Chewing fingers & other questions

Well it is 1 week today I got my new babies. They've got me full of questions. After 17 years with the same cat I'm puzzled by certain behaviors. First my Levi is about 5 months old & likes to chew on my fingers. I'll be petting him & he'll grab my hand & start chewing. At first it's gentle, but then he gets ruff & it hurts. When I met him he had just lost 1 of his eye teeth & has since lost the other. His adult teeth have almost grown in. So I'm wondering if this is just teething behavior, or if it's something else? & how can I discourage this behavior. My next question is about the boys "Playing" Jordan is 4 months old & they like to chase each other & wrestle. Sometimes it's obvious they are playing, but other times it seems like the wresteling may be aggressiveness between them. Any way to tell & if it's agression is it anything to worry about? & my final question is not behavior, but how often should claws be clipped? Is it a once a week thing, or does it vary by cat?

I dont know about the teething thing but my Saki likes to nibble on fingers too. It seems to be only when he's in a really hyper playing mood. I would just not touch him when he's in that mood.

Saki & Zoey wrestle CONSTANTLY. In the beginning I was very worried because sometimes it looked like they were hurting each other Saki would even scream out as if Zoey was killing him.. but neither of them have even got a scratch on them or blood or anything like that.. so I wouldnt worry much about that. If they are growling, hissing and attacking like that then I would think that they are not playing.

Saki's nails grow pretty fast. I find myself trimming them once a week at least Just do a check every so often, look at the claws and if they're really pointy and sharp, time to cut them!

I have a 5 month old as well and she enjoys licking and nibbling. If I put my face near her she'll gently nip at my nose or nibble on my eyebrow. If I put my hand and pet her she'll nip at my hand.

I know a lot of people discourage hand play and wrestling, but with my 1 year old whom I've brought up with those bad habits.. He is the gentlest non biter ever. I'm hoping to have the same success with jasmine.

She likes to wrap around my hand like.. for lack of a better term a face hugger from those alien movies.. then kick my palm with her hind legs. When she gets too rough I take her toy and quickly replace my hand with it and I honestly think she can't tell the difference!

Originally posted by chrisstie

She likes to wrap around my hand like.. for lack of a better term a face hugger from those alien movies.. then kick my palm with her hind legs. When she gets too rough I take her toy and quickly replace my hand with it and I honestly think she can't tell the difference!

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That is what Em does. At least I know he isn't the other. Its really starting to drive me nuts. I've tried the toy thing. He'll chew on it for awhile and then come running back to attack me. I posted something about this in this forum hoping for some help!!! I'm in distress!!!!

Click here to read a thread which explains how to stop biting.

Thanks for the tips. For the most part I don't think it's aggression. It's almost like when a baby teeths, he's just looking to chew on something. He starts out very gently & then the more he gets into it the harder he bites. I don't have a whole lot of time to read up on the behavior modification, but I will come back when I have time. I am wondering about fear, because I'm thinking he (Levi) may have been abused. The other day when his brother (Jordan) jumped in the garbage can & knocked it over (making a huge mess). I got mad & yelled at him. I noticed that Levi had gone into another room & so I went to find him in the corner with a very scared look on his face. I NEVER want to see that look on his face again so the next day I went out & bought a spray bottle so that when one of them is naughty I won't yell. Since they both came from the shelter the first few months of their lives are unknown. The only thing I know about Levi is we were told that he was found in the inner city & the lady brought him to us in a tupperware container that was sealed because she was afraid of him. If you've seen his picture I don't know how anyone could be afraid. For his age he is well behaved other than the chewing.

I experienced this chewing of fingers with Shasta. Not ever with any other cat. But Shasta would start on one finger, chomp for a few seconds, move to the next, repeat all the way across the hand, and start over. And the more she chomped, the more she got into it, the harder she clamped down -- ouch!! Eventually, I'd take the hand away, and she'd come looking for it!!

She was my first cat. She taught me everything. I didn't know I should discourage her. It was kinda cute, actually. I have some old pictures of her chomping on my fingers -- just blissed right out!! She did outgrow it eventually, but not soon enough to consider it teething behaviour. Never did figure out what it was about.