5 ms·

Yep - well know that cat bites and scratches are the worst. Most likely to get infected and take AGES to heal.

pixelpoet 3y ago
I'll never understand how cat owners are so okay with this kind of biting and scratching behaviour in general, sometimes even finding it cute; a friend of a friend nearly lost an eye because her cat randomly decided to be skittish and bolt up the couch with zero care.
- 3littlefish 3y ago
  I'm not sure cat owners can do much about it TBH - cats are seldom trainable! Also, most pet cats don't do it to their servants (as even they know not to bite the hand that feeds them!) All bets are off for strangers though.
  - tsimionescu 3y ago
    Most cats I know are much more likely to bite/scratch their owners than strangers. The behavior is often a form of aggressive play, which they only engage in with people they are close to, not with strangers (which they tend to be skittish around).
  - TheFreim 3y ago
    > Also, most pet cats don't do it to their servants (as even they know not to bite the hand that feeds them!) All bets are off for strangers though. My family had a cat while I was growing up, that little beast was a terror at night. If I had to go to the bathroom I'd always need to be on the lookout because he had the despicable habit of hiding behind corners waiting to pounce when you walk by, biting his target.
    - toyg 3y ago
      Should have asked Calvin how to deal with that.
  - kstenerud 3y ago
    Cats are VERY trainable - if you actually take the time to train them. You need to teach your cat how to play with you (how much biting/scratching your skin can take). Cats do this automatically with each other, so you just mimic their behavior for "everything is OK" and "now you've gone too far". You also need to be consistent in your behavior with them. Randomly attacking them (even if just for play) just teaches them that taking random swipes at others is OK (which it is not). You also make it almost impossible for them to predict your behavior, which freaks them out and leads to all sorts of neuroses. Cats like predictability. There is a whole social dance around "let's play!" that you would be wise to learn. Cats and humans have very different cultures. They are able to learn a little about human culture, but most of the responsibility is upon you to learn cat culture.
- allendoerfer 3y ago
  If you have a cat and you are not living on a farm, where it can have a purpose, you are either caging an excellent predator or you are just letting it lose on your local ecosystem. Both options seem cruel. Nothing cute about it.
  - jibbit 3y ago
    what's the legitimate case for farms?
    - tehbeard 3y ago
      Given the rest of their comment, natural pest control.
      - jibbit 3y ago
        households that aren't farms don't have pests?
        dspillett 3y ago
        Not as much so, at least not causing the same issues. Feeding from (and crapping in) waste sites which is mostly what urban vermin do is far less damaging than spoiling grain stores and killing a farm's profit (or the farm's customers!). In the past, before much of our food was in plastic containers or more difficult to puncture packaging, or in a fridge, vermin posed more of a problem in that way within the house (they still do in poorer locations where safe food storage is more of a difficulty). Some non-farm households even in well-off locations do still have cats with vermin control being one of the stated reasons.
    - defrost 3y ago
      Anything short of a full blown mouse plague: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ITgdgPUMuY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ITgdgPUMuY Even cats will tap out then.
      - 3y ago
- dspillett 3y ago
  > I'll never understand how cat owners are so okay with this … Cases of significant infection are rare enough that it isn't on people's minds, even more so for indoor-only pets that are not exposed to as many infection vectors as their roaming brethren. Especially these days when the vast majority of any such infections that do occur are easily treatable (this may swing back as resistance to current antibiotics continues to increase). > sometimes even finding it cute Often it is cute. A lot of the time it is kitten-like play fighting and most cats are careful not to puncture because it is play (though they usually don't quite understand that our skin is easier to break than another cat's) – some like my old boss will act all vicious (swipes, grabs, and disembowel-y kicks) with claws entirely retracted when applied to a hand/arm/leg but not when attacking a toy (they got the full tooth & claw treatment from her!). My current cats (adopted recently when they were >10 years old so not “play-trained” in my environment) don't mean me any harm but are less careful, so I need to be a bit more cautious as a result. Of course this varies a lot by circumstance. Particular cats have very different attitudes & levels even if brought up the same way from kittenhood, some cats could be OK but were not taught appropriate boundaries when young, and some humans are just too daft (ignorant to the body language of the animal they want to play with) to be able to tell the difference between play and a cat genuinely wanting them to get stuffed or die trying.
- gpderetta 3y ago
  Cat often bite purposefully without piercing the skin. That's part of their communication and it is not a problem. Piercing the skin is not normal, and I wouldn't certainly wouldn't want me or my kids to be around a cat that does that.

