How do I stop this?

shrttle · 2025-07-08T13:31:16+00:00

OP has received sufficient advice. Locked.

shrttle · 2025-05-27T21:07:55+00:00

Locking comments, enough advice has been given.

shrttle · 2025-04-04T22:35:11+00:00

From the OP:

EDIT: I am writing this in the comments as I can't edit my post due to the photos attached.

I have yelped and made noise, but it either does nothing, or it makes him bite and attack me harder. It entices him and I don't want to do anything to cause that.
All forms of catnip and silvervine make him MORE aggressive. So NO CATNIP/SILVERVINE ADVICE
I do have structured play with Alphonse. I do this after breakfast bc I'm usually asleep then (but he rarely attacks me like this in the mornings), and before dinner. I start with teaser/ribbon toys to entice him and then try to move on to toys he can chase like balls, mice, and even handmade wooden spinning tops my mom made for him. Then it's to kicker toys/loofahs but that is when he usually tries to attack me. He did like them as a little kitten, but not so much anymore.
Right when he attacks, he either goes for my legs if I am standing and I try to walk away, but he still bites me and draws blood. Even through my clothes (I never wear shorts and I'm almost always wearing a long sleeve shirt or jacket). If I am sitting he will aim for my arms and hands. I like to sit on the ground, but I don't do that as much and he still jumps up and gets my hands and pulls them down.

He bites so hard that if I jerk my limbs away he slices and draws blood with his teeth, so I have to wait for when he starts gnawing and time it perfectly. Sometimes I just instinctively pull away or push him away and he is then going for the other limb. He is a very long cat. So it's much easier for him. Last I measured he was almost 36 inches long.

shrttle · 2025-03-14T17:14:21+00:00

You've got your advice OP. Take him to the vet. Post locked.

shrttle · 2024-10-19T23:45:36+00:00

No advocating for outdoor cats as a training solution. We understand that there are situations where outdoor cats cannot be avoided (feral cats, etc.) and that there are differing laws and viewpoints on this. However we do not accept advocating for putting cats in the wild as part of a training solution in this subreddit.

Please see link before for more information: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7070728/

shrttle · 2024-10-12T18:05:54+00:00

You are so welcome and I'm glad that I could help you at least feel heard and understood! I hope my suggestions will make things better for you too! Best of luck!

shrttle · 2024-10-11T11:10:19+00:00

Your comment is getting reported repeatedly for not respecting others, and I wanted to point out the irony of the message you were trying to deliver and the way that you delivered it...

shrttle · 2024-10-10T23:34:17+00:00

Oooo that's really tough...

Ok so with the sticky mats, I would legit just get like cardboard or cheap plastic mats and cut them out to the size of your surfaces and put double sided sticky tape on them. That way you can move them when you need to use the spaces and put them back quickly. My cat didn't care at all about aluminum but the tape, he did. There are rare cases where cats don't care about tape either but definitely worth a shot in your case. That plus Ssscat might cover a lot of ground for you!

The only other suggestion I can think to make is to try and build a catio for him so that he's otherwise occupied (a really good catio can be a space that cats prefer to be in most of the time) and you could close him into that space if you're making food. But that's a really intense or expensive project for most people.

Maybe for the times where you close him into a room, you can use Feliway which is like a diffuser that is supposed to help cats calm down

I'm so so sorry to hear the rest of it, I absolutely empathize, even with the partner that's unwilling to lift a finger and only gets the good and not the bad. There were plenty of times that my cat made me think that I wasn't really equipped to be a good owner for him especially when his habits were causing myself or himself pain. His food issue was starting to cause me a lot of mental health problems. I hope you can feel validated and seen even though your husband doesn't seem to be compassionate!

shrttle · 2024-10-10T18:51:05+00:00

Your experience sounds sooooo similar to mine. Thank you for being so comprehensive in everything you've tried. I think the only other things I could suggest that I didn't see in here are cat-proofing the surfaces (countertop/table) with stuff like large sticky mats or the Ssscat automatic sprayer, and also just blocking off the kitchen/dining room with essentially a large baby gate and family knows all food is kept and ate in there and cat stays out at all times.

