very affectionate cat, but bites.

I was recently given a Birman kitty. She was raised by her breeder to be VERY affectionate and is, the only problem is she bites alot. She does it when shes happy, like if im petting her she gets excited and goes to give me a kiss on the nose but instead bites me. If im not giving her any attention she will bite me anywhere. I'm not sure what to do about this, she really is a sweet cat though it just seems she is confused!

heh...I have cat like this as well.

He bites if he's happy, bites if he's mad, bites bites bites all the time. Some people call them "love bites", but me, no...those are not love bites.

I think it has something to do with over-stimulation. I do not, however, know what to do about it either.
Our kipper is quite the biter, and he leaves some marks, but I have just found that when he wants to be petted, he comes to us. If we try & pet him while he's being cute, or sleeping, he'll bite us.

Hmm, I'm not sure how to stop that kind of biting. I've had three cats that "love nip". (Oddly enough, all are male, strays, and orange tabby to varying degrees) When you pet them, the eventually bring your hand towards their mouth and gently naw on it. One even did this to a dog he played with. Not really a bite though, it's very slow and gentle. Is this what your cat is doing? Or is it a real "stop that" bite?

I was under the impression that some breeders will help with behavioral problems with their kittens. Can you contact the breeder?

I wish it was just a little nibble but she really bites, and it HURTS! i was thinking about going to the breeder but i got her as a gift because my father passed away so i dont want to complain about the cat..hehe. Sometimes even after she bites she knows she did something naughty so she kinda steps back, its so confusing, but she wont stop!

How old is she? Is she spayed? Do you know anything about her history of previous owners? My Mama cat did this, actually she still does but she's learned to nibble instead of bite. When she would bite too hard I'd place my finger on her nose and tell her 'no' now all I have to do is look at her a certain way if she's getting to aggressive

Lexi did this too. Bites to draw blood or bruise. I started behavior mods.

There's a good sticky on the subject, I think? Hissy or someone else can point you there.

Just be aware, that some biting is normal, and your Birman may
be one of those cats who gets "over stimulated" quick, hence
starts biting. Not personal at all, LOL!

I've gotten Lexi down to 1 or 2 incidents of biting and
such per 4 to 6 months. Lot of work tho! But she's a happy
cat now!

Good luck and don't worry too much, you can probably
mod the behavior to acceptable levels...

My oldest is a biter, too, although I think that might be on account of she's declawed (she came to me that way). In her case, she bites when I bother her, or sometimes to make sure my hand doesn't go away. LOL She likes to groom me, and if I try to take my hand away I get bitten.

She also bites if I pet too long. You have to really pay attention to some cats when you're cuddling them -- one second too long and they bite.

I don't know why, but I just bear the scars proudly. lmao

One of my cats used to do that - he would get this really loving look in his eyes, then chomp me hard on the nose.

I read somewhere that an effective way to stop that is to gently cover his eyes and face with your hand for a moment to calm him down if he bites you. If you have both hands free, you can also gently but firmly hold the skin on the back of his neck at the same time (but don't try to hold him up or carry him that way, or it will hurt him).

The book said it imitates what a mother cat will do to calm an overexcited youngster.

It worked well on my nose-chomping boy, and I liked it because it didn't affect his level of trust and love, it just told him in cat language that I didn't like being bitten on the nose.

He still bites me on the elbow or ankle when he wants attention though, but since those bites are just little nibbles I never bothered to try to get him to stop doing that.