Also don't play fight with a cat, especially a kitten using your hand. If you want to play fight use a stuffed animal or something. Teach them from an early age that human hands are not toys.

My cat would be really confused and probably a bit frightened at this point if I tried to roughhouse with her using my hand but if I get her "battle buddy" stuffed animal out it's on.

What worked for us is getting cat locked on a kitchen for some 5-10 minutes if it misbehaves, alongside the already mentioned loudly make noise to show that it hurts.

Like, you make pain = we are not playing with you. It didn't take long for her to learn to hide her claws and stop eating electric cables.

hmm that might have been a better strategy than i used. my first cat isnt a biter but she was very liberal with her use of claws when i got her. she would have them out for anything from cuddles to playtime. i got her to be more careful around me by just playing up my pain response every time she got me with her claws. id jump and yelp like she really hurt me. she eventually learned but it would have been cool if she learned faster lol.

Just do not do this with an adult cat. At best they won't react the way you need them to, at worst it could cause actual trauma to the cat and reduce their trust in you. You're effectively mimicking what a predator like a fox would do to an adult cat and it can make them absolutely freak the f out.

I had to hold down one of my kittens to give him his spot-on flea treatment and felt bad afterwards. They've never scratched me. They just get so excited to be pet I thought I'd miss. I was like "You're cute, but this stuff is expensive"

Can confirm this works, unless he gets too excited my cat is very careful about keeping his claws retracted. To the point that one time he actually slapped the absolute fuck out of my leg, that actually made a slap sound and stung a tiny bit from his pawpads slapping me, without leaving a claw mark. Chaotic little beast.

I did this so often with puppies and kittens over the years that I had to unlearn it when dealing with women, lol. Believe it or not if a woman bites you yelping isn't the response they are looking for. Well results may vary I suppose...

this needs to be the top comment!!! this is the right answer!!!!

a squeak/high pitched noise - it sounds like another cat/kitten shrieking in pain. that's usually enough to get the message through!

This is how I taught my cat.

He still tries to use his claws like tiny fingers sometimes, but he really doesn't mean it.

It is fun and i really dont care about the scratches.

One of my cats grabs my hand or my arm to the point where she could tear me apart and then starts licking my hand instead. She is realy cute.

She also is super careful with her claws when playing with me. Just enough to pin my arm.

I'd say this is PvP, not PvE.

You don't have to gag them. Just press your finger sideways into their back teeth so they can't close the bite. They'll immediately try and push out your finger with their tongue. It stops being a game for them real quick.

But this is also a last resort. They're are better techniques as discussed in other comments. The earlier the intervention the easier they learn.

In my area it's become lore that cats only biting becuase they didn't grow up with other kittens to give them social feedback for bites. The the point where the shelters will insist kittens be adopted in pairs.

It seems like an insanely lazy approach to me. Like getting two dogs so they'll play without other and leave you alone.

So that definitely worked with my void too

there certainly is but it requires consistent intention

it sure isn't easy, but you can do it. I believe in you <3