Cat's 'Slapping' Problem!

My little nut Seamus is almost 2, and is still a little kitten at heart...
Basically, the biggest issue with my little boy right now is that he has developed a hitting problem. When I get home from work, he gets his cuddle time on the couch, and sometimes, I take a nap. If he is not thrilled with nap time, or even just me relaxing, he decides to sit on the floor with that evil look in his eye, wiggle his little bottom and pounce... smacking me in the head and running! Rarely does he claw me or hurt me, but still, what is up with that! It isn't his scheduled play time, I give him attention, and he decides it fair to smack me! Any insight as to why? Any suggestions on how to correct this? It's playful and cute sometimes, but I'm afraid one day he's going to claw me and catch me in the eye by accident.

Oliver does this to my legs sometimes when I walk past him... every once in a blue moon, it gets kinda violent and he'll latch onto my leg and chomp - I still have no idea what sets him off or why he does this, but I gotta go into mama cat mode and hiss at him (and occasionally scruff him, depending on the chomp he's got on me) til he stops... he'll usually run off after to think about what he's done, then will come back to apologize with purrs, dives at my feet and kisses... usually, though he's just playful with it and will bat and keep on runnin (he especially likes to tease my 13 year old black lab, when she's not suspecting it - she just looks at him like he's nuts, I blame it on myself for letting the cat watch too much Springer with me!)... anyhow, sorry I don't have an answer for you, but you're not alone and I'd like some insight on the topic as well

I know this sounds crazy, expecially in front of a bunch of cat experts but i have this theory that Cats do understand alot of what people discredit.

Lex does the same thing just in other ways. During a petting session, he has certain spots on his face that he likes to be rubbed. If i scratch them, everything is fine... say i were to scratch him for about a minute in a place slightly to the left or on the other side of his face, he bites the crap out of me. I know that he canbe gentle and that is definetly a bite to get my attention


What is the right reaction in that situation? What do you do when he wakes you up from a nap by pouncing on your face?

Usually I just yell no at him and shoo him away, and he comes back five minutes later and lays down with me, sometimes I think he does it just to let me know he is there... it's strange... I think he just has a mind of his own and does what he wants to do, I just kind of hoped there was some real correctable reason for it..

I've got their tree standing beside the stair rail downstairs, and when i walk up Sophies sitting on the top of it trying to take a swipe at me

Don't you just love them

LOL! Chili does that when she's in her cat tree and such. With her it's a "MOMMY! Let's PLAYYY!" invitation, and she almost never does it hard enough to hurt. I usually walk away, sneak back, and stalk her, chase her around on the floor a bit, etc.

that is so funny! i have a female who does that too. she literally gives me a one-two punch to the head and runs away! it's obvious she doesn't mean to hurt me, her claws are retracted and never bites. from what i can figure out, it usually happens only after i've pet her too long or if she is simply in a "bad" mood. i think it may even be a form of "redirection" due to something that ticked her off earlier in the day. since i have multiple cats, there's always some minor "spat" going on it seems. :-) just pay attention when their tail starts flicking. that's usually the only warning sign i get before she tries to go for a knock-out... :-)