Question
Sammy
After our 18 yr old Maine Coon passed on, we rescued a 'stray' cat from the local shelter.We brought Sammy (Siamese/short hair mix) home about 2 wks ago. The vet estimated he was 1-2 yrs old, and the only thing found wrong was ear mites. She gave him meds for that. When Sammy first got here, he was a blue eyed sweetie- wanted to stay around us on our laps, and was as gentle as could be. Now, like another person's post explained about their cat, he is biting, jumping on tables, countertops, and up one side and down the other of chairs and the couch. He has lots of toys, a scratching post he uses & was neutered about 5wks ago.We keep him indoors only,(he loves to sit on his window seat and look outside). We have used a stern 'NO' and squirted with a water bottle, but nothing seems to phase him. Is he just adjusting to his new home? I know he's just young with lots of energy, but the biting concerns me! We've never had that problem with any cat we've had!
Thanks for any ideas!
AnswerDiana,
It sounds as if Sammy has never been socialized to humans. When kittens play with each other, they exercise a lot of biting/scratching behavior. Since cats have such tough skin, it does not phase the kittens in the least. We humans have much softer skin and sometimes kittens have to learn that such biting/scratching behaviors are not acceptable to us.
Stern "NO" and squirt bottles are ineffective ways of disciplining any cat. Cats do better with more positive reinforcement techniques. With little kittens, we tend to hold them, stroke them, and speak softy to them. If they begin the biting/scratching behavior, we put them down and walk away. They love the holding/stroking/soft speaking game and figure out pretty quickly that the biting/scratching behavior is not a thing to do with humans. At age 1-2 it would take much longer for this to work with your cat, if it did even work at all. Another option might be clicker training (see Karen Pryor's web site at www.clickertraining.com) to investigate the technique. Clicker training has been used successfully to modify cat behavior.
One other thing, please make sure no one "rough houses" with Sammy as this will encourage the biting behavior.
The biting is an extreme form of affection as he is treating you as a sibling. So one should be patient and see if you can slowly break him of the habit by stopping whatever you are doing when he begins the biting behavior and walk away.
Good luck and best regards... Norm.
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