Woman wants her cat’s love but he bites her to the bone. Advise please.

I’d like the views of visitors on this video but having watched it for about five seconds I can see where the problem is. Cath (from Cardiff, Wales) is chronically mishandling her cat, Milo. I don’t know if this is typical of her but if it is the problem is clear. In defence of her it is possible that this was put on for the cameras. If so, it is misleading.

On the basis that the video shows typical behaviour, Cath shows us that she wants to handle Milo the way she wants to without recognising the feelings of her cat and what he wants. He does not want to be picked up and handled, certainly not like this. There’s no question in my mind that the problem is the mishandling of Milo who perhaps prefers to be left alone. She makes matters worse by carrying on when the obvious solution would be to put him down and leave him alone. This certainly can lead to cat aggression due to frustration and become frightened. She needs to be far more gentle.

Milo is featured on a television programme called Psycho Pussies in the UK. Cath, thinks that Milo is not a normal cat. She can’t understand why he keeps attacking her. She says that he was fine when she bought him on Gumtree, a website where you can buy and sell almost anything. At the beginning when he was a kitten he was lovable and liked to be cuddled. Then soon afterwards he started to attack. It seems fairly clear to me that the reason why he began to attack her after two weeks was because he became fed up with being mishandled.

On the television programme feline-loving comedian Iain Lee, who consulted on the show, says the only logical thing Cath can do is to get rid of the cat. I have not seen the program and I don’t know what was said exactly but as reported in the Mail Online it appears that this was one suggestion. If that’s true it’s wrong in my opinion.

And I’m not alone in my opinion because online media comments suggest that other viewers have come to the same conclusion. In fact it is rather obvious. You don’t need to be a cat expert to come to this conclusion. You can see some of the online posts on social media below.

On one occasion a Milo attack was so severe that she was bitten on the hand to the bone and had to attend a local hospital’s accident and emergency department where she received an intravenous drip of antibiotics for four days. I agree that cat bites can be serious and you might need antibiotics but you don’t always. It’s a question of waiting and seeing. I wonder whether the hospital overreacted in this instance.

Cath says that on some occasions Milo has gone for the jugular and his claws have been quite close to her eyes and her eyelid. Well, if you look at the video you can see why she is risking being scratched on her eyes because she’s lifting her cat at head height while he is flaying around trying to be put down as quickly as possible.

I would suggest that any one of my readers to this website or myself or indeed any other sensible person would advise Cath to change her approach to handling and interacting Milo. She might start by playing with him a lot to bring them closer together and then she can begin to handle him very gently. When he wants to be left alone she should allow it. She needs to learn what Milo finds acceptable by way of petting. This is her big failure. As mentioned, she is doing what she wants rather than what her cat enjoys and accepts.

Many domestic cats don’t particularly enjoy petting or accept it for a limited time. It cannot be assumed that domestic cats like it. Petting is mainly driven by humans. Sometimes cats ask for it.