My siamese bites

Question
QUESTION: My otherwise charming indoor 5y female siamese bites. When I am away too much, she make big holes in my clothes. When I, or someone else pets her she licks the hand, and then she bites, first a little, and then really hard. She hisses at children. She also gets some tics on her back, which make her freak out and run around like mad.

ANSWER: Anna Maria,

Has your Siamese always exhibited these behaviors, or is this a fairly recent development?

If it is fairly recent, I would guess that the cat is in some discomfort and should see a veterinarian.  If cats are in pain, they will exhibit biting behavior when petting begins to hurt them.

If your cat has always exhibited these behaviors then my guess is that she was never socialized to humans.  When kittens play with each other they exhibit quite a bit of scratching and biting behavior.  Cat skin is very tough and little kittens really do not hurt each other when they play so roughly.  Part of our socialization of kittens is to teach them that biting/scratching behavior is not appropriate for us soft skinned humans.  We do this by playing the picking up, soft speaking, stroking "game".  Kittens love this.  When they begin the biting/scratching behavior, the "game" stops, we put the kitten down and walk away.  It does not take the kitten long to figure out that they need to play more gently with humans. At age 5, I am not sure how long it would take for this technique to work, if it could work.

You could also try a behavior modification technique called clicker training.  You can go to Karen Pryor's web site and see what you think:

http://www.clickertraining.com


As for chewing on clothes, it is sometimes the case if the kitten was removed from the mama too young, they will develop a habit of chewing on certain fabrics, especially wool.  The best thing is to keep such fabrics out of reach of your Siamese.  The clothes chewing is a difficult habit to break, especially if it has been going on for quite a while.

When she hisses at children, is it all children?  Little children?  In the former, she might have been abused by children as a kitten. and, so mistrusts all children?  If it is just little children, many cats are daunted by the unpredictability of small children.

As far as the ticks, there is not much you can do about that.  Do you use a proper anti-flea, anti-tick preparation like Frontline plus?

Without a lot more history of your cat, all the above is mostly speculation.

Best regards... Norm.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you Norm! I got my Siamese Jinx too early, at 5 weeks and her being a tiny rut of the litter with a crooked tail (a mix between a european seal point and a Thai seal point with a pigtail). She was never abused as I know (came from cat crazy friends) - although she is afraid of cleaning tools so maybe something happened with the cleaning lady. She always chewed cloth, bit and scratched - and she never liked small children, but at least she only hisses and doesn't bite them. She learned not to use her claws quite rapidly, but the biting continues. Either as a continuation of her licking the hand, or when anyone pets her longer than 2 minutes- which they do since otherwise she is extremely cute and sociable, gives a hello kiss, jumps up on the knee purrs and talks to people. And then all of a sudden - a sharp bite.  I believe it might be linked to the "tics" (not "ticks") - nervous twitches on her back which started when she was around 1y old - can it be linked to her kinked tail? She is also very highly strung, a high sound makes her jump a meter. She is also terrified of being alone, but on the other hand she is the perfect traveller (car, air, leash) as she is happy when she is close to me. I love this little thing more than anything, and would really want to sort this out.  Really appreciate your advice! Thanks, Anna Maria

Answer
Anna Maria,

Oh my, Jinx was barely weaned when you got her.  It is not uncommon for cats who are adopted so young to get into wool and other fabric chewing habits.

I am sorry I misinterpreted "tic" as "tick".  These tics are not uncommon and it is like the cat has an itch. It normally does occur commonly and if it seems to be very persistent, you might want the vet to check her out for body mites or skin mites or the like.

As for the biting, I would instantly pull my hand away and walk away from her whenever she exhibits biting behavior. It may take a long time for her to get the idea, after all she has been doing this for 5 years!!!!!

Siamese are high strung to begin with.  Couple this with the young age of adoption, and much of her behavior is explained.  She is clearly very nervous and very tightly bonded to you.  So, for her few behavioral quirks, she sounds like a super kitty.

I really do not know what else to suggest.

Best regards... Norm.