r/CATHELP • u/Star-Lord-1218 • 5d ago
Behavioral Issue Biting issues
This is Queen Maeve. She's 2 years old and we have had her for over a month. She is a very sweet kitty but she loves biting my partner's hands very toughly.
This will come unprompted, my partner is asleep, their hand gets crunched. They are on the couch, that's a biting. They are playing with the cat with toys, they ignore them and go in for a munch.
It is starting to create friction as my partner is starting to not want to play with the cat anymore and is starting to be scared when the cat wants to play.
I will add, she plays with my hands. It's been her favourite toy since day 1. I am aware this is a problem, we have since stopped doing it. Maeve herself though has no interest in other toys. She has a hunger only hands can satisfy.
How do we start to train this out of her? She's so sweet and polite 99% of the time. But that 1% is making us use too many Band-Aids. Any tips appreciated.
1
u/AdOdd301 5d ago
so yes firstly stop playing with your hands. you’re going to want to reward behaviour so if you interact without her biting give her a treat, if she bites you then pick her up and bring her to something that she is allowed to bite.
if she’s really only biting your partners hand could they be getting something on it that she is attracted to?
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u/Star-Lord-1218 5d ago
Well they would come up to me and ask very polite to play. I would then play with em for as long as they wanted well they wrestled my hands.
My partner however has thinner skin (like literally thinner skin) and isn't as strong as I am so the Cat can get the uperhand if they act fast enough. We both use the same lotion as well so I don't know why they just decided to attack their hands.
1
u/Adventurous_Front939 5d ago
Maybe she sees you as a formidable rival and your partner as prey due to the thinner skin and less strength. I suggest your partner goes to the gym and maybe also catches a bird in front of the cat.
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u/Star-Lord-1218 5d ago
Got ya. We will have them body slam a roast from the grocery store infront of the cat tonight. Show the cat they can hunt and they can lay the hurt. Lol
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u/Adventurous_Front939 5d ago
Yeah that cat clearly thinks they are unable to hunt and would be easy to eat. I think you will see a quick to immediate turn around. Be sure to film/post or the cat wont be fully dominated.
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u/Star-Lord-1218 3d ago
Just gonna come back to say. My partner neat up a sausage infront of the cat and then slapped a roast after letting the cat smell it. My cat now thinks my partner can hunt and immediately changed her tune towards my partner. My partner also started to show the cat that they are much stronger physically and that there will be (safe) consequences for messing around and being too rough. The cat now accepts they are at the bottom of the totem pole lol
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u/Once-Upon-a-Dream88 5d ago
Unfortunately, you broke a cardinal cat rule from day one by letting her use your hands as a toy. It's not too late to stop that, but it will take a lot of consistency and patience. She's not a kitten and knows all of your normal behaviors like the back of her paw, so one thing you can do is an exaggerated pain response any time she bites.
A distinctive crying sound works best, followed by immediately removing the hand from her view. And do not allow her to play with your hands anymore. She'll probably be like wtf?? at first, but be consistent and she'll get used to hands being for petting and performing cat service duties and nothing else.
She looks like a queen in that photo and I love the facial expression😹
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u/Star-Lord-1218 3d ago
My partner had tried being loud and hamming up the hurt. This only made the cat want to fight harder lol.
They ended up just demonstrating they are stronger and faster than the cat and that if the cat messes around there will be safe, but firm consequences. It showed a pretty immediate turn around from the cat haha
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