We've gotten ourselves entangled with an Advanced Cat, and I don't have the prerequisites. I've had basic cat, and Caring for Elderly Cats, but not Advanced Kittens Who Bite.
I've had several. Sometimes what has worked has been looking really shocked, meeping piteously like a kitten in distress, and refusing to play and wearing a bewildered look until the kitten gets concerned and starts trying other things. A really heartrending meep is necessary sometimes, though. And you gotta let the kitten come to you, afterwards, because extending a hand is just asking for more of the same play.
Pretty soon my bite-y kitten figured out that I was a substandard-skin-thickness kitten and only good for gentle play.
On the other hand, the late lamented Barnabas cat never did get over his compulsion to bite, but with the name, I can hardly blame him, and besides, his angst over the whole thing was bizarrely endearing. (Ask me to do an impression of that someday. I can't describe it, but I can do it.) He did tone it down a bit if I meeped piteously, though.
Yup. What Elise posted has worked for me as well. I once had a very aggressive cat. I found that the best response for her in such a situation was to just put her alone in the bathroom for a few minutes. She would come out very meek. She hated to be isolated from me.
Cally used to chew on my toes if I was late getting out of bed to feed her. (Um, I take it Julian didn't actually break the skin? Because if he did, you need to be getting to an emergency room ASAP. For real.)
My solution to this problem was to tuck my toes under the quilt, away from those little needly teeth, and stay in bed for another ten minutes or so.
galluskit used to start in at the other end: dig her claws into my face to wake me up. My solution to that was to fling her, gently, across the room. She always landed safely. But she got the message. Now she only wakes me up by sitting on my chest and purring VERY LOUDLY at me... which I decided years ago was moderately acceptable kitty behaviour, so long as it doesn't happen in the middle of the night TOO often.
He hasn't left marks in several days, and he's never bitten or scratched hard enough for blood to reach the surface (as distinct from leaving red marks but without even minimal blood loss).
I do wash, with soap and hot water, when he breaks my skin (not often, I'm happy to say). What risks are we looking at?
Oh, yeah. Very much. To be discouraged. (I do think that Cally figured out with surprising smartness that my bare skin was far more vulnerable that her fur: she's very rarely scratched me to break the skin since then, but she doesn't seem to have ever figured out that my clothes are not all of the same high protective quality: she'll climb down or up me using her claws freely whether I'm wearing a t-shirt or a heavy jacket.
Cat bites, especially if they're puncture wounds, get infected far more readily that dog bites. see google (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22cat+bites%22+%22Health+risk%22&meta=) I've known someone (a next-door neighbour) who got bitten by her cat, didn't take it very seriously (small wound, didn't bleed very much, disinfected and band-aided, apparently no problem), and went to the doctor three or four days later (suffering increasing pain) - to be told that if she'd put it off over the weekend she could have ended up having to lose her hand.
I now have one who Bites. If I think I'm going to be doing something to said cat that might inspire Biting (like trimming of toes, combing of tummy), I have a spray bottle of water to hand. This distracts the feline.
OTOH, if I'm startled by the bite, I do what elisem recommends, emitting a kitten meep. At the least, the Reigning Feline opens her mouth and lets go.
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Pretty soon my bite-y kitten figured out that I was a substandard-skin-thickness kitten and only good for gentle play.
On the other hand, the late lamented Barnabas cat never did get over his compulsion to bite, but with the name, I can hardly blame him, and besides, his angst over the whole thing was bizarrely endearing. (Ask me to do an impression of that someday. I can't describe it, but I can do it.) He did tone it down a bit if I meeped piteously, though.
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My solution to this problem was to tuck my toes under the quilt, away from those little needly teeth, and stay in bed for another ten minutes or so.
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I do wash, with soap and hot water, when he breaks my skin (not often, I'm happy to say). What risks are we looking at?
That aside, even a minimal friendly nip hurts.
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Oh, yeah. Very much. To be discouraged. (I do think that Cally figured out with surprising smartness that my bare skin was far more vulnerable that her fur: she's very rarely scratched me to break the skin since then, but she doesn't seem to have ever figured out that my clothes are not all of the same high protective quality: she'll climb down or up me using her claws freely whether I'm wearing a t-shirt or a heavy jacket.
Cat bites, especially if they're puncture wounds, get infected far more readily that dog bites. see google (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=%22cat+bites%22+%22Health+risk%22&meta=) I've known someone (a next-door neighbour) who got bitten by her cat, didn't take it very seriously (small wound, didn't bleed very much, disinfected and band-aided, apparently no problem), and went to the doctor three or four days later (suffering increasing pain) - to be told that if she'd put it off over the weekend she could have ended up having to lose her hand.
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OTOH, if I'm startled by the bite, I do what
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