Cat bites and claw

by Mary DeVault
(Pompano Beach, Florida, U.S.A.)

Hello;

I have this 1 and 1/2 year old fixed tom cat. Ever since he has been fixed for no apparent reason he will out of the clear blue and my daughter is not bothering him at all, he will walk right up to her and either lightly claw her or he will what appears to be almost play bite her. Why does he do this? All she does is try to love him and he chases after her like she is some kind of mouse. This scares my daughter to death. What do I do now, we all love Ziggy.
Help if you can,
Thanks, worried mom

Answer from Kate
Hi
This sounds to me like a cat who wants to play and uses this tapping method to get attention. Also it sounds like he has not learned that biting and scratching is not the way to play with us humans.

He is not being aggressive, he just wants to play and doesnt know that clawing and biting upsets us.

When he does this your daughter needs to not (if she can make a sound as this is a positive reaction and the cat thinks great i have got attention) and to get up and quickly walk away from him.

Then at other times play with him using toys etc. Over time he will learn that he gets a positive reaction when he plays with toys and a negative one when he bites etc.
See this page for more on this technique

https://www.our-happy-cat.com/cat-discipline.html

best wishes kate

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