I have (another) cat problem.

[conuly]

There's this real sweetie that has started hanging out on our porch. White and black splotches all over, and very friendly and people-oriented. (Also, he thinks he's welcome in my house. He's not, but outdoor cats don't often try.)

He'll gladly come up and sit on a lap, nuzzle a face, get scratched behind the ears, purr... a doll. I suspect he has no current home (he's not the cleanest of cats right now), and I intend to ask around to see if I can confirm that fact. (This is no brown-and-gray kitty. If he's claimed somebody, they know him.)

If he doesn't have a family, I'd like to see about finding him one. He's ridiculously friendly and cute, it'd be easy to get this guy off the streets. (I'm tempted myself, but I still can't have a cat right now.)

I say it'd be easy except there's one glaring problem (mind, I'm making problems that don't exist, I still don't even know if he doesn't have people, but let's work with this): He has no manners. He comes up, he snuggles, and all the time his tail goes twitch-twitch-twitch and then he turns around and does that half-bite you get from cats with no manners. And then he pops back in your lap and you forget that you're ignoring him.

Here we have this friendly, cute, distinctive cat. We still have a rodent epidemic in this city, it'd be so easy to get him inside, nice and safe... and he nips at people.

So I'm really annoyed at this. I suspect the problem is less "love bites" and more "gets overstimulated easily" - he doesn't do this (and that tail calms down) if you pet him firmly and slowly, but if you cover him with lighter, less complete pats....

If I do confirm that he's without a home, I'll look around for people who are willing to take up a challenge. He's not an aloof cat who sometimes bites, you can ignore those because they'll ignore you and hide most of the time. No, he's a *friendly* cat who sometimes bites. Pain in the butt.

I'm also annoyed that I just got *rid* of a cat and this one literally popped up on my doorstep right after. WTF? I'm not looking for cats right now!

Comments

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

But cats are evidently looking for you.

[conuly]

I know!

[siderea]

Look to see if the previous kitty clawed a hobo sign on your doorpost or something. :}

[tungol.livejournal.com]

My family ended up with a cat once that similarly had no manners. Our neighbours two doors over were only weekend residents of our area, and the cat had been hanging around their place apparently ownerless. We agreed to try to find its owners, never did, and ended up with the cat itself.

The point of all that is that our cat also initially had similar tendencies-it could be sitting and purring in your lap, enjoying being petted, and then suddenly bite or scratch for no apparent reason. My family managed to train it out of this bad habit - I forget the details of how, because I'm not much of a pet person and didn't have a lot to do with the cat.

[conuly]

It depends on the cause.

If they're biting because they're under the misapprehension that this is a friendly thing to do you tell them "No" firmly and you put them down and ignore them for a short time. (I also tend to snap my fingers as I do this, but that may be counterproductive with some animals.)

If they're biting because they overstimulate easy and get stressed out, ignoring them won't hurt, but it's not likely to do much either. In that case, you need to watch their signals better. (Or if they're doing it because you're hitting a sore spot, you need to go to the vet and find out if there's a real problem.) That's largely, I think, this guy's issue. I know because his tail is always twitching, and it should be moving slowly or not at all if he's comfortable.

However, he clearly wants attention. He's begging for it. The trick is to find out what sort of touch won't bother him so much, because the situation cannot continue as it is. (Also, he simply has no manners. If he does bite, I revert to step 1 anyway for a short time.)

[catnip13.livejournal.com]

The trick to breaking the biting habit is to press your hand deeper into the cat's mouth, forcing it further open, whenever they do it. Not hard, gently. It was very effective on out last stray. What I do with strays is stick a collar with a note on them. If I don't get a call within a week, I'm pretty sure I've got a homeless kitty.

[conuly]

Not a bad idea, either one of them.

The first sounds like the advice I see for babies who bite at the breast - press their face into you so they can't breathe through their nose and the have to open their mouth.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

Your cat was on the porch when I got home (at 1am), AND was very very aggresively friendly meowing at me and following me down the block when I left the house this morning!!

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

I have named him Not Our Cat.

[conuly]

I haven't even *fed* him. Isn't he a handsome cat, though? Very distinctive.

[gingembre.livejournal.com]

He clearly smells weakness LOL! And yes, very handsome.

[conuly]

I may have bought some food for him today, yes.

[conuly]

I love that "Kind Lady" is a drawing of a cat! LOL!

[marveen.livejournal.com]

If you're not bleeding, it wasn't a bite, just a warning.

My cat "warns" that way when he gets overstimulated--he never bit DOWN or even pinched, but he'll whip around and grab you between his teeth if the petting gets to be too much.

I never tried to make him quit it since he was clearly not intending to hurt. (I've had cats in pain bite me HARD, there's a world of difference involving a lot of blood.)