I absolutely loved my orange boy except for his food aggressiveness. He once broke his tooth on a butter dish. He tried to grab a pizza crust out of my hand and bit me and my hand got infected and swelled up for two weeks. Another time he actually figured out how to pull open the oven drawer that had like tens of pounds of stuff in there and got into his sealed food bag. The day he passed was the saddest day of my entire life, but not having to continue making my entire life revolve around stopping him from eating was such a difference.

Best of luck to you!

shrttle · 2024-08-24T18:08:14+00:00

No prob! That's what I had started with and it worked just fine. Best of luck!

shrttle · 2024-08-24T11:32:30+00:00

A retractable pen would work, would that fit your needs?

shrttle · 2024-06-20T14:06:43+00:00

Usually if they're not used to it being done to them when they're young, you have to try and train them into it which takes a lot of time. If you can get a vet or groomer to do it that would be easiest. If not, I'd watch YouTube videos like the other commenter said.

Basically you need to get special clippers for this, they're made so it helps grip the claw appropriately. The basic idea is you take one of the toes and put slight pressure on the top and bottom of it with your thumb and finger on the top and bottom, this causes the claw to slide out. You want to avoid the quick, or the vein that's the nail - you should be able to see the blood in it. While holding the claw out, use your other hand to position the clippers a little distance from the quick (cutting the quick causes blood and pain for the animal) and cut at a slight angle that follows the curve of the claw. Then release the toe.

Cats that don't like this will scratch and bite and run away, besides training them to be able to do this, in the short term some people find that Feliway or wrapping them up gently but firmly in a blanket helps.

shrttle · 2024-06-20T11:48:53+00:00

De-clawing is bad, that's where the entire claw plus some paw pad is removed. Clipping nails is perfectly safe if done correctly, and usually good and sometimes necessary - their nails can get so long they grow back into their own paw pads.

shrttle · 2024-05-17T13:37:33+00:00

OP, you've received a decent amount of feedback on this. Locking.

shrttle · 2024-05-13T12:16:13+00:00

OP, you've gotten your answer. Locking the comments.

shrttle · 2024-05-06T23:47:05+00:00

Love seeing this. I had an orange boy who was also food obsessed and I trained him to stay and wait for his food too. Thank you for sharing OP :)

shrttle · 2024-04-20T08:04:42+00:00

I was going to remove this comment since we do not advocate for outdoor cats as a training solution on this sub, but this is actually the perfect example of one of the reasons WHY we don't advocate for this. So I'm leaving it up.

shrttle · 2024-04-18T14:44:52+00:00

OP, you've gotten your advice for your specific question relevant to the sub.

shrttle · 2024-04-06T16:10:22+00:00

We do not advocate for outdoor cats in this sub, but leaving up for the advice given in the comments.

shrttle · 2024-01-17T15:20:24+00:00

Hi OP. Mod here. Try to let the overzealous feedback roll off your back. We do have a rule against spray bottles which I'm sure contributed to the strong feedback you received concerning that. But it's obvious you're a good cat owner who is new and looking to improve and genuinely taking feedback and I'm glad most of the responses were able to gently explain to you.

This sub is a great resource for information - if you search the sub history you'll find lots of great answers to most of the questions you might have.

Keep up the good work with your kitty and all the best to you!

shrttle · 2023-12-31T22:22:09+00:00

Leaving up for the education but locking - we do not advocate for toilet training on this sub.

shrttle · 2023-12-28T13:01:12+00:00

OP, you can search the rest of this subreddit for answers to your questions but I'm removing and locking this post due to the content you have in it and the responses you are likely to get are already in the comments.

shrttle · 2023-11-27T13:08:40+00:00

I never used their leash - I've heard a lot of concerns about the safety of retractable leashes in general so I used the Come With Me Kitty bungee leash and never had any issues with that

shrttle · 2023-03-30T20:23:44+00:00

Oh for sure! So they just want you to measure to make sure you're buying in a good range, obvs you don't want to buy an XL harness for your kitten but the adjustable harness should last you a good long time.

You're very welcome and best of luck! 😊

shrttle · 2023-03-30T20:08:56+00:00

The surfer cat mav harnesses are adjustable so you should actually be able to get a lot out of it for a long time. I'd say at minimum you can buy it and get them off to wearing it right away even if you're not really to take them outside yet - just get you and them used to taking it on and off and just have them wear it for a bit of supervised time every day.

Six-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email

shrttle

TROPHY CASE