My Cat bites while being Petted

Quite a lot of you cat owners will be able to relate to the following situation: Your cat mews after you, strokes around your legs purring and seeks your eyes with that expectant look in its face.

Touched by that love your cat shows you, you take her up on your lap and start stroking her. She rubs her head against you, purring passionately and then, all of a sudden, she bites your hand and beats you up with her claws.

You are now totally confused, after all you were just stroking the cat and not maltreating it. "Why", you are asking yourself, "is she biting me?"

This kind of scene most of all happens to owners of young cats. A cat biting while being petted can have different reasons for that. And you as a cat-owner have different possibilities to react to your cats moods.

Reason No. 1: Young Cats don't know their Limits

The swift shift between cuddling and playing is something kittens do quite frequently among themselves. Cats, even the younger ones, don't feel the playful bites because of their thick fur.

Therefore your cat doesn't even know she is hurting you.

Cats who bite your hand just for the devilment do it with cocked ears, eyes wide open and a pugnacious posture. Cats who are like that also won't bite just once if you let them but "hug" your hand with their forepaws and kick it with their hind paws.

Just shaking the cat down will neither make it feel dismissed but, much more, make it want to play even more.

Your possible solution: You have to show your cat its limits: Be consistent don't allow her ever to bite your hand again.

It's important, when your cat start biting your hand while you were petting it, that you just let your hand rest limply and motionless on your lap. This will lower your cat's fighting spirit while pushing it back raises it. 

Further information might be found here: How to Engage your Cat.

Cats are reasonable... Sometimes

In our opinion the easiest way to make your cat understand that you are hurt by its attacks is to tell it so in cat language. That can be done by hitting directly into her face. We know, it takes a little guts at first but it's totally worth it!

Just get face to face with your cat as soon as it bites again. The distance between you and your cat should be around 10 to 50 cm. Hiss directly into her face and make her feel gust. Usually a cat is very confused after such an attack and ceases her own attacks. If it goes on, though, hiss again - in a louder and more aggressive manner.

If your hissing doesn't work (after 5 hisses) poker it softly (!) into her ribs while hissing and make her leave your lap (by standing up).

Ignore your cat after it bit you

Another, time consuming, approach is the method of ignoring your cat. Every time your cat bites your hand while you pet it you just get up and ignore it for the next 20 minutes. But just to warn you: Cat, especially those with a high self-esteem, are not as uptight about a human-being ignoring them as a dog would be. It takes at least a month to teach the cat that you ignoring it has something to do with its biting.

Cats are definitely brighter than dogs but also much more stubborn when someone else whats to teach them something. Therefore you will need at least a week to teach your cat not to use your hand as a toy.

Reason No. 2: Your Cat is moody

Every cat has its own character. Some get angry pretty fast and some seem to be cheerful all the time - we human beings are not that different...

Cats like that don't bite your hand because they want to play but because they don't feel like being petted from one second to the other. A moody cat just bites once usually - with a sour face and a tensed (sometimes regretting) posture. Cats like that don't want to hurt you, they just want to tell you that you petted them too long or too hard.

Solution: Become more acquainted with your cat and its behavior. This kind of biting can't be reasoned with because the cat won't see its fault but only yours.

You can learn, though, to prevent bites in the future by studying your cat's body language. That way you will soon know when she's even slightly testy and can stop petting her before the cat stops it for you.

Tipp: As soon as the you cat's tail tip starts twitching, the ears are shifted nervously or the whole body is tense it's time for you to leave your cat alone.

Reason No. 3: Your cat has an Injury (e.g. a bruise)

Sometimes cats come home with a bruise or two that we can openers, of course, won't see below that thick fur.

Signs for a cat that bite because of their pain are, for example, those:

- Your cat usually never bites you.

- It just bites when you touch a certain area.

- The change of mind is very sudden and without warning.

A cat that mews very aggressively or seems to be very exhausted and shredded should probably see the vet.

Picture: CC 2.0 by kniemla

Help, my Cat cries all the Time!

