Discussion Thread #7 - Chat & Discuss Anything About Cats!

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Welcome to the Discussion Thread!

Ask any questions you have about cats or discuss topics that don't require a full post. Whether you're a new cat owner, seeking advice, or just want to share something fun about your furry friend, this thread is for you. Feel free to:

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[u/phany-pack]

My cat will attack hands and feet at full force creating bloody scratches and puncture wounds. He is 2 years old, and has always done this. We have just… came to live with it.

This morning as I was sleeping he latched on to my arm and got me pretty bad. Was wondering if anyone has experience with aggressive-towards- human cats. What can I do? Is this normal behavior?

[u/ElvishMystical → u/phany-pack]

I got two questions for you...

• How do you play with your cat?
• Do you have any 'energy sink' toys?

See the problem you have are that cats are natural hunters, and your hands and feet move, so your cat sees them as prey. They don't understand that hands and feet are attached to humans nor do they understand that human skin is fragile.

I've had the same with my almost 3 month old male kitten. He went for feet, knees, hands and arms. His go to statement for "I want to play" was to latch onto my arm hard with his claws and bite.

What I feel you need to do is find a way to channel that natural aggression and 'kill' instinct. Cats have a cycle which goes something like waking, litter, play (hunt, chase, kill), food, grooming, sleep. So what I suggest you find is that this aggression comes out somewhere between waking and food.

What I did with my kitten was to teach him that hands, arms and feet are not toys. I play with my kitten a lot. When he attacked me, I lightly swatted him away and play stopped. If he wants to be aggressive he plays by himself. Then when it happened again I gave him an 'energy sink' toy, such as a stuffed kicker, stuffed mouse, stuffed fish, anything he can grab hold of, bite and kick.

When he gets super aggressive I put on a pair of oven gloves and fight him. When my hand is in an oven glove he can swat, bite, claw and attack all he likes, and get it out of his system.

I've done all this to teach him to disassociate hands and feet from play and prey items by offering up alternative objects/toys he can take his aggression out on. Sure he can make the connection between hand and oven glove, just like he knows that the feather or stuffed fish on the end of the fishing rod toy is really being controlled by me. But he also understand that attacking my hands and feet puts him on bad terms with me, and that I will ignore him (or try to), so now he's more gentle when dealing with my hands and feet.

Another consequence of this is that normally I can stroke him without him pulling his ears back and attacking my hands. This is a major step in developing intimacy because he's not quite old enough to know how to get snuggles and petting on his terms. I'm too big a human for his relatively small size.

I'm no cat expert but all I can do is offer or share my individual experience from my individual relationship with my kitten. Cats don't do discipline or 'training', it's an entirely foreign concept to them. But they are teachable, and as much as they are motivated by self-interest and 'What's in it for me?' they're also motivated by anything which puts them on good terms with their human owners.