USVI-On-Line

I see there are a lot of cat owners/lovers on this forum. I'm hoping you might have some words of wisdom for me...

My dear little kitten (5 1/2 months old) has a real biting problem. When he wants to play, he'll lunge at you, teeth-first. While I'm the one he likes to cuddle with and shower with love, I'm also the one he likes to attack the most!

We're getting him neutered when he reaches 6 months (I'm counting down the days), and I've read that this might help. Hopefully. I'm wondering if any of you have any advice on how to break him of the habit if it doesn't?

My hands, arms, legs, neck and face thank you!!

I had to get another cat to solve the problem when I was having the same thing happening. My cat, Milo (now 18), would sit on the floor in front of me, stare at me, start moving his tail from side to side across the floor while his pupils would start getting big (no lie) then he would jump on my chair and attack me.

I adopted another cat, Trouble, to give Milo someone else to play with. Trouble quickly brought Milo to his senses, and he never attacked us again. When he would run at Trouble like that, she would body slam him (the way cats do) and bite him

I think they like having a buddy...go get another one (O:

Portia used to never bite people, and then this guy came over my house for dinner and taught her how to "rough house." Now she bites me every time I try to pet her, and the guy is nowhere to be found.

Tigger used to hide and get that look on his face and then attack you "with love." He grew out of it eventually. I think it's part of being a kitten, for the most part.

Can I ask some cat advice while we're on the topic as well?

I strongly second the second kitten suggestion…I volunteer at a cat shelter and we always recommend that kittens go in pairs so they have someone else to provide entertainment. Kittens are rambunctious little characters and do better when they have someone to keep them company. As long as the two cats are both under a year of age when introduced they usually take to each other pretty quickly.

Is there a reason you’re waiting until your cat is 6 months old to neuter him? We routinely do it at four months at my shelter…and especially with a male cat, it’s just two snips and not major surgery so they can be fixed even younger than four months.

As for the biting specifically, a technique I have used is to tap the cat on the nose and sternly say “no” when bitten…they usually get the idea pretty quickly.

We only have the one because we really only have room for one. We took him home after falling in love with him and all his litter-mates had already been adopted, leaving him all by himself. We had a tough enough time trying to find a place for his litter, I have no clue where we'd put a second litter box. Everything I read tells me that each cat should have his own. I really just don't see how we can do it - not until we can buy ourselves a house! And, well, that's not any time soon...

We're waiting for the 6 month mark because we were told to wait until then if we could (by the rescue we got him from). They said it wasn't necessary, but it would be better for him if we could wait. Is this not true?! Hold on, I'm dialing the vet now...

Lulu76, feel free to post your question! Not that I will likely have an answer

I can relate! I adopted my cat at @ two years old and he was fairly aggressive when playing with me. I tried a loud "NO" and a smack on the nose, I tried a squirt gun, I tried scruffing him, nothing worked.

The only thing that worked for me was blowing really hard in his face. He hates it and will stop whatever he is doing.

In your case, this is normal kitten behavior but it's not fun anymore when the kitten starts to become a cat. And to be honest, kittens are nuts! Way crazier than puppies! I worked at animal hospitals and during kitten season, when we were raising abandoned litters, I was always covered in scratches.

First, don't wait to neuter. Neutering can be done as early as 12 weeks. It is not invasive sugery for a male cat as it is for a female. Literally twist and snip and tie (sorry boys!).

Second, find a way to combat your cats behavior as I did. Find something that makes him not want to attack you anymore. You know when the attack is coming- the eyes get big, the tail vibrates, the muscles tense up- so defend yourself. Try scruffing the neck, try loud noises, try blowing in his face, try chucking a pillow at him. His liiter mates would have bit and scratched him so don't feel bad being a little physical.

Third, divert his aggressive play toward something else and make sure he gets plenty of excercise. Try rubbing catnip all over a certian toy or cat tree that he likes. Teach him how to fetch. Tie his favorite toy to the end of a leash drag it around behind you while you do your chores so he chases it or cast it out and whip it around while you're watching TV so he can chase it. Let him be an outdoor cat if you live in a safe neighborhood. Some cats just need to be outdoors.

As long as your cat gets away with his bad behavior, behavior that he actually considers play right now, he will continue to do it. He needs to learn that his behavior toward you is wrong and learn how to act-out in the appropriate manner.

I wouldn’t necessarily agree with letting him be a sometimes outdoor cat…diseases, fights, and cars are all dangers to name a few. A sometimes-outdoor cat of mine got killed when she got hit by a car and 13 years later I’m still not over it...she was only 5 months old and losing her was absolutely devastating.

You can definitely get a second cat and have only one litter box. My sister has two males and they share one box, and I have five cats and they share three boxes. We used to have four boxes but got rid of one of them because the cats never use it. At my shelter we have multiple cats using the same box…in fact, when I go to clean, one of their favorite activities is going into another cage and using somebody else’s litter box

I have Tiki and he's a challenge. We love him very much but he attacks my 2 other cats, wrestles pretty hard with both of them. He also will not allow ANY dog on our long without chasing them off.

