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The Sensitive Artist's avatar

This is great! I have heard before that playing in a way that triggers the hunting instinct helps with certain behaviors… but these other tips are new to me, yet make total sense! I have realized that my Cookie can sense how I’m feeling. When I’m sad, even if I don’t think I’m displaying my emotions, she will almost always either climb onto my lap or push herself as close against my side as catly possible and purr. That said it’s understandable that she can pick up on stress as well.

I have been trying to figure out what the heck is going on with her and my husband. She loves to attack his legs and feet, but this only happens at night, when we are getting ready for bed or if he gets up in the middle of the night. She never bite me or any of our four kids. I babysat in my home for years and she never bit those kids either… it’s JUST him. To clarify, she will touch her teeth to my hand on occasion, if she’s had enough cuddles or pets, but she has never sunk her teeth in. He frequently has marks on the back of his legs because she’s drawing blood. Also, it’s only been going on for the past year or so. She turned 17 mid-March.

For a while, I thought it was something he was doing wrong since the aggression was only aimed at him. I have also thought that she can pick up on the fact that he’s not a cat person. Then I started googling it and most articles seem to say that if your cat shows their belly, turns their back to you, or slowly blinks at you, they like and trust you. I’ve been paying more attention and noticed she does all of these things around him. If he’s petting her, she closes her eyes and purrs. This is a good thing but I’m still perplexed about the biting. Any ideas?

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