# My cats are attacking my feet at night



## Malvagia (Dec 9, 2008)

I just adopted two 2yr. old cats from the shelter and despite attacking my feet they are very affectionate. Last night my husband and I let them into our bedroom for the first time while we were going to bed. As we moved our legs under the sheets our cats starting biting our feet, I'm sure not knowing we're attached to them, as if they were hunting mice. They don't normally do this when we're not in bed. I would prefer to let them into our bedroom at night since it's the warmest room in the house but I worry that they might hurt us. How do I get our cats to understand that those are our feet under the sheets?


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Stop moving your feet.

:lol: 

I'm sorry, you have two playful kittens and anything that moves, inspires a pouncing instinct for them to play/hunt. As for your feet, you can holler "Ouch!" and hope they get the hint, stop moving your feet when they are on the bed or cover your feet with a heavier blanket they can't bite/claw through.
Or make them sleep outside the bedroom at night.


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## Bethany (Jul 19, 2006)

I agree that shouting "Ouch!" and maybe shoving them off the bed is one way to go. Get it through their heads that pouncing on the blanket mice is not acceptable.

One thing I will add: never, ever play the "There's something under the blanket!" game with them. It's fun but they'll likely have trouble figuring out when you're playing and when you're not. (I speak from experience here.  )


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## cmw0829 (Nov 23, 2008)

What!?!?!? Stop playing the "There's Something Under the Blanket Game"? It's my favorite game! I learned (the hard way) to tire out my cat before I go to bed so we don't play this game at bedtime.

I found a toy on a long elastic that I tied onto a longer length of twine. I tied the twine to one of our ceiling fan blades so that the toy is about 8 inches over her head when she's standing. About an hour before bed, I lower the toy and she'll go crazy chasing, batting, jumping. When we're done, I roll it up and store it on top of the fan blade. (This won't work once we start to use the fans in the summer.)

It works wonders since she's too tired to play and just stretches out on the bed and sleeps. Of course, only after she walks across my already-sleeping husband to check out his head.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Playing "Catch the Bedmice" with my cats as a child taught me to sleep in one position. Here I am almost 40yrs later and I _still_ sleep "still".


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## Jack&Harley (Nov 2, 2008)

gremlins....that's what they are in our house---feet under the covers.

I dont know how to stop it--we like it here.

Leslie


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## Bethany (Jul 19, 2006)

cmw0829 said:


> What!?!?!? Stop playing the "There's Something Under the Blanket Game"? It's my favorite game! I learned (the hard way) to tire out my cat before I go to bed so we don't play this game at bedtime.


What can I say? It's a great game and I'm not above doing it every once in a while.

We used to play it with one of my former housemate's cats. The cat loved it and everyone had great fun until the day the cat woke up my housemate's husband by attacking his feet so hard she drew blood. No more something-under-the-blanket games for her!

I think there are some cats who can learn when to play with blanket mice and when to leave them alone, but some cats are such enthusiastic blanket mouse hunters that I think it's best not to encourage them.

I'm lucky. My cats hunt the blanket mice rarely enough that I can pretty much keep it under control by throwing them out of the bedroom when they do it.

One alternative is to use a long stick or wand and play the "There's something under the crinkly newspaper" game.

If you have two cats, another alternative is to make one of the cats into the bed while the other one is present. Instant giant blanket mouse that doesn't involve your body parts!


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## newkitty5 (Aug 18, 2008)

My cat was HORRIBLE about this for the first 3-4 weeks that I had him. Locking him out of my bedroom isn't an option, and it was so bad that I ended up on the couch a few times. I started sleeping with two thick blankets, which were heavy enough to guard against biting/scratching enough to hurt or tickle. As soon as he started biting my feet during the night I'd lift up my legs, wrap the blankets entirely around my feet and legs about up to my waist so there was absolutely no way that he could get to them, and stay as still as I could. For a while he would dig furiously up and down my leg trying to get to them, but he's pretty much stopped trying now. I think it's because he knows that as soon as he starts to attack my feet they will disappear, and the blankets are thick enough that they aren't fun to attack since he can't really feel my feet or see them moving. I also have lots of toys available for him in the room so that if he wants to play in the middle of the night, he has other things to go after. I don't know if that will work for you, but I definitely know how you feel. If nothing else, the "tortilla wrap" does make the biting more tolerable because it doesn't really hurt :roll:


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## kitari (Dec 3, 2008)

I play with Syble with the blankets and she isn horrible about it, she likes to pounce bite then hug. but it becomes no longer fun when random feet movements turn into attack me i dare you feet movements. XD


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## pamuk (Dec 9, 2008)

When i first let my cat sleep with me he tried to do same thing.I don't know why but they like it so much.
I take him off the bed when he bite my feets for a several times.
After that he doesn't try to do that anymore to me but he makes it to my mum and dad :lol:


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## sweetwater (Oct 24, 2008)

My kitty does this too, but typically he calms down pretty quickly. When I sleep, he sleeps (for the most part). I don't know if I can resist tempting him with this game though, because he does the most hilarious and adorable leap as he pounces on the bed mice. If he's on the other side of the bed than my feet, I cannot resist tapping my feet just to see him get to them in one huge leap. I have nice thick blankets so he doesn't hurt me, and I'm probably lucky that he seems to get bored of this game pretty quickly. Either that, or he recognizes that it's time for mommy to get some sleep! I don't see any harm in it since he's never done it in the middle of the night or anything. But if there is something about this behavior I'm missing, let me know.


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## brokenrose (Nov 25, 2008)

I once heard that cat like feet cos the scent or pheromone (i think thats the right word :? ) that your feet give off is similar to the one that their mother had!! whether someone was having me on or not I dont know *shrugs*


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## pamuk (Dec 9, 2008)

sweetwater said:


> My kitty does this too, but typically he calms down pretty quickly. When I sleep, he sleeps (for the most part). I don't know if I can resist tempting him with this game though, because he does the most hilarious and adorable leap as he pounces on the bed mice. If he's on the other side of the bed than my feet, I cannot resist tapping my feet just to see him get to them in one huge leap. I have nice thick blankets so he doesn't hurt me, and I'm probably lucky that he seems to get bored of this game pretty quickly. Either that, or he recognizes that it's time for mommy to get some sleep! I don't see any harm in it since he's never done it in the middle of the night or anything. But if there is something about this behavior I'm missing, let me know.


If it is winter it's pretty funny to play this game but at summer it can be so painful:mrgreen: I had my sweetheart at july,so i didn't have thick blankets and he was biting,scratching my feet badly.I ended up this game by throwing him out of my bed.Actually it's funny when you don't harm and i'm trying to play with him sometimes now too.But he doesn't respond me anymore.I think he is so proud to be rejected again :lol:


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