Training my cat to stop biting/scratching?

About 15 minutes ago, I had a VERY painful experince with my cat, Smokey. We decided not to get him de-clawed because it sounded very inhumane. Now, he has become very big on scratching and biting. About 15 minutes ago, I was trying to teach him not to scratch or bite with the word ‘no’. Anytime he swiped at me or tried to bite me, I would tell him the word ‘no’ one or two times. If he let me pet him without him trying to scratch me, I would give him lots of praise. After about 5 minutes of this, I got up to get some water. Smokey followed me, but he grabbed my ankle with a ton of force. He dug his claws and teeth into my skin and refused to let go. I had to pry him from my leg so I could run to the office and close the door. You can clearly see the blood and red marks from both the scratches and bites. I washed the cuts out, so that’s nothing to worry about. This has been the most painful experince with my cat, and I’m tired of all the damage he’s doing to me and my sister. How can I get Smokey to stop scratching and biting everyone?

Answer #1

cats ca learn word IE no but say it as you squirt him. my 2 cat know 3 key words No off and breakfast.

Answer #2

1.clip his claws.

2.he probably just wants to play.

3.try spraying him with water or something.

  1. ^_^
Answer #3

tap him on the nose or squirt him w/ water. Whatever you do don’t rip out his whiskers. Or lightly smack hi on the head.

Answer #4

I’d take the cat to the vet to make sure there’s nothing medically wrong… sometimes aggression can be a sign of sickness or injury…

Then, it really is time for behavior modification… the swiping appears to be a game, he probably doesnt realize you’re not playing…

This site has some great tips on behavior mod… http://www.perfectpaws.com/agg.html

And I know behaviorists are pro reinforcement, and anti punishment, but when my cat was younger and she was doing something she shouldnt be, I’d lock her up for 10 mins. She learnt what no meant pretty quickly…

Answer #5

well they have this thing for dogs and cats I forgot what its called but its for their claws and it doesnt her when you do it. it just trims the claws it doesnt get them cut off. I think its called pedi paws. about $20 and do you have a clean nonharmful squirt bottle? if you do put some clean water/faucet water… and eachtime the cat does somethin you dont want it to like scratch couches, or people, or hiss, bite, w/e squirt it w/ the water. it wont hurt the cat. they just hate water(well most do) and it should work even if your cat isnt scared of water.

just make sure the squirt bottle didnt have anything bad in it before. its better if you go to the store and get an empty one… theyre really cheap. mark it w/ permanent marker so everybody knows its for the cat

Answer #6

You can’t ‘train’ a cat like you would a dog - they don’t understand the word ‘no’ and they don’t care to.

How old is Smokey? If he’s young, then he’s being playful, but his ‘playing’ is obviously too aggressive. Was he taken from his siblings too young? A cat that hasn’t had enough time to grow with it’s siblings doesn’t get the chance to learn appropriate play from them - they teach each other how hard to bite or scratch by doing it to each other…by being bitten and clawed by siblings, they understand that it hurts and it’s bad.

If he’s still quite young, the behaviour should settle down as he ages, but if this is an older cat, you may have a problem.

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