Communication through biting--what is my cat trying to tell me?

First off, let me say that I know without a doubt, that my cat is not showing typical signs of aggression or agitation. His ears not not back, his eyes are not dilated, he is purring and closed eyed while doing it. 

My cat is around 5 months old at this time. Hand play has always been a big issue with us and it took him until very very recently to learn that hands are not okay. Even then, he still is temped by certain peoples hands. The most effective method we found with him was the high pitched "ouch". 

He is a really really big love biter though. And none of the typical methods of stopping it have worked with him. When the bites started, it was usually when I was petting him while he was purring. So I would watch his body language to see if he was sending me signals that I wasn't picking up on, and he really wasn't. So I stopped petting him to see how he behaved, and still, the biting persisted. He likes to rub his head and face against me and turn around for a quick pinch of a bite, and then continue with the purring and rubbing his head on me. If he was doing soft kitten bites, it wouldn't be so bothersome (bad habit but not the worst thing he could be doing). The thing is, he is doing hard bites. He does this regardless of whether or not you're touching him and the traditional methods aren't working for this situation. I could scream ouch, drop and ignore him, blow on his face, lay still and hope he lets go, distract with toy, but nothing has worked yet. 

I'm really just trying to get rid of this bad habit, or at the very least, try and figure out what he is trying to communicate through his biting. 

Are time outs in a separate room enough or too much of a message?

He was neutered just yesterday btw. 

Thank you in advance for you help again.

i'm not sure if the firm biting could be something that will stop once his hormones settle down after his neutering -- it does take a little while, if i remember correctly a month or longer.

when my mickey was young he used to bite my nose, and while it didn't break the skin it still hurt. what worked for my mickey was for me to work with him and tell him "gentle nibbles, mommy only likes gentle nibbles", and then tell him "good boy, good mickey" after he would gently nibble my nose.

I think the neutering will probably help a lot by lowering his testosterone.  Usually in about two weeks, they are a lot more mellow..  Another really good tool to use if he is biting is compressed air, the kind you get at an office supply store to clean your computer and blow out dust.  It is a strong stream and a loud hiss but it won't hurt him.  It won't take too long for him to associate biting with a loud and strong puff of air in his face, and that will probably stop it.  You will have to be consistent, however, and avoid letting him rub his face on you when the compressed air can isn't handy until the biting habit is broken.

My cat is about 1.5 years old and was neutered at a couple of months old. He still bites me and it started when he was a small kitten. At first it was just in the morning to get me up to feed him. Now he bites when he wants something and the death stare or affectionate rubs haven't worked. Could be food or could be play. I think it's a sign of some sort of frustration. Figuring what though is hard. My cat's indoors and I think sometimes he has too much energy and not enough to entertain him. Mine also bites when I'm patting him sometimes. Like he'll suddenly try to attack my arm. There are signs in his body language that he's about to do that. Sometimes it's little nips, sometimes gentle bites, and sometimes he bites down and shakes his head like he's killing something. It's not really aggressive. He's the sweetest cat most of the time. I don't really see it as bad behaviour. It's more his way of communicating. I just wish I could read him better, so I could not let it get to the point where he bites. My problem is I just give in and feed him usually or play with him. I try to play before he gets to the point of biting. I've been thinking about time out. I like the compressed air idea too.

@hellomisslady -- are you starting to notice your boy settling down any, biting less? i know it's only been 4 or 5 days since he was neutered, but i thought i'd check to see.

My skippy also nips and it seems to be an attention thing. If I am not paying attention he will nip to let me know he's there. The air can seems to help some. Sometime if I am just petting him he will also do this .

 @hellomisslady  -- are you starting to notice your boy settling down any, biting less? i know it's only been 4 or 5 days since he was neutered, but i thought i'd check to see.

Click to expand...

He has settled down significantly. Instead of needing 45 mins to an hour of play just at night to get him to calm down, he is needing around 20-25 mins. He also has stopped prowling and sneak attacking us because he was bored. The biting has lessened but it still happens quite randomly. He has been able to rub against my arm or leg and not nip about 2/3 of the time. So we are seeing quite a bit of improvements just in a matter of a week. I'm hoping with implementing the canned air, he will stop nipping without being provoked. 

Thanks for checking back in!

hellomisslady said:

 
He has settled down significantly. Instead of needing 45 mins to an hour of play just at night to get him to calm down, he is needing around 20-25 mins. He also has stopped prowling and sneak attacking us because he was bored. The biting has lessened but it still happens quite randomly. He has been able to rub against my arm or leg and not nip about 2/3 of the time. So we are seeing quite a bit of improvements just in a matter of a week. I'm hoping with implementing the canned air, he will stop nipping without being provoked. 

Thanks for checking back in!

Click to expand...

sounds like things are getting better -- good news!