How do you keep your adult cat from biting & chewing?

Question

My fiance and I rescued a kitten who was abandoned in our apartment complex...he appears to be 90% Maine Coon. Great cat, but he loves to chew on us. He is really good about not clawing us, however he bites and chews. We've tried the Cat Fancy methods of yelling "ow!" and ignoring him, but nothing seems to work. Any advice?

Answer 1

Go here and see if this helps. it is a pretty good read.

Also: consider a book by Dr. Larry Lachman PhD, Cats on the Counter. Available through Amazon.

http://perfectpaws.com/handle.html

Answer 2

My own cat never bites as I refused right from the beginning to continue interacting with him as soon as his teeth or claws came out. Some cats seem to have a stronger instinct to bite or chew though, and can take more work.
If a vocal command doesn't work, your next option is, that as soon as his teeth touch your skin, you take your hand away, and end the game by ignoring him. If he persists, push him away or place him a short distance away. Make these motions as quickly as possible, so your contact with him is very quick & minimal. That way he'll be in no doubt that the game has come to an abrupt end. As a last resort, if you find that he tries to lunge at you, or he grips onto you harder when you try to remove your hand, keep a squirt bottle of water nearby whenever you are interacting with him. When he goes to bite, say "ow" or whatever your word is, then at the same time, squirt him with a small amount of water. Try to get him in the face if possible, as this will cause a much bigger response from him. Don't use too much water - a couple of drops will do. He will then either run away, or at least be distracted for the second you need to remove your hand and move away from him.
Once you've managed to end the game, completely ignore him for a while until he comes back to you in a more humble way. Cats are smart - they are not so hard to train if you are consistent. Of course, once you begin to train him not to use his mouth on you during play, you need to react this way every time - NEVER confuse him by allowing him to get away with it, and dont' let other people encourage him to do it, or you'll never fix the problem.
Good luck

Answer 3

Keep doing the 'ow'! thing - sometimes it takes a while to sink in. Don't try to pet him when he's in 'play mode', and, of course, don't ever use your hands to play with him.

Do try to head him off or redirect him to a toy before he starts trying to play by chewing on you. A Cat Aerobics or Cat Dancer is really good. Or tear a sheet of printer paper in 4 pieces and crumple them up. Toss one across the room for the kitty to chase - really fun if you have a large room or long hallway with hard, slick floors. Some cats will bring the paper balls back to you. Our kitten also loves the crinkly plastic collars that are around the lids of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and catnip mice.

Anyway, the idea here is to keep him busy and active with appropriate things to chew on and play with.

Answer 4

Don't ever use your hands to play with him . If he bites you when you are petting him , stop and put him on the ground .Most importantly do not re-enforce bad behavior.

Answer 5

Sew it's mouth shut? lol Kidding!

Hmmmm....bite it back!

Gee, I dunno. Maybe, file his teeth down?

Seriously, though....it's probably a young cat and will stop when it gets a little age on it.