Love Bites verses Warning Bites?

Nisha came to us about 18 months ago as a seven-year-old retired F2 Bengal breeder. The transition was very rocky but she is now a very sweet girl to me. In the beginning she hid in a corner and even eye contact would make her growl and hiss. she tolerates my husband and children but definitely prefers to be around me. she usually stays in my bedroom due to not liking the other cats and dogs, but she will come out and follow me around if everything is quiet. she is protective of the bedroom and will rush the door if she hears somebody right outside of it.

For the last few weeks she has started to bite my legs. This is out of the blue, she jumps up on the bed and just walks past turns her head and bites. She will go for my bare legs, jeans or under the covers. She did go through a period about six months ago that she was attacking clothing, but we determined it was clothing that was left in the washer a little bit too long and had an odor to it. Once the clothing was re-washed she was fine.

You can see from the video that there are no obvious for warnings that she is going to bite. Maybe a little sniff but that is it. She is not being overstimulated by playing or things going on in the environment, there is no tail twitching or ears back, this is pretty much completely out of the blue. The first part of the clip she is just sitting there looking, sniffs, opens her mouth a tiny bit but refrains. The second half of the video she jumps up on the bed and just starts biting up and down my leg. If I say "OUCH" she will stop, or if I say "NO" when I see her starting to look she will refrain and curl up and lay down directly on top of me.

I don't know if this is territorial, a sign of some sort of anxiety, a warning of some sort's, frustration or just run-of-the-mill love bites and her telling me that I belong to her. Any input or suggestions would be appreciated.

[VIDEO][/VIDEO]

I've never seen that kind of behaviour before. It's got me stumped :dk:

Bumping in the hopes someone will have some answers for you.

My cat does this. He can be a bit more aggressive than what is shown in the video. No warning, no signs, nothing. He'd be purring while sitting near me, and I'd be minding my own business and he'll bite, while still purring. I hiss at him sometimes, at which point he'll go back to doing whatever he was doing. If I have a toy nearby I would dangle it near him, it seems to take his attention off me for a bit.

It's probably more like a cross between being bored and being cheeky, mischievous. It's annoying, and he sometimes get scolded for it, but this is why I keep a small toy near me when I work. He loves biting napkins too, so I have a stack of that just for him.

Columbine said:

I've never seen that kind of behaviour before. It's got me stumped :dk:

Bumping in the hopes someone will have some answers for you.

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Thank you Columbine!

FhiCat said:

My cat does this. He can be a bit more aggressive than what is shown in the video. No warning, no signs, nothing. He'd be purring while sitting near me, and I'd be minding my own business and he'll bite, while still purring. I hiss at him sometimes, at which point he'll go back to doing whatever he was doing. If I have a toy nearby I would dangle it near him, it seems to take his attention off me for a bit.

It's probably more like a cross between being bored and being cheeky, mischievous. It's annoying, and he sometimes get scolded for it, but this is why I keep a small toy near me when I work. He loves biting napkins too, so I have a stack of that just for him.

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Thank you, you know I am just not sure what's she is trying to get across to me. We went thru one instance that while I was away for a week she started to pee under the bed, when I got home it continued, I implemented calming pheromones, changed types of litters, cleaned appropriately and took her right to the vet (which she was negative for UTI).

She has to be the only cat that has three different litter boxes in one room (clay, walnut husk that looks like dark dirt and a box of water). Early generation Bengals sometimes have litter box issues in general, they naturally go in streams in the wild, so water sometimes works wonders for those who won't use the box. I assumed it was behavioral but needed to rule out medical, she peed one more time after that and then stopped. It was like, she saw that I got the message so SHE decided I no longer needed to be punished. .

There are times when she is nuzzling and starts to chew and a quick "ouch" sends her on her way. She also is guilty of chewing and licking fabric that she shouldn't. She actually likes the color red and would take red items out of the laundry to play with. I ended up putting one of those scratching cardboard box things on the end of the bed to try and deter her from chewing fabric. She also destroyed a leather Coach purse one day, she ALWAYS wants to chew leather. I often wonder if her being put into a breeding program at a very early age and not having typical human socialization has affected her behavior.

Somedays I feel like I am dealing with a kitten! Of course I am thrilled that she has come around, verses hiding and being antisocial. The breeder warned me that she may never be a cuddly or playful kitty, I guess before she pretty much sat in her enclosure and didn't interact with anyone (cats or people). She was going to spay her and keep her as a pet but then decided due to her potty issues and behavior to send her to me because I have a sunroom with tile floors, that if needed I could isolate her to that area of the house. She didn't want her pooping and hiding all over her home. The other option was keeping her in her daughters barn. We have had ZERO poop accidents since she came, but there she refused to go in the box at all. I have sent the woman pictures and videos and she is amazed at the transformation with behavior and litter box.