Your cat is crying, meowing or even moaning as soon as you enter the room? And she's so loud that you're afraid that even your neighbors complain about it?

Some cats (by race or no obvious reason) just have a loud voice. Owners of siamese cats, for example, can tell a thing or two about that issue.

If you want to break your cat's crying habit you should try to understand first why she moans all the time.

Your cat is crying of Hunger

Cats who are hungry strike up a very individual song: She has a erected ears and is trying to catch your eyes all the time. She often already runs to the place where her (empty) feeding dish is waiting. As soon as the cat is fed she stops moaning and keeps quiet for the next hours.

This type is easy to get happy again. Just feed her. If your cat, however, is too fat anyway or frequently hungry you should offer alternative hobbies to eating. Cat nip, cat activity boards, share of kindness and affection or a new toy do the job.

A cat that's not bored also doesn't cry!

Your cat is in heat and therefore mewing

Especially toms in heat love to call very, very load and penetrate for potential takers. You can't change this situation immediately unfortunately. Just wait till your cat's out of heat and the ole lad again.

A cat crying on heat is more like a long and loud yowl that makes your bones shiver and wakes you up at night.

The only thing to keep your cat from holding your eyes open at night in the future is giving it a castration. The surgery has its pros and cons, but, believe us, there are more positive than negative aspects about it. Toms can get a castration for 50 to 80 Euro in Europe. Female cats are a little more expensive because the vet has to do a real surgery for them. Their price is around 150 Euro.

Your Cat cries for your Attention

Think about this: Have you been away from home a lot any time recently und left your cat all on its own? Cats do feel alone - Especially if they usually always have someone around.

A squalid cat mews with a slightly expecting tune, accentuated with purring and prowling around the legs. 

A cat longing for attention can be easily satisfied by spending more time with her than before.

If your cat perpetual calls for your time or you just have not as much time as your cat would like you might want to think about getting another cat.

Your Cats mourns when she's in Pain

Most cats are calmer and "slower" when they are in agony. Some, on the other hand, cry out their pain into the world. That's a positive thing for us cat owners because that way we know when our cat's in pain and can call the vet sooner.

A cat in agony cries in a miserable and pitiful way. When she's suffering for a longer time her cries might be also feeble and low. The cat usually puts her ears back and either lies there or is in a crouched posture.

When your cats mourns like that, don't hesitate to see the vet!

...Or your Cat just likes Talking

Last but not least we like to remind you of some people that like to talk all day long - even if nobody is listening.

Some cat's aren't different. They mew, yowl and tell whole stories to you, because you are a person who's close to them. Cat's like that shouldn't annoy you, however, but amuse you. Speciman like that are rare and you should be glad that you are an open-minded cat's owner.

Cats like that need a lot of love and like you to talk back to them. They like it even more if they are allowed to answer you!

How you can cook Cat Food Yourself

There are a lot of reasons to switch canned and dry cat food from the supermarket for your own self made cat food.

Be it that you want to cater a new kind of taste for your cat or that you are suspicious of a product that's entirely made of offal in times of avian and pig flu.

Even cat's that are refusing to eat their usual food (e.g. when they are sick) sometimes react very positive to self made food.

Lots of studies indicate how superior self made cooked or raw food is compared even to the most expensive cat food. And, believe us, your furry nosed friend will also know the difference!

Alternative Cat Diet: B.A.R.F.

The so called natural diet BARF (it means both Bones And Raw Food or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food depending on who you ask) which was originally used by dog breeders has also swapped into the cat owner communities. Today a lot of cat breeders feed their cats appropriate raw food which keeps their cats stronger and healthier than with canned food. Barfing is more than a mere trend: More and more vets advice their patient's owners to try the new diet because raw food is so much closer to the original diet wild cats ate before they were domesticated.

Of course, a grown cat who ate dry and canned food all her life won't eat raw meat from one moment to the other - no matter with how much love you cooked it. The changeover from normal cat food to B.A.R.F. takes time and patience.

