Biting while I sleep...

Hi everyone. I'm sorry if I'm posting about something that’s already been covered but I searched through threads and only found answers to close to my question regarding playing and kittens so I figured my question was a bit different, if I only missed a thread I apologize.

Anyway, my boyfriend and I adopted our first cat (I've always had dogs). We adopted a long haired 3 year old male. We've had him for a little under a week. He's adjusted wonderfully. He's picked out his favorite spots in the house, doesn’t scratch or claw anything he shouldn’t, hasn’t destroyed a thing, is sweet and affectionate, follows around the house, etc. The only thing I've come up upon is confusing me though. At night he will either sleep on the bed with us or on a pillow on the floor, for the past 4 nights at around 6am he will start to nuzzle against me while I'm asleep until I wake up. I'll wake up and pet him, after about 10 seconds of me petting him he'll bite me, but not on the hand, he'll go for either my stomach or my chest or something. He NEVER bites during the day, he never shows any sort of aggression ONLY at this time. He also only does it to me, not my boyfriend and we're both in the same bed. Any idea why he's doing this and any suggestions as what I should do to stop this?

Thank you in advance!

Do you free feed him (leave food out all the time) or give him controlled portions of food? And if you are feeding him controlled portions, is it you or your boyfriend who actually gives him the food? I ask because a have a similar issue with my Buddy-cat. He is fed 3 times per day, the 1st time being around 7am. He is VERY food-oriented and will often become impatient around 6am. He will nuzzle me for a bit (as if to show me what a good cat he is and how he TOTALLY deserves his food as soon as possible ) and if I don't respond he will hook a nail INTO my nostril and pull. Sigh. He does not do this to my husband as I am the one who puts his food down for him. We solved this issue by getting a timed feeder that opens for him at 6am. This way he has stopped seeing me as the morning food provider and will now wait near his feeder, trying to WILL it to open earlier than it does every day.

Automated feeder huh? I may have to look into one of those!

Violet, I have a question too. When he bites is it hard as if he's trying to hurt you or is it more of a nip where he's simply trying to get your attention?

We leave dry food out all of the time and feed him canned food twice a day. So he has dry food but maybe he's trying to get attention for the canned but I'm not the one who has been feeding him. It's usually my boyfriend as he gets up an hour earlier than I.

It doesnt feel as if he's biting to hurt me but I dont know. I've always had dogs, this is my firt time having a cat so I'm still a big unsure as to when they're playing and when they're being mean. With dogs its bit more obvious, at least to me. It's just weird though because he only bites after I start groggily petting him and its never my hand but other various body parts.

It sounds to me like he's just playing, and either wants food or attention.

Violet,

My two male cats do that to me too. Either DH or I feed him in the morning and evening. So a hour before we wake up they start walking across my pillow and I pet them..but if I don't get up they will start trying to uncover me and find my arms and hands and bite them...not hard just to get my attention. Sometimes the one jumps on me or over me..they even nudge my head with their head. LOL. I just ingore them until I am ready to get up or DH who gets up earlier then me will feed them. Even after DH feeds them they come back in bed and still bug me. Like they want us all up together.
It's funny. Who knows what they are thinking. I think they may just want attention too.

Nedra

It is a possibility that he's overstimulated from petting. Normally that would be a bite on the hand, but it's a possibility. Watch when you're petting him at this time - does the end of his tail start to flick or twitch a little bit? If so, perhaps it's just the situation (all warm and nuzzled in bed) that causes him to get overstimulated quickly.

It could also easily be that he's being playful and "encouraging" you to get up. I think the best thing to do when he does this is blow a short, sharp puff of air in his face. If he doesn't respond to that right away, do it again. You can also hiss at him. Sounds silly, perhaps, but talking to cats in their own language really helps. Ignoring him after that will altogether teach him it's not OK to do that and it doesn't get him any attention. It took about a week with Flowerbelle - but she stopped waking me up.

Laurie

Thank you so much for the reponses!

My cat Fiona bites me on the face....has never drawn blood. I jus think she is precocious! It makes me laugh. I just gently push her off the bed and say no....she gets the hint eventually.

I had a male persian cat who would constantly nip at the feet of whoever was feeding him in the morning - didn't matter who it was. We asked our vet about it and he felt it was a play / over-excitment thing rather than agression or something physically wrong.

We never tried to stop it (I can't think why) - just used to hop manically round the kitchen, trying to feed him as quickly as possible...

I've seen cats give love bites. Are they hard, or just nips..that's important, and first thing in the morning might seem like its a hard bite. I have a friend here that has two brothers. One gives a nip, but, he's a 40- lb monster that doesn't realize his own strength. If the cat salivates while biting, I'm sure it's just a love bite and not to worry, if you don't want him to do that, just say no and jerk away. Don't scare him, cuz he's just loving you. The nuzzles mean feed me, my alarm is going off. Orion gets me everymorning like that..Wet nose, not fun at 4AM, but I'm an early riser anyway. I got them on my schedule, they're my little alarm clocks so to speak. Funny, after the morning feeding frenzy, they all do their duty's and after Whiskey is done they like go back to sleep as if it were another night. Heck then they don't get up until Rosie comes on 10AM...Mike, Medford Or

One of my cat will lick me until I get up but luckily, this doesn't happen all the time. The tongue is rough so either I tackle her down or hide under my blanket but some how she still can manage to get under the blanket. I know it's not the food because I have a automatic feeder. I think it's just the attention.

My black cat does this as well. Every morning (just about). I keep food out all day and night but when I get up in the morning I give all of my babies treats so I think that's what he's looking for....or maybe just some attention. He doesn't hurt and since I have 3 other cats, it's one on one time that maybe he needs.