Does your cat keep biting you? Don’t hit it—this correction method works better than anything else.
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by shay hu
2 min reading time
If your cat bites, stay still and walk away instead of shaking or hitting. Teach it that biting makes play and attention stop.
If a cat bites you, never shake your hand. The more you shake it, the more excited the cat gets—it’ll think the game is too much fun.Stay put until it lets go, then turn and walk away, leaving it alone for ten or so minutes. What cats fear most isn’t being hit—it’s when you suddenly ignore them.
After using this trick a few times, it’ll get the message: biting = the owner disappears.
Most cats bite because they treat your hand like a toy. If you teased it with your hand when it was a kitten, it’s remembered—hands move, make noises, and chase after things. Isn’t that exactly what prey does?
So here’s the first golden rule: Hands are only for petting and feeding; use a cat teaser for playtime. Spend fifteen minutes every day going wild with it using a cat teaser—let it jump, pounce, and sprint. A cat that’s played itself out won’t even bother to lift an eyelid if you wave your hand in front of it.
Then there’s the most infuriating type—you’re petting it just fine, and suddenly it bites. It’s not that it’s turned on you; it’s just annoyed. Cats have less patience than you think—a few strokes on the belly or the base of the tail are enough to set them off. Keep an eye on its tail: when it goes from a slow sway to a rapid flick, pull your hand away immediately.
Kittens also love to chew on things when they’re teething—their teeth are itchy. Give them something to gnaw on—catnip balls or chew toys will do—and once they have something proper to do with their mouths, they won’t be fixated on your fingers.
Finally, the most important point: don’t hit them.Hitting a cat is basically useless. It won’t associate “being hit” with “biting people”; it’ll just think you’re scary. At best, it’ll avoid you; at worst, it might actually fight back. Getting it to stop biting boils down to making it understand that your hands aren’t toys. Stick with it for a week or two, and most cats will learn.
