Rocky hates when I pick him up

Rocky is 5 now and he hates when I pick him up. I try to give him a little hug or check his belly and he bites me hard. I am not a soft touch, I have handled angry dogs and broken machines, but this cat has no respect.

I tried the treat thing. I got a pouch full of the little salmon treats he loves. I hold one near his nose and then lift him. He looks at the treat, looks at my hand, and then bites my wrist. I let go and he runs. I am done with this. I just want to know if I can ever hold him without bleeding, or if I just have to live with a cat who acts like a feral animal.

rocker bites hard? my cat buster yells but he lets me hold him for like ten seconds. i think it is a personality thing. some cats just do not like being held. you cant fix that with treats. i would just stop trying to pick him up. let him come to you.

Mike, I understand the frustration, but please look at this thread where we discussed biting during grooming. It is rarely about "respect" in the way you are framing it. Cats do not have a concept of respect; they have boundaries.

When you pick a cat up, you are removing their ability to escape. If they feel trapped, the bite is a panic response, not an attack. I would recommend reading this post on vet handling techniques to see how we minimize stress. We use a towel wrap to restrict movement so the cat feels secure, not trapped. You are currently doing the opposite: lifting freely and expecting the cat to accept it.

I think Donna is right about the panic response. I wrote about this in my thread about Quiet a while back. Trust is not built by forcing contact. It is built by letting the cat choose.

Rocky is likely telling you that he does not want to be held. If you keep trying to pick him up after he bites, you are teaching him that your hands are a threat. You are breaking the bond every time you force him. If you want a relationship, you have to accept that his version of affection might not include being held. See this thread on signs of pain just to rule out that he is not hurting when you touch his belly, but otherwise, stop the picking up.

I do not want to stop. I want to hold him. I tried the towel thing Donna suggested and he thrashed around like I was trying to kill him. He is not in pain, he just does not like me.

I saw my old thread about treats and I know it did not work. But I am not going to just let him walk away every time I want to sit with him. Is there a way to train him to like being held, or is this just a dead end?