That doesn’t work for Elvis (my cat, not the king.) He’s attacked my ankles since he was a wee kitten. I’ve taken to kicking him off my leg and sending him flying across the room, but he just comes right back and does it again. He mostly does it when I get up in the morning. It sucks, but I mostly have to hurt him a little to get him to stop (i.e. send him flying enough that he loses his balance). The water bottle? He laughs at the water bottle.
The cat is evil.
Ditto.
I got a stray a few weeks back ( he was around 10 weeks old at the time ) and while he is a sweet little guy, he is also a little hellion like most ( all ) kittens. Sleeping in the same room with him was impossible and getting up the energy to play with him for an extended period of time every nigh after I dragged my ass home at 10 p.m. was a bit much. He wasn’t exactly making me miserable, but he was a pain at times. Plus I didn’t want him getting lonely, bored and then ( more )destructive.
So I picked him up a compatible seeming sibling about a week ago and that’s done the trick. Much calmer now that he has someone else besides me to wear him out.
Actually, the dog might be relieved…having another cat around will give Dewey someone (else) to atttack, and having two cats around might give the dog pause when s/he decides to eat one.
My daughter’s cat used to lie in wait for her just around the hall corner. He’d slam himself into her thigh, apparently trying to tackle her and bring her down. He never used teeth or claws, he was just trying to play. She’d wrestle with him and he’d get it out of his system. Then I found my cat at the Humane Society. After Achilles got over the shock of learning that he was not the Last Cat in the World, he tried pouncing on her. She pounced right back. Now they wrestle and play and wash each other’s faces. Most cats enjoy the company of other cats.
Ain’t that the truth! I had a cat years ago, used to do the funniest things evah, no camera… 
I just noticed that the google ads right now are for:
apparently “cat” is a rare, unknown concept for google salesmen. I suppose there’s no market there…
A cat/ankle thread and no pics?
Oh, the dog is allowed nowhere near the cat. (When some people say “my dog tries to kill my cat” they’re exaggerating. I’m not.) So it’s more of a “two cat smell in MY HOUSE” thing than an actual cat contact thing, although of course I’d want the cat to be able to defend itself if necessary. I use the kitchen as kind of an airlock between them, though, in case one of them slips past me when I open a door. It’s saved lives more than once, I think.
A coupla times I tried that “punt him across the room,” but the cat held on long enough to leave me with bloody stripes all around my leg.
Now, I just wrap my hand around his head. Not hard enough to hurt, but it’s just enough to let him know he’s no longer in charge of the situation. When he lets go, I let go. He disliked that feeling, and he doesn’t attack my ankles anymore. My vet says he’s “the perfect cat.”
My husband (the owner of another ankle-biter) says that cat’s play is practicing for killing, so it often is a little violent. He also says that if your cat is playing with you, you should feel privileged - they don’t practice killing on just anybody. 
Don’t be afraid of getting a little rough with kitty when playing; they need a good beating* every day, and they’re not fragile at all. Their head is pretty much solid bone. I guess you’ll figure out how to play with Dewey in a way that suits both of you.
*When I say good beating, I mean a good roughing-up, complete with paddling on the hindquarters, not punching in the face or anything like that.
The boyfriend just punts him gently across the room, but he’s used to cats and I’m not. I’ve always had Westies - sturdy little dogs. The cat seems so fragile! Like he doesn’t have enough bones and the bones he has aren’t really good for much.
Oh, no, don’t let their bendiness fool you - cats are as tough as nails. When Jim’s cat was a kitten, he was running down the hall to get away from her and do some work unbothered for a bit, and shut the door of the bedroom just as she got there. She ran headfirst into it, full speed - it knocked her on her butt, and she licked her chops a few times, but was completely undamaged by it. They’ll take the occasional spill or tumble, falling badly or on stuff, and it never seems to faze them. Remember, cats are carnivores, and as such, evolved to be both tough and able to disregard injuries. I’m not saying go out of your way to hurt cats or anything, but normal roughhousing is nowhere near enough to damage them.