He also LOVES to play rough with us, but when we stop he will run after us and attack us. Sometimes it's funny, sometimes it's not.

I've trained my cats very well. They can give their paws, do high 5's and fetch, sit down, lay down.

There's 3 things that work with him. Belive it or not...I show him a banana, or the throw rug in the kitchen, or my fist right in front of his face (Iwould never hit him) with a firm "NO".

I'm sure different things work for different cats. Just try different things till you find something.

Cats can be trained, I'm convninced. It really is no different in concept to dog training, where most say it really should be called "people training". You have to be firm and consistent, otherwise it won't work. Find what scares the cat enough for them to back off and use a firm "no" so they learn that word really well. It can work.

Connie, you show him a banana? That's so funny. I'd like to see that. I'm watching this thread because my TAD has been wanting a cat. I'm more of a dog person, so I'm trying to decide whether to get one. All this advice is interesting.

We have an invisible fence that keeps our dogs in our yard. You can purchase cat collars, but I've never known anyone who has used one. Have any of you feline moms and dads used an invisible fence with your cat? I'd prefer my cat stay in my yard if I get one.

OK, so my cat question, problem, whatever.

My cat is eating me out of house and home. She wants to eat all the time. I am worried she is going to get too fat.

She was living in our neighborhood and I volunteered to take her in about a month ago. Even though we all left food outside for her, I think part of this is that "survival mode" mentality. When her dish gets empty, she will cry and/or swat me until I feed her. But she eats really fast and I think she's eating way more than she should. (Not that I know how much I should be feeding her, but I generally have to put food in her 1-cup dish several times a day.)

I have tried to let her dish go empty sometimes to teach her that she doesn't get more food just because it's empty. She was so well-fed when she was a stray that we all thought she was pregnant. The vet said she is 1-3 years old and has been well-fed, and I feel like she is getting even bigger.

How much food should I give her? How do I teach her to make it last longer because she's not getting any more until her next set feeding time? (Especially without getting scratched to death or going nuts from the craziness and crying.)

Pjayer, I know lots of "dog people" who became "cat people" after getting a cat

One of my best friends is exploring the invisible fence option for her cat. I'll let you know how it goes if she decides to get it.

Lulu - is she fixed? Cats that are not fixed will always eat more than cats that aren't fixed...I think it's something like unfixed males eat 33% more food and unfixed females eat something like 28% more than fixed cats.

Most cats can be fed ad libitum, but not all. Cat food packaging usually has guidelines for how much a cat should eat each day according to its weight.

She probably still is in survival mentality. When we adopted our second cat she had recently come from living in a trailer park where she was fending for her life everyday. At first she would growl at our first cat when she was eating and he would just look at her like "are you kidding me?" We joke that she used to be scrappy back in the day, but within a few weeks of realizing that she had a safe food supply she stopped growling while eating.

She has been spayed.

Maybe at some point she won't feel like she HAS to eat because the dish has food in it. I've always just kept food in the dish, and all my other cats have been that way.

I just don't want her to get fat and have health complications in the meantime. She does look like she is gaining weight to me.

She does eat Purina for indoor cats, which is supposed to be kind of like "diet" food for cats that don't get to be as active as others.

My 2 cents-vets used to always say wait until 6 months primarily as an anaesthesia concern-kittens can be tricky, but with the large overpopulation of kittens many shelters required spaying/neutering before leaving the shelter. First time I ran into that was 16 or so years ago when they wouldn't let me take home a male kitten (approximately 12 weeks at the time) before he was fixed. So many vets have become more experienced at it.

In fact just this a.m. I picked up 3 feral kittens I'd taken to our vet to be fixed, 2 males and 1 female. They'd appeared in our barn one day. I'm guessing they're maybe 4 months old. So it depends on your vet and they're "expertise" with young spays/neuters. Not all vets still are comfortable with it.

2 kittens don't need 2 litter pans-multiple pans become an issue if one starts having elimination issues, and that can help-sometimes it's a "who's dominant" issue, but usually, especially if they're kittens you're fine with one pan/two cats. Just stay on top of cleaning it is all-that's why some people need many multiples of pans too-they don't clean them enough and after all, what cat wants to go into a stinky messy pan?

Lulu-if your cat eats a lot, and doesn't show weight gain-you might want to get it checked out for a thyroid issue. I think that's a symptom. Diabetes maybe too. One of our cats would be bulimic sometimes-gorge and then vomit. We had to offer just a little food and/or lay it out flat instead of a bowl because it took longer to eat-couldn't gobble.

Cats can be trained for most things too-one of ours (19) goes for walks with us around our farm (she's an indoor only cat except for the walks)-we used to have her on a lead, but she doesn't even need that anymore. As to the biting-consistency is usually the winner on that one. Anger doesn't work though!

I'm similar to Teresa Rae and have been a shelter volunteer since I was a kid.

Good luck with everything!