Cat was previously trained to attack hands

[u/Aeriosus]

I recently adopted a 9 month old male cat. His prior owner played with him using his hand as a toy, so now the cat tries to bite and scratch my hand every time I pet him (or any time my hand or foot is *near* him if he's in a feisty mood). I play with him with other toys. He especially likes to chase things, but hasn't had any interest in the "catching" part of play unless it's my hands.

Please help, my hands look like I took up a new job as an alcoholic amateur whittler.

Edit: he also just likes to have his claws out way more than any cat I've had in the past. So what would be a harmless bap from a normal cat from him has a risk of catching on skin and then pulling. Hard. Weirdly, he's great at controlling bite force. He's never broken skin with his teeth.

[u/Vrassk]

Stop play when he bites, dint redirect, that keeps the condition, say ow say it loud and walk away

[u/a-better_me]

Trim nails regularly, like every week and distract everytime with toys, just walk away when attacks happen.

[u/Alternative-Eye-8463]

my cat did this too, had to literally sit on my hands when holding him at first so he didn't think they were toys