat. She is afraid of the outdoors. I know it's better for the cat to go outside for exersice and all that. but i'm afraid she'll get lost or hit by a car (my friend lost her cat when she was little, she saw the cat being hit..can you image? a kid!) also my mom lives in an apartment and works all day so it would be hard to get in her and out. Other people might open the door and let her in..find her running the halls and take her maybe. Stupid, but i've heard of that happening. We also use a feather to play with her, and she loves it. I have some cute pics of her with her feather on my webshots page below. Anyway, i don't see any perminite way to make her behave. We don't close the door, or else she'll paw under it and make noice. We can't lock her in somewhere, cause she won't have food, water and litter box. All I know is I'm freaked to walk into the room when *she* is there..LOL!! She'll go behind something and peak her head out just a little..then wiggle her rear and jump at you. Shes evil and hates me, I duno why(so antisocial) but I love her to death..well..of course shes my little kitty but you know :]

I miss patches soo much :[ I got really attached to her, even though she'd get under the pull out couch when i'm sleeping and make noise all night ..or curl up on my moms head and suck on her hair..and stupid enough to fall off the high balcony several times. We had to give her back to my sis, and my sis didn't want her anymore. My mom didn't think it was fair to smitten to reinterduce her again (smitten was REALLY stressed before) and my mom couldn't have another cat..expessially one that pee's in her plants, and has an unusually (freakishly) long tail. LOL ok this was reeeeeeally off topic but I really loved the little kitten..my sis gave her to the HS and i'm not sure if she was put down :'[ I would give ANYTHING for that cat if I could get her back..her and smit became good friends i think too........do you think Smitten would forget patches after a few months?? (its been a yr or so now but i mean if my mom could have afforded to take her back before??)

Sorry I got off topic ppl, thanks for you help! If you have anymore ideas i'd still love to hear!

**carrie** · 01-18-2002, 12:49 AM

From what you describe your cat doesn't hate you!

She is playing as she would with litter mates and expressing very natural behaviours such as hunting and stalking.

You could try taking her by suprise and roll a ball, a ball of wool or a foil ball into the room before you enter it. She can then "hunt" the toy and not you. She will also begin to associate you with the toys rather than you being the toy.
Set aside some special time to play with her every day and look into getting her some things to keep her occupied during the day - one of the best toys I've found is the kind that has a track with a ball on it that the cat can chase and hunt without getting it out. If you can get a selction of good toys and leave out a couple of different ones every few days this will keep her interested. Keep a really favourite one as the one she only plays with when you are playing too.

**AmberLee** · 01-18-2002, 11:44 AM

Originally posted by carrie
... She is playing as she would with litter mates ...

Oh, Carrie, I thought of this late last night and was going to post it here -- and found you had already done so, and stated it more clearly than I'd planned to.

For what it's worth, I agree with Carrie!

**purrley** · 01-18-2002, 01:05 PM

AWWWW she's just being a kitty - some are passive, some are aggressive - I've never been bitten by any of my kitties. My daughter's Siamese is another story. Gibby will snuggle up to ya and purr and purr, and then out of the blue - BITE and hard. The tail becomes a wire brush and the fur stands up on his back. He's the only cat I've ever heard growl when the doorbell rings too.

**slleipnir** · 01-18-2002, 01:47 PM

She's 3 years old.

Carrie, thanks. I don't live there so I don't see her much. My mom works all day so maybe she is bored. She does a lot of sleeping. I guess cause shes bored lol. My mom is a bartenter so when she gets home, she's usually tired and wants to relax. She plays with her though.

Purrley, Smitten also NEVER purrs. Well, if you feel there neck sometimes you can feel it. But I guess her purr thing is broken...:[

Another thing is, sometimes cats from next door or somewhere comes to our door, and we have a screen door thats usually open all the time cause smitten likes to look out. This really distresses smitten, she gets VERY aggressive. She hisses and does that growl thing. My mom tries to close the main door, but she won't move, so she tries to pick her up to push her away. Smitten attacked my moms hand and was like..visious! My mom said that was nothing like her, cause she never does that. We asked our vet, and she said that cats when angry act before they think, so it's best just to leave them alone. A good thing to know for anyone who has cats and didn't know that..I guess most ppl would..Anyway thought I'd post it anyway

**tuxluvr** · 01-19-2002, 08:07 AM

Originally posted by slleipnir
......we have a screen door thats usually open all the time cause smitten likes to look out. This really distresses smitten, she gets VERY aggressive. She hisses and does that growl thing. My mom tries to close the main door, but she won't move, so she tries to pick her up to push her away. Smitten attacked my moms hand and was like..visious!

This also sounds like normal kitty behavior. Ritz gets excited when other cats show up at the patio door. A rule of thumb, when a kitty is growling or 'puffed up' like Ritzy's tail below, it's best as the vet said, not to introduce human flesh into the mix.

Cats are natural predators and everything they do is in preparation for that need. Their play habits, which sometimes seem "aggressive" to us are just completely natural for cats(the "butt wiggle" then attack is a favorite of mine--I engage in play with Ritz sometimes just to see that feat of fun!!)

...I agree with other posts, she apparently sees you simply as "other cats" in the pride and therefore fare game for play. It is not a personal attack, from the look of Smitten's pictures, she appears to be a beautiful, alert, healthy kitty. (I know I'm "smitten with Smitten")

I also agree that regular play with the "big cats" does a lot to bond and to minimize the unwanted attack. I use the little fake fur mousies to distract Ritzy from ankle bites and engage in some kind of daily play (toss the mousie is our fav). Even with that, she engages in "love bites" - she is, after all, still a cat and nothing will change.

A companion kitty might help - it sounds like you live in a very busy household and it may not be practical for the "mommy cats" to engage in regular playtime.

I've read that not all kitties purr - so don't take that personally either - I think you have a lovely kitty who is mostly just "being a cat" >^..^<

**carrie** · 01-19-2002, 05:30 PM

Next time there is a confrontation at the screen door get your Mum (ooops, sorry,....Mom!) to hiss along with your cat. The cat will see this as valuable support, the other cat will think that a huge kitty like that is not worth the effort and all will be happy.

BEFORE doing this make sure Mom lets your cat know she is a friend by gently touching your cat and speaking very gently to it.

Your cat is defending it's space and by taking it away from the situation it is losing ground with the other cats. Your cat doesn't want the neighborhood cats to see it as a wimp and it wants to hold it's territory. So when when removes it from the situation it is going to do whatever it takes to get back in there!!

**wayne0214** · 01-19-2002, 09:31 PM

I have seen my Jumper (part Abyssinian kitten) act up whenever he wants attention. You know, abys get into things and scoop them off the shelves and make lots of noise. Jumper not only does this but also he stars meowing (aby style). So, I have to drop what I'm doing and pick him up for some cuddling, and this takes care of the situation. I'm thinking that your cat may be bored or lonley or perhaps even hungry. But some of them can get aggressive at times, which is also a sign of a healthy kitty. I had only one large male cat several years ago, who would attack my feet whenever I walked by him, and this was because he was hungry. After feeding him, the aggression stopped.

..........wayne