Enough is enough

Jasper (1yo, neutered male) house cat, has play bitten in the 6months I've had him, it's progressed into a plyful hiding around corners and pouncing on legs which is ok if jeans are worn. But he keeps play fighting with my hands and arms. He will approach me and claw and bite me but it is getting more and more aggressive as the days go on.

He has just chased me across the kitchen and jumped to get at my hand, clawing me and causing a nasty gash in the process. I am trying to rehome him and if he carries on, it's going to become too difficult.

How can I tell him no, stop, I don't want that? we play with him with teasers and laser pen but it still doesn't satisfy his craving for getting aggressive on my hands

I can't take anymore of this behaviour :crying:

 

Has he been play biting FOR 6 months?
I think they bst way is when he does anything like that, yelp then turn away and ignore him. Instigate play sessions yourself and whenever he goes to far, yelp and turn away ignoring him. This way he is getting no attention at all from his bad behaviour. It will take time, especially if he he gotten away with play biting for 6 months, but I am sure he will cme round and be just fine. He is still a baby.

 

he tried to bite but Ihave never allowed it as never been sure of his intentions, then realised he wasn't 'biting' as such, now I allow it and play with him, he goes waaay too far with it. My arms and hands are a state and quite sore I have no issues with the playing, it's the violence! I would tell him 'play nice' and he would ease off a little and even changed to licking me...

we were playing this morning and he really hurt me, I naturally yelped and he stopped, and circled me, rubbing at me like he does first thing/feeding time so I think he knew what he did was wrong..... maybe?!

 

It sounds as though he has lots of energy and is getting bored and frustrated for lack of an outlet for his excess energy.

Is Jasper an indoor cat? If so, he may be much better if he could go out, as it will enable him to use up more energy, making him less aggressive indoors.

Do you have some challenging, ceiling-high cat climbers, like the Hicat pole for example? He really needs to have places where he can run and climb.

If you do decide there is sadly no alternative but to re-home him I strongly recommend you to choose a home where he could safely go outdoors. Or his new owners may find they experience the same problems as you until he eventually grows out of them.

 

He is indoor, has run of the house, likes jumping onto DD's high bed, window ledges etc.. we are giving him loads of attention and play time so I think he needs to burn energy in another way.. I was letting him out over the summer whne I was out but he antagonises the rabbits and he went missing and couldn't find his way back, I'm now too worried to let him out again

 

I may have read your posts wrong but it sounds like you allow him to play with hands and arms but then want him to stop before he gets too rough?

It sounds like mixed messages to me.

I think you need to do as advised and train him to play with toys but ignore and stop play when he goes for hands/arms.

 

Sounds like he needs to go outdoors to burn off his energy and aggression. Just check he is properly insured, just in case.

 

Yes, obviously I want him to be able to play and he has been play biting etc but it's suddenly turned really aggressive and he is breaking skin.. If he can't play nice then I won't play at all :nono:

Sussexplumber - he has been out but went missing for two weeks and now he won't go anywhere near an open door..

 

I play with both my cats quite a lot, but I've never used my bare hands in direct play contact. He sounds like he's learned to regard your hands as playmates, pouncing and wrestling them like he'd do with another cat. Only your hands don't have protective fur or teeth to tell him to back off so he can get away with being really quite rough. I can imagine how much it hurts, and how distressing it must be for you. Try not to think of him as being horrible to you, he's not thinking of it that way, he's just play-fighting harder as he's getting older and testing new tactics.

Now you have to try an unmake that bed of teeth and claws in which you find yourself: Deassociate your hands as playthings, only use things that keep him at a distance from them like feathersticks. Making a high pitched sound like a yelp or a squeak may get him to stop and back off, blowing in his face can also be effective, otherwise you can try hissing which is a lot more assertive.

The nearest hand contact I have when playing with my kitten - now a 1yr old - is when wearing a padded tigger glove puppet found in a charity shop. I pop it up from behind a ruck in the duvet, or make it peer round corners, and he goes mad treating it like another kitten, leaping across the bed giving it a box round the ears as he goes etc.

I've told anyone who plays with him not to use their hands either, so he's never learned to associate hands as being things to bite or claw. There have been one or two times when he's attempted a little wrestle - teenager testing boundaries type thing - but I squeaked loudly and he backed off directly.