Therefore we advice you (especially if you only want to cook cat food as a variation to her usual food) to feed your cat diligently cooked meat enriched with some other things.

A Cat Food Recipe that you can cook Yourself:

Here is a good recipe that you can easily follow and even change on your own depending on which ingredients you have:

Ingredients (for 4 serving or 2 days):

- 200 g raw, natural (free of salt and other spices) chicken
- 10 g vegetables (for example broccoli) or (soaked) wheat bran
- 4 salmon oil capsules (for each dish one)

Preparation:
Cut the chicken into medium sized cubes (approximately 1-2 cm edge length). Remember: You want your cat to chew it and not to gobble it down.
Put it together with the hackled vegetables or the wheat bran into a pot and cover it with as little water as possible.
Heat the pot and let it boil for 5 to 10 minutes until the chicken is done. Pour off the water carefully and fill one fourth of the cat food into a clean feeding dish (The remaining three fourth of the food should cool down and be put into the fridge until you need them.).
Wait until the food is tepid. Now break the salmon oil capsule and mingle the oil with the food.

It's done. Call you cat!

PS: If you aren't disgusted by it you can also cook the giblets for your cat. Giblets and other innerts are abundant in vitamins and trace elements and also very popular among cats. So if you've got 50g of giblets you, of course, only take 150g of chicken instead of 200g.

This recipe can be changed easily. For example you can take fish instead of chicken or a different kind of vegetables.

You cat will love it!

Picture: CC 2.0 by Kai Hendry

Cat won't eat after Castration

Today almost every cat - male or female - should be castrated. It doesn't only protect cats from countless infections and illnesses, it also preserves civilized countries from a cat siege that wouldn't only be bad for us human beings but even more for the cats themselves because they suffer from serious stress when they have to live with a lot of cats around.

Castration is a (relatively uncomplicated) surgical intervention. Tom cats lose their testicles in this and female cats get their ovaries cut so that they are not able to give life to any new kittens.

Testicles and ovaries are gonadals that control, together with certain brain areas, the cats' sexual drive by means of hormone releases.

When those gonadals are being removed or disabled from one day to the other without a word of warning to the cat. That, of course, is pretty confusing for the cat and the hormonal balance.

The change of the hormonal balance usually leads to an increased appetite. The first two months after the castration are here the critical time in which some tom cats who are living with careless cat owners take on a third of their original weight. It doesn't seem much at first when a cat gains a weight from 8 to 12 pounds, but on the other hand a human who gained weight from 120 pounds to 180 seems quite fat to us afterward.

But the opposite of this scenario also happens in more cases than one would think: Some tom cats (female cats are much more "immune" to it) show an alarming loss of appetite after their surgery. That also is caused by the unbalanced hormone status that confuses both the cat and also its entire body.

In most cases this lack of appetite is harmless. If a cat, though, doesn't touch her water, is vomiting frequently, shows a strong exhaustion or doesn't eat for two days you should see the vet another time, because the surgical scar might be infected.

The general lack of appetite should be gone after two months usually and your cat will have a usual lazy cat life.

You might also be interested in the following articles: My cat doesn't eat anymore, Encourage your Cat to eat again, Force feed your Cat.

Picture CC 2.0 by pmarkham

Get rid of a cat - How and by what means?

If it's the neglected cat from next door using your garden as cat litter or the alpha-tom from your block who gives all the other cats around a hard time - some cats are just annoying and need to learn where they belong and where to keep out.

Unfortunately cats strongly hold on to "their" territory. Therefore a simple "Keep off!" won't make them keep off forever. Especially alpha-toms with a high self esteem can be a tough nut to crack.  Fortunately there are several possibilities to make cats realize that's it's your ground and that it's none of their business there.

Annoy the cat's scent

A cat's nose is able to smell scents we human beings aren't able to perceive slightly. If you want to get rid off a cat on your ground you should take advantage of that fact, because some scents that you can't smell are unbearable for a cat.

