I'd love to know how I should have reacted differently in this situation because I definitely did the wrong thing.
I adopted a cat about a month ago. He's a year old and the shelter had no history on him so I guess they don't know if he had prior health or behavioral issues.
I love him and think he's super sweet but he has an issue with biting. This is my first cat so I've had to do a ton of googling about cat stuff, like body language. And he doesn't seem to show any clear signs when he's about to bite. It's usually obvious when he's in play/attack mode since he'll have huge dilated pupils and his ears will be pointed back. In this "mode", he never tolerates pets.
But occasionally he'll come up to me like he wants to be petted, and will then do this thing where he tries to grab my hand with his claws and bring it to his mouth to bite. I don't tolerate this at all so I always give a loud "NO" but he doesn't seem to learn anything from it?
I came to my breaking point today when it happened again but it HURT and he wouldn't let go. I swatted at his head (I read a comment here before that acting like a "cat mom" can help?) but he immediately latched on again. I swatted at him harder (pls don't crucify me, I feel really ashamed) and he ran under a table.
I realized instantly that he probably learned nothing from what I did, so I tried to pick him up to put him in the bathroom on time out (something I read can help), but he kept being aggressive and trying to claw and bite me. I finally picked him up and ran him to the bathroom, but my hands are now covered in scratches and he seems furious at me.
How do I discipline him and teach him that scratching and biting are NOT ok? He does it really inconsistently and I feel so upset because I thought I was getting an affectionate cat from the shelter, since he was listed as very friendly and was super nice the first few days. I feel a bit lied to? I'm a dog person through and through so it's been really hard to adapt to him.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/k6av04/how_should_i_react_when_my_cat_gets_aggressive/
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