Hi all
Sorry for the long post. Wondering if anyone could offer some advice, I’m so upset and don’t know what else to do. We have a gorgeous male cat who is 2 years old, we’ve had him since he was a kitten and he can be so lovely at times. The issue is he has a really bad biting problem. He’s had this since he was younger, and we have tried many things to discourage it (high pitched squeal, saying no, hissing, water bottle, ignoring him, positive reinforcement when playing) but nothing seems to have worked. We’ve never played with our hands/feet and made sure to give him plenty of wand toy play etc every day. His bites have gotten less frequent (my husbands arms are covered in scars from when he was younger) but the bites are very severe, drawing blood every time. Sometimes he shows warning signs (big eyes, bashing tail) so we can divert his attention, but not always. This morning he was rubbing himself against my husband’s leg and then suddenly latched onto his leg with his teeth - it was so bad there was blood pouring down my husbands leg onto the floor.
He’s neutered and is an indoor cat. We have been hesitant letting him out (it’s a quiet estate but there is a relatively main road a couple of streets over), there are a lot of other cats in the area who seem fine though. Now wondering if he’d ultimately be happier out exploring (he yowls in the house a lot even when we’ve played lots with him).
To add to this I’m also currently 4 months pregnant. Of course the thought of having him in the house with our baby is very worrying as he’s a bit unpredictable (though we would of course ensure supervision at all times).
I’ve cried so much about this as we love to him to pieces but the biting is so extreme and we’re feeling really lost. Just wondered if anyone could offer any advice?
Thank you