I also have been gone a bit more than usual, I am disabled so I usually spend a lot of time resting with her. I am having some major surgery next Tuesday and will be in bed rest for about 3-4 weeks, I am sure she will be thrilled. She loves to play fetch! I will need to stock up on balls and wands, my bed will be covered, lol.

Out of curiosity... is she spayed? Not sure why it made me think of a cat in heat (it's been ages since I've even seen one) but it did.

It didn't seem aggressive, going by the video. 

Donutte said:

Out of curiosity... is she spayed? Not sure why it made me think of a cat in heat (it's been ages since I've even seen one) but it did.

It didn't seem aggressive, going by the video. 

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Yes, she is spayed. In her first 6 years, despite frequent attempts, she only had one litter of two kittens and one survived, then got pregnant another time and lost 3 very underdeveloped babies. I think the reason she attempted for so many years was that she is an F2 and she was super expensive. Thankfully the breeder decided not to attempt again, and was spayed immediately. Being an early generation Bengal they can be aloof.

I am going to change my comforter to see if that decreases it. I know that she likes to chew on jeans material, that I can't get around but other fabric she is inconsistent with. Maybe what I have on the bed just gets her going, lol. Rarely she will do it to bare skin (she has but just a couple times).

shell091496 said:

I am going to change my comforter to see if that decreases it. I know that she likes to chew on jeans material, that I can't get around but other fabric she is inconsistent with. Maybe what I have on the bed just gets her going, lol. Rarely she will do it to bare skin (she has but just a couple times).

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That is possible it's the material. My Oscar just seems to love to chew and suck on fleece I've discovered (after getting a photo blanket with my kitty I lost recently), the little weirdo that he is. He also suckles his brother's armpit though so... 

My kitten does something like this, though it seems to me like it's out of frustration that his stoopid hoomin is missing all of his "obvious" feline cues that he a) wants food, or b) wants to play. In the morning, he'll get extremely purry and affectionate, but he'll nip my hand I just lie there and pet him. That's his cue that he wants to be fed. (The fact that he tried to suckle my earlobe a couple times really drove it home.) And if I go to the kitchen and make coffee before filling his bowl, he'll nip my toe if I take too long. Same thing prior to his evening feeding, or if he thinks he isn't getting enough play time. If I just sit there reading or looking at my laptop, I get a nip. It's not an aggressive bite or one of his old "friendship chomps" that he's thankfully outgrown, it's just a little hint from him. My brother has a cat that will tap you on the arm when she wants attention, so I guess they each have their own method.

shell091496 said:

Thank you Columbine!
Thank you, you know I am just not sure what's she is trying to get across to me. We went thru one instance that while I was away for a week she started to pee under the bed, when I got home it continued, I implemented calming pheromones, changed types of litters, cleaned appropriately and took her right to the vet (which she was negative for UTI).

She has to be the only cat that has three different litter boxes in one room (clay, walnut husk that looks like dark dirt and a box of water). Early generation Bengals sometimes have litter box issues in general, they naturally go in streams in the wild, so water sometimes works wonders for those who won't use the box. I assumed it was behavioral but needed to rule out medical, she peed one more time after that and then stopped. It was like, she saw that I got the message so SHE decided I no longer needed to be punished. .

There are times when she is nuzzling and starts to chew and a quick "ouch" sends her on her way. She also is guilty of chewing and licking fabric that she shouldn't. She actually likes the color red and would take red items out of the laundry to play with. I ended up putting one of those scratching cardboard box things on the end of the bed to try and deter her from chewing fabric. She also destroyed a leather Coach purse one day, she ALWAYS wants to chew leather. I often wonder if her being put into a breeding program at a very early age and not having typical human socialization has affected her behavior.

Somedays I feel like I am dealing with a kitten! Of course I am thrilled that she has come around, verses hiding and being antisocial. The breeder warned me that she may never be a cuddly or playful kitty, I guess before she pretty much sat in her enclosure and didn't interact with anyone (cats or people). She was going to spay her and keep her as a pet but then decided due to her potty issues and behavior to send her to me because I have a sunroom with tile floors, that if needed I could isolate her to that area of the house. She didn't want her pooping and hiding all over her home. The other option was keeping her in her daughters barn. We have had ZERO poop accidents since she came, but there she refused to go in the box at all. I have sent the woman pictures and videos and she is amazed at the transformation with behavior and litter box.

I also have been gone a bit more than usual, I am disabled so I usually spend a lot of time resting with her. I am having some major surgery next Tuesday and will be in bed rest for about 3-4 weeks, I am sure she will be thrilled. She loves to play fetch! I will need to stock up on balls and wands, my bed will be covered, lol.

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good luck with the surgery, hope it goes well.