A lot of ground keepers were for example able to stop a cat siege in their garden by planting some scraredy cat plants (Plectranthus caninus). However, this simple step doesn't work with all cats since some cats seem to be impervious to these plants.

A higher success rate was reached by people who clipped aromatic smelling shrubbery that contain essential oils (such as common juniper or basil) into smaller pieces and spread it in their garden. This also works with the skin of citrus fruits like oranges, lemons and grapefruits. Those smells are often too strong for the sensitive nose of a cat which makes them avoid your garden.

Another popular and well working step is to strew black peppercorns or vinegar.

By annoying the cat's scent you as a ground owner can wonderfully mark your territory in a way that doesn't hurt a cat.

Shoo the cat off and scare her away

You can also get rid of a cats by taking advantage of their jumpiness. In unfamiliar and dangerous seeming situations a cat will do a runner pretty fast and usually won't come back until everything is back to normal again. And if a cat knows that in her favorite litter-box garden there is nothing but unfamiliar and scary situations it will most probably never come back.

Unusual harsh garden keepers sometimes betake to air rifles and bobby pistols to beware their patch from cat's dung, but a cat directly hit by rounds (even if they are no "real" ones) can lead to serious and enduring injuries (like blindness and deafness). That's why we advice you to shoo the annoying cat by other means.

Always keep this in mind: Cat's don't leave their heaps in your patches because they want to annoy you but because - from their point of view - your garden is very well suited as toilet.

Instead of air rifles you can build a noise-machine yourself from an old coke-can filled with coins and gummed up afterward.

When you see the cat on your ground, you throw the can in front of it (not on it) and the noise will scare it away immediately.

Water guns have a similar effect and can make your garden look pretty unattractive to your neighbor's cat.

Apply high fences

The average cat can jump 2 meters high without batting an eyelash. They also sense electricity with their highly sensitive whiskers. If you therefore apply an electric fence around your patches (or even all your garden) it just doesn't matter to the cat. Fences will only help in very few cases. (If you want hedgehogs, dogs and rabbits to keep off, the fence works very well, of course!)

A dog for your garden

A success quote of 95% against unwanted cats on your ground is a dog. A big, grown, cat-hating dog. Cats are in most cases afraid of such specimen and look for another garden instead.

On the other hand nobody should ever get a dog just to get rid of an annoying cat. Dogs need a lot of attention, love and care - and also a potent pack leader. A dog that's not reared can do more harm to your garden than 10 cats.

Exercise tolerance

If you are not that badly annoyed by cat's dung between your potatoes there is a nice and efficient method to get rid of all the tensions with the cat-owner:

Just apply a cat litter next to your patches. A clean cat littler will in most cases lead to a cleaner garden of yours.

Picture CC 2.0 by gagilas

Force Feed your Cat?

When your cat doesn't eat anymore you shouln't force feed her before every other possibility has failed. See also: Encourage your cat to eat again.

There are two means to do that: A softer method and a more drastic one.

The first Method:

Gently press thumb and forefinger together in the area where her upper and under jaw almost meet. You can also test it out on yourself. You'll notice that you can't really help but open your mouth a little although it doesn't hurt a bit. Be careful, though, while doing it on your cat. She is sick and weak already and won't fight against it much - so no reason to use more force than really needed.

With your second hand you should put small pieces of an easy digestible food (poultry for example) on or under her tongue while her mouth is open.

Some cat owners like to draw up mashed cat food into a syringe and squirt it into their cat's mouth. That seems like a good idea at first but if the food comes out with too high pressure it can get into the cat's airways and weak as she is she probably won't be able to cough it up again. Therefore we advice you to not squirt food with a syringe directly in your cat's mouth.

If the first method fails to force feed your cat, you can move on and try the second method.

The second Method:

For this try you need mashed cat food or other sorts of mashed treats your cat likes. A good alternative for example is kitten nurturing milk which is easily digestible and also has a lot of nutrients in it that your cat needs in her condition.

