My bengal cat bites me. A lot. He draws blood on occasion. What can I do to curb this?

Question

He is a 12 year old neutered Bengal cat. He has lots of toys and gets lots of attention daily. He gets a minimum of an hour of supervised outdoor time a day (weather permitting and on a harness). He is never left alone for more that 8 hours at a time. He is well fed, well cared for and loved.

Answer 1

Don't assume automatically that cats that bite are vicious creatures.  You must distinct between play-biting and real aggressive biting.  Kittens for example like to play, and sometimes pretty rough.  They use their claws and teeth to wrestle with each other.  They prepare for catching prey and that’s normal.  They usually go unharmed because their fur protects them from serious wounds.  However, human skin is a different story, but kittens don't know that.

When you stroke your kitten it can take it as an invitation to play and clasps your hand and bites.  That might hurt a little but is generally nothing to worry about.  Some cats make a sport out of leg biting.  They jump up on you and dig in.  Research has show that it’s a sort of unsatisfied hunting and prey instinct and lack of activity.  

• Teach your kitten from an early age that hands are for feeding and stroking and NOT a toy!  

• Avoid playing with your bare hands

• Use a fluffy toy or a feather on a string instead

• In case it grabs your hand, draw it away slowly and do NOT punish your cat, it will understand it as an attack and make matters worse

• However if you cat did scratch or hurt you in any way, make a yowling sound and show that you have been hurt, your cat will understand

• If your cat is a "leg biter" try to spend more time playing with it and redirect its attack to a toy.  Leave toys lying around so that he can also amuse itself, particular when you keep your cat indoors

Clean the wound thoroughly with antibacterial soap and warm water for about fifteen minutes.  Then apply antibiotic ointment, (such as Neosporin, polysporin or bacitracin) and a bandage.  Watch carefully for any signs of increasing redness, swelling or local warmth.  See a physician immediately if these signs of infection occur.  Bite wounds on hands are the most prone to infection.

Answer 2

my cat fred does that to so we put gloves on

Answer 3

He is a wild creature and he will never be really happy caged up alone. I know that you are very loving and caring and he is lucky to have you.

At some point you might have to look into allowing him to join with other "cats" like himself. He is a world away from his real home....

Answer 4

Firstly, as a Bengal owner (8 month old boy and 17 month old girl) I must say that the comments in some of the answers about Bengals being not domesticated and not liking cuddles or people etc are not the case in my experience - both my Bengals love to be cuddled, and enjoy human company.  

It sounds like you are doing all the right things! The fact that he is 12 years old means it will be difficult to train him out of biting - however with (a lot) of perseverance it can be done. I trained my 8 year old Abyssinian to stop pulling my hair to wake me up at 7am every morning - took me 6 months! but we got there in the end!

With respect to biting, I went through this with my Bengal boy (and am going through this a little with my 17 month old girl - only had her for 2 weeks!) What I do is stop moving my hand (or whatever is being bitten!) and say "Gentle!" or "Be gentle!" fairly loudly in a stern tone, and stop playing. They are very intelligent and know your tone. As soon as they stop biting I say "good boy/girl" in a praising tone. It took 4 months to get the boy to stop biting and scratching in play, now he will mouth me gently and only scratches (accidentally) on rare occasions. The girl is already beginning to bite less. I try to avoid smacking them for biting - as I found with my boy that this made him think that a fiercer attack was required!!!

Good luck with him!

Answer 5

Is he declawed? If so that may be your problem. when my cat did that we just pushed him away and ignored him. That seemed to work but his was just rough play. I would also try asking your vet. I'm sure they can help.

Answer 6

I would say that at his age, he's probably too old to break of this habit. If he were a kitten, I would say to grab him by the scruff of his neck and lightly shake him and hiss at the same time. It's what his mother would do. I used to use a cats only vet and that's what he told me to do with a Siamese kitten I had who was really bad for biting and nipping. I did that three times and that cured it. She died this spring, 13 years old, and had never bitten again. If she were acting bad, I only had to hiss at her and she'd be like. Whoops sorry dude, and she'd stop it. But at his age, I don't know that he'd remember the correction. May just think you deserve to be bit again.

Answer 7

your cat has a better life than a lot of people

wear gloves when handling him he is too old to re-train

Answer 8

Bengal cats are not domesticated cats and are not meant to be a house hold pet. They are wild and will always have that wild nature about them. There is absolutely nothing that you can do to stop his biting. He is bitting you for a reason and thats to let you know that he is in charge. When he bites you, you should take it as a hint that he does not care for what you are doing, such as petting him or trying to cuddle with him.  Bengal cats are far from your regular tabby cat. Most don't like a lot of human interaction and perfer to be left alone. They also tend to play a lot more rougher then regular cats and thats just their wild nature and you cant do anything to stop it.

Now I know that it may be hard to grasp the fact that this Bengal cat is not domesticated and is not meant to be a cuddley lap cat, but you have to realize that this is a wild animal and should of been kept wild.

I can see that you are very loving to this cat and its clear that you care about him, but just don't expect him to be a household cat because it will not happen.