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So Sybil is bitey...

post #1 of 7
10/20/10 at 3:20pm
Thread Starter 
...and oddly so. She'll come around and purr to be petted rub up against my hands, then turn around and nip me....Then right back t the "love me" routine. Never hard, and she never breaks the skin, but it's annoying especially because I can't figure out why or when she's going to do it. Freya chomps at you if she's over stimulated, but she gives you plenty of warning.

Any ideas why she's doing this and how I can stop her?
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post #2 of 7
10/20/10 at 3:51pm
How old is Sybil?
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post #3 of 7
10/20/10 at 3:57pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by otto View Post
How old is Sybil?
Best guess: 8-9 months. 1 year absolute tops.

She's the mom of the kittens we were fostering. She's generally a sweet little cat and a purr machine...which is why the biting is so weird.
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post #4 of 7
10/20/10 at 4:07pm
I'd say it's part of the way she wants to show love. A personality quirk. Perhaps this is how she treated her kittens.

They way I would handle it (and have, in my own similar situations) is learn either her signals or her time frame and stop the love fest before the bite happens.

My Ootay was like that, until she got to be an old lady. She would come up all lovey dovey. But after three strokes she would let me have it tooth and claw. Two seconds later she'd be lovey again. I learned to stop after two strokes and step away.
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post #5 of 7
10/20/10 at 4:37pm
I have two cats that show me their love by giving me little kitty "love bites," Ferris and Squeaky.

It isn't meant as agression, just a feline expression of affection. It happens when I am petting them. They put their teeth on my hand or knuckle in a painless little nip.

Ferris used to nip hard at first and it hurt, so I'd yelp and yank my hand away. That scared him, so he learned to do it much more gently. Now when he does it, I tell him that I love him, too.

I actually love getting them - I learned to trust that they won't ever hurt me when they bite this way, and think it's an extra-special bit of cat love.
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post #6 of 7
10/21/10 at 12:23pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks for the responses.

DH saw it last night and said it definitely looks like love bites because it looks just like what she's done with her kittens. She'd be cleaning them, and nibble on them a little.

So I guess she is just an affectionate little thing with an odd way of showing affection...it also explains why she seemed so distraught the one time I hissed at her for doing it. She slunk back over doing the belly crawl and licked my hand...poor little thing was probably wondering why I was mad that she was loving me.

I'll try to take it in the way it's meant from now on.
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post #7 of 7
10/22/10 at 7:57am
yeah my little Mikey can get a little bitey especially when excited (warning to those who try to play with him using his sock, as he will go for your hand, not the sock, lol.)

But he also gives lots of little love bites when getting loved on, but they are gentle little nips, and then he licks me right after.. Its just love nips, thats just how most cats are.. They tend to grow out of that when they get a little older. My tabby Joey was VERY bitey when he was young, but grew out of it, but even now that hes 5, every now and then he'll still do it.. But its always gentle.

Of course the younger they are, the harder they will bite, as they havent really learned to control it yet.
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