Nipping cat - Question for cozie

[RubbishMantra]

Cozie, I recall you saying that Senior Boy was a bit bitey when he first came to live with you. If Little M's naughty, and I hold my hand up (like STOP), he just launches himself at the hand, or slaps me. Same as if I point a finger at him if he's being an arse, he takes it as an invitation to bite my finger. Just now, I was tapping on the keyboard, and he walked towards me, jaws open like a crocodile.

He never breaks skin though.

How did you get Senior to stop nipping? He gets playtime and has lots of toys.

Yikes. With the cats I've had, they really hate to be alienated from people so any discipline issues are handled by exclusion from The Presence including - and this is quite important - catching them with a word on the sinful thought and not just the act. (If you know a cat well there are so many 'tells' that they exhibit.) Have you tried exclusion on him?

You also have to be completely consistent and determined. Cats won't give you any quarter so you have to have/acquire good willpower. How do you do on that one?

Thanks for the reply Cozie.

I haven't tried the exclusion method, because when I tried it with MCat, he just made use of the 20 min time out to sexually molest DH's discarded trousers.

I will try the time out though, because if I shut him out of my bedroom, he digs at the door dementedly, or when I have to go in the cellar (one of those old trap-door coal cellar thingies), I shut him in the kitchen, and I can see him peering through the glass doors like a lost soul when I come back from underground.

I've been a bit lax on the "rules" lately. On the bright side, MCat very rarely bites anymore, he used to be a savage, so I managed to encourage him not to bite.

Little Monsieur doesn't really bite though, it's more insolence. And he makes a huffing noise when displeased.

He's chasing his Flying Frenzy now, so a happy bunny.

We have three house rules on which I'm implacable - and 'no biting in bed' is one of them. 3 is quite enough for us all but, interestingly, the rules sort of transmogrify in their minds so that that becomes a general 'no biting' one and the only discipline you need is an'Excuse Meeeeeeeee?.......' with The Look if they were to behave badly.

You need to carry out the exclusion with purpose though so that they can associate it with their particular sin. A Siamese won't try very hard to get back in but will rather sit and brood on their misdemeanour. Remember - absolute consistency at all times. It might seem like hard going at the very beginning but once they learn what's acceptable it's better for all.

They don't seem to mind at all by the way. There's almost an element of 'It's a fair cop, Guv' when they do something they shouldn't and are pulled up.