Random biting when cuddling?

My cat Malachi, like most cats, likes to sit in my Father's lap and get pets and cuddles. Sometimes, however, he gets random bouts of aggression during this. During one, when my Father was just gently stroking his side and Malachi was purring happily, Malachi jumped down, hissed at my Father rather loudly with raised haunches, and ran off. The second time, last night, he didn't hiss or meow but simply turned and bit my Father rather hard on his hand.

My Father is of course not abusive to Malachi, or rough with him, or anything like that. They play together sometimes, and Malachi loves to cuddle him, but the biting is concerning. It's almost like my Father hits a sore spot on Malachi's body that makes him react violently, but Malachi has never done this with me and I can't find any spots on Malachi's body that seem sore. Any ideas?

Look up "overstimulation biting." This may be what you're experiencing. It's fairly common, especially in female cats, but it can happen to any of them.

Originally Posted by mrblanche

Look up "overstimulation biting." This may be what you're experiencing. It's fairly common, especially in female cats, but it can happen to any of them.

Click to expand...

Mike is referring to this thread:
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20837

I have a male cat that does this and I've been able to recognize the signs on when to stop stimulating in time to avoid being scratched or bitten by him.

sabastian does something similiar but i think its my fault, when he was a kitten i used to play "rough" with him and when he bit me i thought it was cute so never corrected it, well he got bigger and his bites got harder, i can tell its only playing tho, what will happen is you will be petting him and hes loving it then all of a sudden he will attack your hand, never scratches tho just likes to bite the hand, and he bites hard! its so funny cause everytime a friend would come over he would go over and start rubbing up against them and roll over by their feet and inviting a pet, and of corse my friends would start petting them and id always say be careful he likes to bite, hey nevr would believe me until he did, everyone gets a kick out of it tho, its never enough to break the skin but its damn hard! i just consider it a part of his unique personality....oh and you dont have to be doing anything for a foot attack, those happen at any random moment, that cat loves feet!