My cat bites when wanting attention

Question

My cat is 5 months old, and very hyper, and loving.

Sometimes I will be lying in bed on my phone or laptop, and he comes up purring wanting attention. He rubs his head all over me, and if I don't pet him back he bites on my finger tip as hard as he can. It draws blood from under my finger nail and bruises up.

It is not like I don't ever give him attention I play with him and pet him all the time, but sometime when he comes up to get attention I am busy and don't want to pet him.

Does anyone have any suggestions that would get him to stop?

Answer 1

May be you are not giving him enough attention and he is feeling neglected.

Also it can be that he is some sort of medical condition and in pain and is confused. So he is asking for your attention as to what's wrong with him. For this reason, at first take the cat to vet to rule out any underlying medical condition.

You can also yourself check whether cat has ticks on fur. Ticks give quite irritation to cats.

Next try to channel out your cats excessive energy by doing the following -

• Set up cat tree
• Put elevated objects near windows so the cat can watch birds
• Buy him a scratching pad
• Buy him toy mouse and other toys
• Buy a laser torch and use it to make the cat run behind laser light on walls

Also try some cognitive therapy -

• Try playing with the cat for some time everyday
• Keep the play schedule same everyday
• While playing if the cat bites freeze instantly and don't respond. Again start playing only when biting stops.
• Give the cat food at a specific schedule each day
• You can also keep some treats handy, don't react when cat does anything you don't like and reward him with treats when he behaves well

You should also make sure to scoop the litter box twice daily and do a complete cleaning every 10 days.

Answer 2

My boy is similar when we play with him. He has a tendency to bite and thats the way he plays. Though it has not stopped completely, it has reduced a large extent. Whenever he would start to bite, we would let out small yelps. Also we would ignore him for the next few minutes. My wife would also scold him sometimes. He now seems to recognize our voice tones and the facial expressions of what happens when he bites and I think he understands that it hurts us. He still bites but its more playful now and more often than not, he'll simply grab on and then let go in a few seconds.

Please do not follow the advice in one of the answers here of caging your cat. This makes them feel insecure and scared. And yes he will turn out to be even more ferocious.