I'll never understand how cat owners are so okay with this kind of biting and scratching behaviour in general, sometimes even finding it cute; a friend of a friend nearly lost an eye because her cat randomly decided to be skittish and bolt up the couch with zero care.

3littlefish 3y ago
I'm not sure cat owners can do much about it TBH - cats are seldom trainable! Also, most pet cats don't do it to their servants (as even they know not to bite the hand that feeds them!) All bets are off for strangers though.
- tsimionescu 3y ago
  Most cats I know are much more likely to bite/scratch their owners than strangers. The behavior is often a form of aggressive play, which they only engage in with people they are close to, not with strangers (which they tend to be skittish around).
- TheFreim 3y ago
  > Also, most pet cats don't do it to their servants (as even they know not to bite the hand that feeds them!) All bets are off for strangers though. My family had a cat while I was growing up, that little beast was a terror at night. If I had to go to the bathroom I'd always need to be on the lookout because he had the despicable habit of hiding behind corners waiting to pounce when you walk by, biting his target.
  - toyg 3y ago
    Should have asked Calvin how to deal with that.
- kstenerud 3y ago
  Cats are VERY trainable - if you actually take the time to train them. You need to teach your cat how to play with you (how much biting/scratching your skin can take). Cats do this automatically with each other, so you just mimic their behavior for "everything is OK" and "now you've gone too far". You also need to be consistent in your behavior with them. Randomly attacking them (even if just for play) just teaches them that taking random swipes at others is OK (which it is not). You also make it almost impossible for them to predict your behavior, which freaks them out and leads to all sorts of neuroses. Cats like predictability. There is a whole social dance around "let's play!" that you would be wise to learn. Cats and humans have very different cultures. They are able to learn a little about human culture, but most of the responsibility is upon you to learn cat culture.
allendoerfer 3y ago
If you have a cat and you are not living on a farm, where it can have a purpose, you are either caging an excellent predator or you are just letting it lose on your local ecosystem. Both options seem cruel. Nothing cute about it.
- jibbit 3y ago
  what's the legitimate case for farms?
  - tehbeard 3y ago
    Given the rest of their comment, natural pest control.
    - jibbit 3y ago
      households that aren't farms don't have pests?
      - dspillett 3y ago
        Not as much so, at least not causing the same issues. Feeding from (and crapping in) waste sites which is mostly what urban vermin do is far less damaging than spoiling grain stores and killing a farm's profit (or the farm's customers!). In the past, before much of our food was in plastic containers or more difficult to puncture packaging, or in a fridge, vermin posed more of a problem in that way within the house (they still do in poorer locations where safe food storage is more of a difficulty). Some non-farm households even in well-off locations do still have cats with vermin control being one of the stated reasons.
  - defrost 3y ago
    Anything short of a full blown mouse plague: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ITgdgPUMuY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ITgdgPUMuY Even cats will tap out then.
    - 3y ago
dspillett 3y ago
> I'll never understand how cat owners are so okay with this … Cases of significant infection are rare enough that it isn't on people's minds, even more so for indoor-only pets that are not exposed to as many infection vectors as their roaming brethren. Especially these days when the vast majority of any such infections that do occur are easily treatable (this may swing back as resistance to current antibiotics continues to increase). > sometimes even finding it cute Often it is cute. A lot of the time it is kitten-like play fighting and most cats are careful not to puncture because it is play (though they usually don't quite understand that our skin is easier to break than another cat's) – some like my old boss will act all vicious (swipes, grabs, and disembowel-y kicks) with claws entirely retracted when applied to a hand/arm/leg but not when attacking a toy (they got the full tooth & claw treatment from her!). My current cats (adopted recently when they were >10 years old so not “play-trained” in my environment) don't mean me any harm but are less careful, so I need to be a bit more cautious as a result. Of course this varies a lot by circumstance. Particular cats have very different attitudes & levels even if brought up the same way from kittenhood, some cats could be OK but were not taught appropriate boundaries when young, and some humans are just too daft (ignorant to the body language of the animal they want to play with) to be able to tell the difference between play and a cat genuinely wanting them to get stuffed or die trying.
gpderetta 3y ago
Cat often bite purposefully without piercing the skin. That's part of their communication and it is not a problem. Piercing the skin is not normal, and I wouldn't certainly wouldn't want me or my kids to be around a cat that does that.