3 year old boy..

[Hopefulmidwife]

We have a beautiful big 3 year old (the vet thinks part bengal). He can be lovely and affectionate but most of the time, he is unsociable and just chills on his own - which is fine by us. He's a house cat and he has a grade 3 heart murmur too. Anyway, his behaviour has always been a bit unpredictable, I think it's always playful but he's quite bitey and if he is playful you can walk past him and get launched on. When he bites it's usually because he's had enough of you stroking him etc. It never seems angry, he never hisses/swipes etc.

My partner has said if we ever have children and he goes for the baby, then he will go. And I understand that completely.

So I guess my question is: can I get rid of this behaviour, even though it's just playful? He's calmed down a lot even in his 3 years, will he calm down more? He's my baby and I don't want to eventually contemplate getting rid of him. I've attached a pic of him stretching on a rug so you can see his size! 😃

You wouldn’t get a say in rehoming a pet you love if it goes for a child, even if the child’s provoked it?.

I think I would... it's not a power thing. I think his point of view is the fact he's unpredictable and the child would come first

A large part of a cats brains are devoted to detecting movement, when you walk he can practice his skills on you.

If he’s a house cat with no garden access he’ll need a lot of stimulation to re-direct his playfulness. Usually they’d be out killing things.

Toys need to be rotated in and out of use so they don’t get bored with them. Puzzle feeders are good too, YouTube have cat videos of mice and birds close up.

He gets lots of play 😊 He's just very boisterous. When you give him strokes etc he'll soon let you know if he's had enough and that's a jaw clamp, that's what we're worried about for the future. But I'm sure given more time he'll calm I expect

Is there no warning at all? A flick at the end of the tail, pupils dilating, fur rippling slightly or a turn of the head to look at what your doing?.

They’ve only got one method of communicating if as far as they’ve given you fair warning but you haven’t noticed.

Maybe he’s just “done” at two strokes. He obviously likes interacting with you if he lets you touch him.

Not all cats like to be stroked. It's not natural for a cat to be stroked. They enjoy having the areas on their body that leave their scent on you stroked, but I think that's about it. If he wants to be stroked, he'll come to you, otherwise don't bother him with too many strokes and maybe just keep it to a minumum.