How do I stop my cat biting?

Question

He is over a year now but when he gets playful he bites. He can attach himself to my arm and its really painful. Please help!

Answer 1

when my cat used 2 bite me(or scratch me) when he was a kitten... i used a spray gun *thats little* & i would spray him if he did something bad, & he would stop!!

  hope i helped.

Answer 2

Smack on the bum (not hard), he'll get the message

Answer 3

Agreed, smack him. That's what I had to do to a cat that was playing far too rough with me- and this kitty had some huge claws!

Answer 4

Please don't smack the cat. It won't teach him what some posters think.  If you hit the cat hard enough for him to think it is not a playful move, it will only teach him to avoid you.  Never play with a cat or kitten with your bare hands. They will wrestle and mock-fight with their siblings, their mother, or any cat that becomes a buddy to them, it is part of how they gain strength and learn to protect themselves when they are out in the wild. The other cats have nice thick fur that offers protection from those sharp little claws and teeth - the young cat does not realize that it's human friends do not have the same protection. There are plenty of interactive toys that you can use to play with him - including some really wacky looking glove thingies that have extended fingers. I have also used an animal-shaped oven mitt to wrassle with my cats, plus there is always the perennial favorite game "mouse under the bed covers" (um... the risk to this one is that having the cat associate the bed with playtime might encourage him to wake you up in the middle of the night to play more often than he would already, but I do it with my cats because it is so darn cute).

Sometimes a petting or brushing session suddenly turns into a biting session, or your cat somehow gets his teeth into you in spite of your precautions while playing. When that happens, try to control your instincts to pull away immediately - that is what a prey animal would do, and it excites the feline more. Instead, you want to push in towards his mouth or body - gently, mind you. So if he's got your finger in his teeth, you will calmly, gently push your finger further into his mouth. The same principle applies to getting out of the cat's grasp when the claws have sunk into your skin - push in towards kitty's body rather than pulling away.   The goal here is not to punish by sticking your finger down his throat or to hurt in any way, but to surprise the cat with an action that will cause him to release you. Also, if you can, try to imitate a feline growl - it is one of the ways his mother would have used to correct his behavior when it was not acceptable to her. If you cannot (I know I can't get it right) a firm, calm "No!" will do the trick. Then you back off for a time, and use the social pressure of ignoring the cat for a while to give the him time to calm down and to realize how unacceptable his behavior was.

I know a squirt from a spray bottle can be a valuable training aid in some situations - like scratching at furniture - but I prefer not to use something that startling and unpleasant when one is in close contact with a cat, because it may escalate fear, which might escalate into aggression, and I prefer not to have my cats associate those feelings of heightened aggression with playing with me.

Answer 5

He'll grow out of it but in the mean time if he plays too rough you can scruff him. Grab him firmly behind the neck and hold him down. That's how a mother cat corrects her kittens.