So, little Jimmy the Chin, now 7 months old, is recovered from his cold and well adjusted to living at my place instead of the shelter. Now that his health is back, he has become much more playful and has taken to playing with my hair, which I don’t want him to do.
I have 3 braids of hair that are past shoulder length, and apparently a lot of fun for a playful cat. He likes to bat at it with his paws, pounce on it and my head, and chew on it.
How do I break him of this behavior/fascination?
Shave your head. He’s not gonna be able to resist anything capable of the quick random motion that stimulates his predatory reflexes.
Try getting him a “stick-bird” toy. Y’know, one of those sticks that have a clump of feathers attached by a string? You can wear him out with it & get some good laughs into the bargain. A tired kitty tends not to play so much.
You know, I was going to put in the original post that I don’t want to shave off the braids. I’ve been growing them pretty much all year. I understand that this is just a classic case of stimulus/response, but even if they are not moving, i.e I am just lying in bed, he’ll go for 'em.
Oh that crazy cat
I’ve never had much luck breaking a kitten of anything. Batting at them just escalates the violence and the water gun trick never seems to make much of a difference. Usually, if you’re patient, they’ll just outgrow the inclination.
My cat used to love playing with my hair but now only chews it to wake me up the freakin’ middle of the night if he runs outta food because despite weighing over 20 lbs, he’s convinced he’ll starve to death if he goes 15 minutes without eating. Obviously, I suck at cat discipline…
A cattle prod works pretty well.
Sounds like Jimmy the Chin (great name, btw) probably wasn’t weaned properly…if this is the case, I don’t know if you can do anything about it except getting used to using kitty saliva instead of hair gel. Cats that I’ve known who weren’t properly weaned did things like chew hair, suck necks (vampire kitties!) and, in the case of my own little 6-year old brat, chew the living hell out of towles.
Maybe if you washed your hair with something perfumier it would annoy him away. My Schnurri always wants to smell my deoderants and lip balms (he pats them curiously with his paw!) and when I open them he looks disgusted and pulls his head away.
Wear your braids out of the way when you are at home. Or secure them somehow so they don’t attract his attention.