morning biting

I just joined this site. I have two wonderful kitties (I shared all about my kitties in the new member forum today). Anyway, Marcellus, who is 8 months old... is a beautiful, short-haired, black male who has this little morning problem. I've been reading from this site for some time and this problem has been addressed and I've tried many of the ideas...it's the morning, love bite problem. We got Marcellus when he was 8 weeks old from the Humane Society and he was fixed at 8 weeks old.
His mom was feral and we were told he had some human socialization. He's been a real good kitty although very shy, retiring, needs a gentle touch. He hates to be picked up and is not a cuddler but he does like to be petted for short periods and will give kitty kisses. He loves to chat too. He does like to be around people and isn't even afraid when we have a houseful of teenage boys. :-)
The problem....morning. He's extremely affectionate in the morning and morning only. :-) He's up very early and comes in purrs, rubs, purrs, rubs and CHOMP!! He's done this ever since we've had him. I've done the hiss thing, the "Ouch!" thing the blowing thing. I've put my head under the covers, rolled over, ignored and ignored, firm "No's!" I don't reward him with food as I feed him on a schedule now and wait a bit in the morning before I feed him. It isn't a food thing because I used to put lots of food out before bed to see if that helped and it didn't. And we do feed out cats before bed anyway.
I could keep him out of the room, spray water, use scare tactics but because this is the only time he is affectionate I don't want to do that. I want him to come up in bed and not be banned from the room. I like the other stuff, even early in the morning is fine, I'll take what I can get, but the biting has got to go. It's like he can't help himself. He'll rub so hard and purr so loud and then it's chomp time. You do the "no" thing, he jumps off the bed and then comes up and does the same thing again. It's not aggressive, I think it's because he loves me and wants me up but ouchy!!! He's always done this. We got our second kitty, Wallace, who is the same age, and that helped somewhat as they play but even that hasn't cured it. In fact, it's worse again. I think it's worse when Wallace doesn't want to play. Any ideas? He's a great kitty and this really is his only "problem" in my eyes. Thanks!!

I am sorry but I have to leave and can't post a good answer. But....we get people asking about this same problem several times a week, so go up to search and enter biting and I think you'll find the answers you need.

I'll check back in tomorrow to see whether you've found what you need.

Renae

Hello again Grapegal.

Please click here for a thread which discusses this problem. I think you will find some great solutions to your problem.

Please let us know whether they work for you.

Great suggestions in that threat you posted the link to! I don't have any advice, just wanted to let you know that my cat does this too. Noelle has always used her teeth a lot, she gives a gentle bite (that will turn stronger if you don't respect her wishes) when you're petting her and she wants you to stop. That is completely different from her love bites, which are reserved only for me, and happen when she's in my lap, stretches her front paws on each side of my neck, gives a few kisses on my chin, and then bites. She usually holds on for a while too, and if I try to pull away at that time, she'll bite down a bit more to sort of hold me in place. If I just accept it, it's very gentle and loving, so I haven't seen a need to try and change it. She also doesn't do it all the time.

Thanks everyone! I've read the advice on biting and we have tried just about everything. The difficulty is finding a plan that won't totally scare him away. Morning is his only affectionate time so I really don't want to scare him away. I did read an idea about mixing lemon juice with lotion and putting that on my face so I will try that. After that, I guess we just keep trying what we've been trying and hoping that eventually he will outgrow it. :-) Most of the biting is with his front teeth but once in awhile he will chomp and he's even put my whole nose in his mouth...silly kitty. :-) He goes through spurts and this week has been a little better. This morning Marcellus just snuggled by my face and was actually very sweet. :-) Th
Thanks again!!!