one of the most important things to do with the cat is to never use your hands during play a lot of people will do this especially when the cat is a kitten so they may be petting with the cat and then using their hands to get the cattle excited so the cat starts scratching and mouthing and it may look kind of cute especially the cat is really small when that cat grows up and gets some really sharp teeth and sharp claws not so fun anymore especially if kids try and do the same thing so if you're not using your hands to play with your cat how can you play with them well one of the best things you can do is redirect their predatory behavior towards a toy some of my favorite types of toys are feather toys like this most cats go gaga over these now this is really fun for them because it looks like prey they get a go chase it much better than your hands other ideas are you can use different types so try and switch it up for your cat make it fun try and play with them about two to three times per day it can be a really short sessions two to ten minutes anything like that is going to make a big difference for your cat the other really important thing for cats is that they're predatory animals they like to hunt and they are very active however we really messed that up sometimes because we feed them only out of the food bowl but if you use a food puzzle it makes a lot more natural and it makes them use energy you to actually get their meal one of my favorite types is this type of kitty Kong there are a ton of different versions though some that they can use their paws with and you can fill them with different types of spreads or even their regular kibbles that way they can get out some of that extra energy and it makes playtime and mealtime more fun for them now some cats are hard matters when they play and it can definitely hurt one of the things that you can use to protect your hands is actually using gardening gloves and it's very reflexive to pull your him back when the cat starts to mouth on your hand however if you think about it from the cat's point of view that makes it really exciting cuz all of a sudden oh boy they're playing with me and I get to go chase it and I get to go pounce on their hands so instead you want to try and freeze in place like a statue you take out the whole fun when you do that so putting on your gloves you have a little bit of protection so it when the cat mouths just a little bit just freeze in place and wait for them to stop and then redirect them to their toy and when they're playing with our toy makes sure to reward them lots of praise using treats and interacting with them so the toy is the fun thing not your hands now if your cat bites way too hard they may have never learned by inhibition from their litter mates a lot of times you'll see that in single cat homes or kittens that were taken away early from their litter if you suspect that your cat is fighting too hard which you can definitely feel it or if you think that your cat's behavior is more than play talk to your veterinarian and they'll help guide you in ways that you can help change your cat's behavior and make them more relaxed in the household for more information on how to train your cat go to vet Street Calm