How to Stop a Cat from Biting and Scratching

It’s upsetting when your beloved pet turns from a sweet, purring companion into a little “fury” that bites and scratches anything that moves. Every owner should understand that cats don’t bite or scratch for no reason. Biting and scratching are a way of communicating. It’s important to learn this language, listen to what your cat is trying to tell you and draw the right conclusions.

Why Cats Bite

Unusual aggression in cats is most often caused by health problems, poor socialization or mistakes their owners made while raising them. Start by taking your cat to the vet. The vet will check your pet’s health: pain, dental disease, an overactive thyroid and other conditions can all make a cat irritable. Kittens also bite more while they’re teething, at around 3 to 6 months of age. In that case, give your kitten chew toys designed for teething kittens.

1. Petting sensitive areas. Many cats bite when you stroke their belly or the base of their tail. These are especially sensitive areas, and the cat is protecting them. This is a self-defense instinct you’ll need to respect. If your cat suddenly attacks when you touch other parts of its body, it may be in pain. Take it to the vet.
2. “Love bites.” Cats sometimes nip each other gently during grooming, and mating cats bite each other’s necks. This kind of “kiss” is easy to tell apart from aggression: a lick, a gentle nip, then another lick.
3. Being played with using hands. Cats that were played with using bare hands as kittens often bite hands as adults. They don’t see the difference between toys and human hands, so they pounce on them, bite and scratch during play. This is 100% the owner’s fault. Never play with kittens using your hands, and don’t let children do it either.
4. Boredom. If a cat has nothing to do, it invents its own games: ambushing you from around the corner, leaping at your hands and biting your hands and feet. Make sure your cat has toys, daily play sessions and perhaps a playmate.
5. Overstimulation. Surprisingly, biting can be caused not only by a lack of attention and play but by too much of it. If you’ve been playing with or petting your cat for a while and notice the tip of its tail twitching, its skin rippling or its ears turning back, leave it alone. It’s had enough. Otherwise, you’ll find out what a cat bite feels like. This is your cat’s way of saying “Don’t touch me!”
6. Bad experiences. Sometimes owners use affection to lure their cat into something frightening: an injection, a bath, a haircut or a nail trim. Do this a few times and you may lose your cat’s trust. Don’t be surprised if your cat then treats every cuddle as the start of something unpleasant and lashes out.
7. Early separation from the mother or a lack of socialization. A mother cat living with people teaches her kittens that humans are nothing to fear: they’re a source of warmth and food. Kittens born feral or taken from their mother too early don’t learn this lesson. To them, a person is a huge, frightening creature. Kittens should stay with their mother until at least 8 weeks of age, and ideally 12 weeks, and they need gentle handling by people during the first weeks of life. Under-socialized kittens can learn to trust people, but it takes time and patience.
8. Protecting kittens. Pregnant and nursing cats can become much more defensive. It’s best not to disturb them too much at this time. They may bite and scratch to protect their kittens.
9. Fear and redirected aggression. A cat that’s frightened or worked up by something it can’t reach, such as another cat outside the window, may turn and bite the nearest person. Cats are also sensitive to tension at home: an owner who is shouting or very stressed can make a cat anxious and defensive.

Read also: Why is my cat peeing everywhere?

How to Stop a Cat from Biting

Once you’ve found the cause of the biting, start working on your cat’s behavior. Take a comprehensive approach:

1. Remove anything that irritates your cat, and create a comfortable environment for it, with hiding places, high perches, scratching posts and its own resources.
2. Don’t let family members or visitors tease your cat. Put an end to all games involving hands and feet. Avoid sudden movements and running around your cat, so it doesn’t switch into “hunter” mode: only prey runs away from the hunter.
3. Teach your cat the right behavior using rewards rather than punishment.

Never punish your cat physically. Hitting, flicking its nose, scruffing it, spraying it with water, throwing things at it or startling it with loud noises doesn’t teach a cat anything useful. Cats don’t connect punishment with their actions. Instead, they learn to fear you, which often makes biting worse.

Here are our tips to help stop your cat from biting:

• Stop the game immediately. The moment you feel teeth, freeze. Don’t yank your hand away, as that makes it more like prey; instead, gently push it slightly toward the cat’s mouth, which makes it let go. Then calmly say “ouch” or “no,” stop playing and walk away for a few minutes. Your cat will learn that biting ends the fun.
• Redirect. Always have a wand toy, a kicker toy or a ball handy. When your cat is about to pounce on your hands or feet, toss the toy so it has something appropriate to attack.
• Be consistent. Everyone in the family should react the same way to every bite. If biting sometimes ends the game and sometimes doesn’t, your cat will be confused.
• Don’t provoke your cat. If you’ve been playing and your cat is getting tired or irritated, stop before it lashes out in self-defense. Don’t blame your cat for an attack you provoked.
• Reward calm behavior. Praise your cat and give it a treat when it plays gently or lets you pet it calmly.
• Wear out your hunter. Two or three active play sessions a day with a wand toy, ending with a “catch” and a meal, use up the energy that would otherwise go into ambushing your ankles.

With consistency, patience and love, you’ll find a way to stop your kitten from biting.

What to Do If Your Cat Scratches

To stop your cat from scratching you, use the tips above, or try these:

• If your cat or kitten scratches during play, redirect its attention. Take your hands away and offer it a toy or a wand toy. Be firm, and stop children and guests from playing with the cat using their hands.
• Give your cat plenty of acceptable places to scratch: tall, sturdy scratching posts and horizontal scratchers near where it sleeps and by the front door. Reward it for using them.
• Keep your cat’s claws trimmed (see how to trim a cat’s nails), or try vinyl nail caps, to reduce the damage.
• Watch for signs that your cat is getting overstimulated, and stop before it lashes out.

Important: Cat bites can be more serious than they look. Cats’ teeth carry bacteria deep into the skin, and bites often become infected. Wash any bite thoroughly with soap and water, and see a doctor promptly if the bite broke the skin, especially on the hand, or if you notice redness, swelling or pain.

If nothing seems to work, or your cat’s aggression is sudden or severe, talk to your vet. They may refer you to a veterinary behaviorist or a certified cat behavior consultant.