Cat biting is a natural instinct and form of play for cats, but you say: “I want to stop my cat from biting.” The reason that your cat goes after your fingers or toes is probably because they are the only moving target they see. Your cats moving target may also be your legs as you are walking by, causing him to attack and jump on your leg. He just wants to play and doesn’t have any other way of burning off his energy.

Getting an old shoe lace for him to play with will help him to burn off some of that excess energy. The shoe lace will also help you to be in control and will put some distance between your hand and your cat’s teeth. If you establish a set time for playing your cat will be less likely to bite. Leaving balls or other toys out for him to play with will also reduce the instances of being bitten by your cat.

If he does bite, then don’t pull away. If you pull away he sees your hands or feet as prey and he will instinctively bite harder. If he does bite, then give his mouth a gentle push. This will release your hand from his mouth. This also causes confusion in your cat because prey never moves willingly towards the cat’s mouth. After freeing your hand from his mouth immediately get a toy and play with it to teach him what acceptable behavior is.

Cats bite for various reasons. Sometimes they bite when they are playing. At other times they just want to tell you that they don’t like something. This is usually a soft bite and doesn’t leave any marks on your skin. Sometimes soft biting is an affectionate bite. Cats will sometimes purr loudly and softly bite as you pay attention to them. This purring and soft biting might be accompanied with him rubbing his paws up and down on you. If your cat starts biting you hard and displays behavior that is aggressive he may have something wrong with him. This may be true if you haven’t noticed this behavior in him before. If this is the case he should be taken to your veterinarian.

Cats may bite after being declawed. They know that they can no longer grip things with their front claws so they might resort to biting in order to grip whatever it is they want. Certain odors on your hands may also cause them to bite. If you’ve been cooking, he may like the smell that lingers on your hands and bite without realizing that he is biting you and not some tasty morsel. The smell of chemicals, like bleach and other cleaning supplies, may cause your cat to bite also. These products can be very toxic to your cats and make them very ill or even cause them to die. You need to make sure that you thoroughly wash your hands with soap and water after using cleaning supplies.