When will young adult cat stop play biting???

[rbmilliner]

Hi
after advice from more knowledgeable cat people.
Have a just over a year old male cat.
Had him from a young kitten and it's been a bit of a difficult relationship (not overly affectionate, would attack, scratch and pounce on anything and every even if it wasn't moving!) but he's calming down nicely and becoming a sweet little fella.
But he still has a tendancy to play attach and bite (definatly playing as doesn't have his claws out) when your stroking him and sometimes it can hurt.
Is this something that he will grow out of and/or is there anything I can do to stop it happening?

It's possible that he'll grow out of it, but they don't always. When you let a kitten play with your hands, they tend to continue to do so, as this is what they're used to and think it's a great way to play As much as you can, try not to let him near your hands. Distract him with toys, and hopefully, he'll get the message. Someone else might have better advice.

We're going through similar at the moment. Our rescue girl is 14 months old and has recently started pouncing at us when we walk past her.
She's doing it mostly to ds, he's 24 so not a child who's got a bit boisterous with her. She's not hurting him, claws aren't out but she's attacking his leg and giving him a nip a lot.
She's always had crazy moments and we play with her lots but she just gets that look in her eyes and you know she's about to attack.
Not sure how to handle it at the moment.

This calls for the plant sprayer IME. We shake it before spraying so very quickly the spraying isn’t actually needed anymore, the sound the the sprayer being shaken is enough.

I know it sounds harsh but allowing the behaviour to continue is unkind and will have it’s own effect on your relationship. It’s kind of, almost cute and tolerable at this stage. Less so for the next 10-20 years.

TBH it’s often a sign of boredom. A young male cat is likely to happily accept a younger female. Assuming all are neutered of course.

Oh. I suggest the plant sprayer assuming you’re already doing angry cat hissing and whipping the hand away. If you’re not that’s definitely the first port of call.

According to my big boy, never, sorry.

However you get wise to it and I can spot when a lovely stroking time is about to turn into over-excited biting time and my hand is whipped away v fast.

Having got scars from when he bit and meant it, his play bites are nothing like that but they still aren't my idea of a good time.

You learn the warning signs and divert them to other fun things to do.

Attach and chew is a really fun game though.

Not all cats grow out of it.

Unfortunately many people play with their hands (rather than with toys) when their cats are kittens and so the cats learn that hands = play.

Watch his body language and you'll learn how he behaves before he bites - that's when you stop play and stop touching him. Also, I would encourage games that don't involve your hands - flirt poles, catnip toys, laser pointers, electric mice etc.

In other words, help him learn that your hands aren't for biting. My cats have all learnt to take treats from my hands too which helps them associate them with for things