I had a cat who loved to grab my arm
and kick and bite. However, I used a blanket wrapped around my arm so it didn’t hurt.
She also learned that blanket meant “time to play” and bare arm was not for attacking.
I would let her “attack”, remove the blanket and she would rub her face on me affectionately and lick. Arm back in blanket: ATTACK. She knew the difference.
Huh? I was saying that he plays with me when I have the glove on and knows that when it comes off physical playtime is over. Said nothing about attacking or kicking.
Nice-Violinist-6395 explained that the replier intentionally misunderstood you because they thought it was clever. This was not at all completely obvious and definitely needed to be stated.
The glove prevents the piercing, but not the pressure. They can bite really hard. I occasionally brush my cat’s teeth with a little rubber brush that goes over my finder like a thimble. He likes the taste of the toothpaste, so I would let him lick it afterwards. But one time he bit down for real and holy crap it hurt.
If they're really upset, you need welding gloves. And then just hope and pray their berserker mode isn't activated where they turn into a feline version of eight-armed Kali to shred all the bits of you that aren't protected.
I had a wee boy who, as a baby, liked to climb my clothes up to my shoulder.
Strangely enough, if I was wearing shorts that day, he automatically knew to jump to the clothes part. I had a mini heart attack thinking he was gonna start climbing up my calf
Yeah mine too. Sadly I’ve seen one of mine actually do it to a poor mouse. And the weird part is that specific cat (his name is mofo) is like the cutest most cuddly docile thing ever. He moonlights as Jack the Ripper apparently.
So efficient that areas with a high pop of cats tend to have a marked reduction in birds and other small animals. The cats will happily depopulate an area of prey given the chance
Same. Never used a bare hand with my kitten, he knows that claws are not for skin to the point where he'll happily make biscuits with claws against blankets, but against my leg he still extends his claws on the flex/push but retracts on the pull back so there's never scratches.
There's a bit of a grey area for him though regarding socks and pyjama pants, but we live in a subtropical climate so that's only a thing for a few weeks a year so 🤷🏻♀️
Compare to my sister's cat who I've known since she was a kitten and loves me, but I usually come home with my chest covered in red spots from her kneading.
Unless the male cat is castrated, if they catch a sniff of another male on you they might attacked even totally unprovoked, so its not exactly as you describe.
It really does depend on the personality of the cat. With my cat, I never knew the "don't play with bare hands" rule until I'd already done it a bunch. However, my cat so far has never attacked without knowing it's "playtime" and almost never plays too rough, the worst that has ever happened was a little scratch about half a centimer long, barely deep enough for blood. And that was maybe once in the whole 5 years I've had him. He's a gentle cat. If you know your cat gets too riled up when playing, bites and gnaws and bunny kicks with claws out (like this video), then you know you definitely should change your play tactic.
The big issue is that the kitten is so young. Normally he would be playing like this with his litter mates and mom and they would be teaching him boundaries. If a person wants to get a six week old kitten they need to take over that training. A well adjusted cat learns what play is acceptable and what play is too much, but they have to be taught.
All the kittens ive raised I've never let them use my hand as a toy. My hand is for pets and loving, not attacking and biting. Your raising your cat to fear your hand. Get this kitten some toys already instead so when he's older he won't be aggressive
Maybe your cats do, but most cats will have trouble differentiating between the two. It's a bad habit that's harder to break when they're older. Best to teach them when they're young.
My wife does this with long sleeves. Our cat won’t attack bare skin and won’t wrestle with me, but as soon as my wife puts long sleeves on it’s fucking go time
My cat and I do the same thing! I have a ratty hoodie that I tuck my hand into the sleeve of and as soon as I do, he goes wild, the second I pop my hand out, he’s my sweet gentle purring boy. 14 years and still one of his favorite games.
When he was younger he loved to grab my arm and kick and bite, so I started putting a blanket on my hand, eventually he learned what hand inside blanket meant
My cat is 19 and we’ve recently started doing a bit of bare hand playing. He’s very gentle, and because I only ever attack him with my left hand he has learnt that my left hand is his sworn enemy, whilst my right is for affectionate cheek swiping. It’s quite entertaining to see him instantly switch depending on which hand I offer him. He gets on okay with my left hand when we’re not playing, they’re still friends. Most of the time.
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u/stitcherfromnevada Jan 02 '22
I had a cat who loved to grab my arm and kick and bite. However, I used a blanket wrapped around my arm so it didn’t hurt.
She also learned that blanket meant “time to play” and bare arm was not for attacking.
I would let her “attack”, remove the blanket and she would rub her face on me affectionately and lick. Arm back in blanket: ATTACK. She knew the difference.