My cat keeps attacking me! What should I do?

Question

I just adopted a year-old stray cat about a month and a half ago. He is excellent, and cuddly, and sweet. Since he's indoors and I live in an apartment right now I try to give him plenty of exercise with different cat toys and things. He loves to play. However, recently he has started trying to attack me! He will come up and jump onto my leg and start biting me with his claws out.

Anyway, there's no telling when he'll start the behavior. Sometimes it's when he's energetic, but other times it's when he's just been on the couch cuddling with me. Sometimes I can redirect his attention if I can find a cat toy close enough. I throw it and he starts bounding after that instead.

What can I do to keep this problem from occuring? Any ideas?

Answer 1

Distracting him is by far the best choice.  Is it possible to consider another young cat?  If you are away most of the day he might enjoy another kitty to romp with.

Answer 2

well get him declawed if his claws hurt you to much but he should just grow out of it, it is his way of playing with you. he is only a year old so he is pretty much still a kitten. he still has the mind of a kitten

Answer 3

I don't know if this has anything to do with your question, but I thought I would just share it with you.  When I first got my kitten, he was active and gentle and sweet.  I was told to put a flea collar on him and right after that I noticed an immediate change in his behavior.  He started snarling at me and would snap at me.  After a day I just decided to get rid of the collar and he started to act like his self again.  There were still times where he would snarl now and then, but eventually it stopped.  I think there might have been an ingredient in the flea collar that had an affect on him.  

Answer 4

he will be as aggressive as you let him be. if the squirt bottle doesn't work, a light smack on the nose will get his attention and let him know who is boss. if he can be the dominate one in your relationship, he will be. find something he doesn't like as much as you don't like being clawed, and use it to control his behavior. a new kitten won't solve this problem. it might make it worse if the new cat becomes submissive. then he feels he can run the whole show.

most cats are given up because of behavior issues which could have been modified by strict expectations of acceptable behavior. let him know he can cuddle with you but he CANNOT play rough.

Answer 5

Squirt him lightly with a water gun of sorts when he does this, and distract him quickly.

Answer 6

Has he been neutered? That might control some of the aggression.

Another possibility is that he is playing and doesn't know his own strength. In which case you may need to swat him to make him understand that claws are a no-no.

Good luck!

Answer 7

try having a squirt bottle close to you when you are playing with him, when he starts to attack you squirt him once and say no he might be trying to play with you as if you were another cat but he needs to learn not to be so aggressive

Answer 8

maybe hes playing but if hes not smack it on the buttox gently  

Answer 9

I don't want to disagree with any of the previous posters, but I have heard/read that it would not be good to squirt your cat with a water bottle while it's biting you because it will become afraid of you. The water bottle is for when they're across the room and on something they shouldn't be on or clawing something they shouldn't.

Also, I have tried bopping my cat lightly on the nose or tapping it on the side near its tail, and it has worked... however, I recently read that some cats take that as fighting back and become more aggressive. That's true for my kitty.

The only thing that works with my cat is either distraction or saying "owwww" or "ouch" in a painful way. Then he feels bad and starts l*****g me instead. Try doing that and see if it works for you. It takes tough skin and patience because he won't let go right away.

My mother's cat also attacks out of (seemingly) nowhere, but when you think about it, the only way a cat can tell you he doesn't like something is by biting. When you're petting and cuddling, if his ears and tail to start twitching, or his eyes dialate, he's ready for you to leave him alone.

Answer 10

a spray bottle worked for my cat, keep one close by