The mashed food or milk should be drawn up into a thin syringe (without a needle, of course). You can purchase syringes in pharmacies usually for a dollar or two.

Gently push the syringe into your cat's mouth. It's important here that you don't head into the usual direction (tongue and throat) but for her cheeks. You can also pull up one of her lips for that. That way you don't have to force her to open her teeth. Pointing towards her cheeks you press out the food with very low pressure.

Usually a cat can't help it but swallow it now.

Make sure you don't give her too much at once. Having her tummy filled up with too much at once can make her throw up everything again!

You can feed her two to three syringes every two hours. If it works she will be strong enough to eat again after a few days.

If your cat throws up all the food you give her, however, no matter how careful you are you should go and see the vet immedietely. Your cat probably has a more serious sickness than you thought at first. Your vet isn't only able to say what your cat's illness is, he can also drip-feed her with important nutrients that will make your cat strong and fit again.

Picture: CC 2.0 by quinn.anya

Encourage your cat to eat again

Most cat-owners experience a time in their cat's live when she, all of a sudden, won't eat anything anymore and will think "God, my cat's appetite is gone". But keep calm, in most of the times your cat isn't dying of cancer, a rare virus or food poisoning. A cat's lack of appetite can have many, many (harmless) reasons.

Generally you can say that a cat that hasn't eaten for 36 to 40 hours should visit her vet. If your cat's a kitten or also hasn't touched her water, you should go see the vet after 12 hours already!

Usually the vet will give your cat, independent of his diagnosis, an appetizing compound that has an "irresistible" smell for cats.

Cats, however, don't think it's irresistable in quite a lot of cases and will also refuse to eat it. Of course, one reason for a cat to refuse it is that it doesn't only smell like meat, honey and poultry but also like a vet they surely don't like. :)

So how can you make your cat eating again of her free will?

1. Encourage your cat to eat of her free will

Cats are independent creatures who hate being forced to do something. Therefore forcing food into her should be the last of all possibilities and only be used if nothing else helps and your cat is rather weak already.

If your cat doesn't touch her feeding dish on her own you can put her food directly in front of her nose. If somebody brings you chocolates right to your bed you also wouldn't refuse to eat them, right?

Serve your cat's favorite food. All cat's have different tastes and decide on their own which food they like best. After you tried bringing her the usual dry and wet food you might try it with hacked tuna, cooked chicken, fish food (an often unknown favorite), pieces of young cheese and so on. As we said: Every cat is different. Some even like crisps, chocolate and baby food.

See also: Natural Cat Diet (BARF)

Another idea is to give your cat nurturing milk for kittens. This milk is very tasty for your cat, has no lactosis in it and is very substantial.

Please make always sure that her water dish is in direct reach and filled with fresh water. Dehydration is often worse than food deprivation!

2. Grease food around her puss

A well-known and popular method is to grease the cat's mouth with food to make her lick it off. It's a potent method that should be used only if the cat refuses to eat - even if you are holding it directly below her nose.

There is a special nurturing puree that vets as well as some trader sell. This puree is very fine (very expensive) cat food that can be used for this purpose. Cream also works, of course, has a too high fat content, though. Other possibilities are cottage cheese, baby food, liver sausage and so on.

Just mash the chosen food with a spoon's back until it's an almost uniform mash.

It will, of course, work best if your cat has a marked preference for the mashed food.

This method takes a long time because you can only smear half a teaspoon around your cat's mouth each time. You therefore often loose track on how much you fed her already and howw much is to go into her mouth still. That's why you should make small portions before you go feed her. One portion should be around two to three big spoons full.

At the beginning less (and in return more often) is more. Feed your cat once every two hours. Regular ingestion is better in such cases to make the cat's metabolism work better. Small amounts of food are just easier to digest.

PS: In some (extreme) cases cat's have to be force fed. Your vet will surely help you with your situations and will be able to give you helpful suggestions.

Picture: CC 2.0 by Daniel Dionne