Re Severe biter

Kait - I know exactly how you feel. I had a rescue a couple of
years ago that bad myself. Malaki was his name...We do things a
bit differently here in Australia but this has worked for me:

I don't cage. Period. Mine have a ferret room (who needs a dining
room anyway). Malaki had been kept caged and had never seen human
interaction. The bit he saw must have been traumatic because he bit
flesh as soon as he saw it. So I put Malaki into my ferret room with
my two beautiful boys, Harvey and Rapheas (may they rest in peace). I
was handling Malaki only with thick leather gloves and he was still
managing to bite through them slightly. One night I was sitting on the
arm chair in their room with Harvey on my lap, stretched out on his
back, having tummy tickles (which was his favourite). Malaki walked up
to me and sat there, watching. I remember thinking at the time "are
you taking this in? Not all humans are entirely evil". Anyway he just
sat there and looked. When Harvey jumped down Malaki had a tussle with
him so I didn't think much of it. The next day when I got home from
work my flatmate said "Malaki doesn't bite anymore". I gave her a
strange look and she explained that she had been up really early in
the morning before it was light and had stepped into the ferret room
to get something off the desk. She had felt a ferret that she assumed
to be Harvey against her leg and picked him up. However the fur felt
different, she freaked out and switched on the light - It was Malaki!.

So he had learnt from watching! Not sure if this will ever happen
again, but I think it might be worth a try! I'd love to take him
for you, but distance and customs is an obvious problem!

I also like to have biters see me feed and water them. I try to spend
as much time as possible in "their space". I guess this only works
because I put my rescues together with my boys. Also, I guess you
will just need to be patient. Eventually he will come around, but it
may take a while. It took weeks/months for Malaki and weeks for any
of the others I've had. There is no quick fix - sadly.

Best of luck. Feel free to email me if there's anything I can help
with.

Saskia

[Posted in FML 5978]