biting when being petted?

[kwren]

both of my younger cats have this habit of nibbling on your hand when you are petting them. they are happy, purring, the one will actually grab my hand with both his paws and bring it to his mouth so he can lick and chew on me. they both are big groomers, and will lick whomever as long as they are allowed.

why do they do this? is it just grooming? that's kind of what it seems like but man those little teeth are pointy. ouch! i guess with tim it could be teething stuff, he is almost 8 months, but rosie is over a year now and he is the worst offender. he bites HARD.

normally i just remove them from the situation when it happens - like this morning, i had rosie on my lap and was petting him, he was purring crazily and rubbing against my hand and then he was chewing on me. put him down, he stayed down for about 2 minutes and then hopped back up and settled down. love love love, chew. down again. 5 minutes later he is back on my lap and purring again. then the chewing. then down, then back up.

any suggestion on how i can break this habit?

 

[pat traufield]

You are doing the right thing by stopping the petting and putting him down. The nipping indicates that he is starting to experience petting overstimulation. Often when cats reach a stage of arousal it takes them some time to calm down. You could try adding an "ouch" as soon as your feel those teeth. At the same time freeze. As soon as the teeth are off ut him down and don't let him come back minutes later as he still has not calmed down. You could also try a "displacement behavior" like feeding something - even a treat or tossing a toy.

One of my cats licks progressing into nips. What clues me that he is getting overstimulated is that the licks come faster and faster. So when they speed up I quit stimulating.

 

[threecatowner]

If you get any suggestions, let me know

The only 2 female cats I've had in my adult life have both done (or do) this: Annie was born to a family pet, not stray, not feral, brought up with kids and people. Did it all the time. Scaredy was feral, does it all the time. I guess they just can't take the stimulation? My male cats have never done this, and I've had a bunch of male cats over the years.

 

[strange_wings]

Is the chewing as part of grooming?
I have two who do this. It's not over stimulation from petting in their cases because they will hop right up on me then -lick lick lick chew/nibble/bite- without any petting what so ever. They do it to all the other cats in the house as part of grooming, some may know that type of grooming bite as being called "flea biting". I can get them to let me go when they do this and stop it, but they'll always do it again later because they don't recognize grooming me is something bad (which they shouldn't).
If this is what is happening you may not be able to stop it short of never letting the cat return affection via grooming you.

I also have a one outside that over stimulate bites and the neighbors declawed cats will nip, too. Before cats do this they do the agitated swishing tail, ears back, and their facial expression will change.

 

[kwren]

with our worst offender - the chewing is definantly a part of grooming. he licks and licks then nibbles like he would chew on himself or on his grooming buddy if he found a spot that needed more work. he will be sitting on my lap cleaning himself and then will grab my hand - that i was NOT petting him with - and pull it toward him so that he can lick lick lick chew.

he shows no signs of aggression or over stimulation. no facial changes, no muscle tension, no swishy tail. 2 of my RB cats were over stimulation biters, so i recognize the signs and he has none of them. i don't have to touch either of them to get nipped, but there is usually some sort of rubbing and licking on their part before they chew on me.

tim roth - our younger nibbler - will come up to me, rub himself against my legs, and then keep rubbing and will end with a nip to the calf. he is a little harder to read, he is a mouthy cat in general. he likes to chew on bendy straws and crayons and he carries his toys around a lot. he doesn't get aggressive when he pet-bites, but he is easily distracted by a thrown toy and he will only groom me for a little before he wants to PLAY. he is NOT a lap-cat, he likes to be petted while he sits next to you or at your feet. he is super lovey and affectionate, he just doesn't like laps (he is also the baby, he'll be a year old in august)

rosie is the worst, i always wonder if part of it is that he was a hand-reared foster and had no mama-cat to show him the ropes.

i guess i will just have to get used to it LOL

 

[strange_wings]

It sounded more like that to me from your first post.

You can push their mouths of you and tell them "no biting", but since it really is just how they show affection it's harder to stop it all together unless you want to confuse them more. My Tomas knows better and has learned some self restraint (after 3 years

) but he'll still do it - usually in his early morning cuddle ups when I'm too sleepy to do much.

 

[phillygal]

My Buddy does this too. He is getting much better and we have learned to recognize the signs that he is getting over-stimulated. But he enjoys being groomed and that does not seem to bother him at all; still, we keep the sessions short. I have heard a couple of reasons for this behavior because it was so foreign from what I have experienced with my other cats in the past. One of them was that he is looking at his person as another cat and that is one of the ways they "play" with each other. He is a feral boy. He is otherwise a friendly boy and we've just accepted that he has a low tolerance for being touched. But it can be annoying and painful until you know what is wrong.

 

[merrytreecats]

Some people call these love nips. If they get to where they pinch, I just stop the petting. They may or may not be an indication that the cat is just enjoying it and wants to give back a little "affection" too. But if it's painful, best to just quit the petting for the time being and return to it later. They will over time get used to the idea that as soon as the nipping starts the petting ends.

 

[huyi]

hmm so that is what it is, my 4 month old kitten male does it when he is laying on my lap, he will lick me and then, suck and chew on my finger or thumb, i don't want him to get into the habit because when he is bigger his bite will be bigger also lol his teeth are starting to come through so it is a bit uncomfortable when he nips, i always thought my kitten does it as a nurturing thing, like a kitten sucks his mummy's nipple.

 

[snickerdoodle]

Boca does that. He is the only cat that has ever licked and groomed me while I'm petting him and starts drooling sometimes. He has very gently chewed on my fingers but not even hard enough to notice most times

Now Chickster, different story. Just last night she's gotten back into the severe biting. I was walking by, stopped, petted her, she was laid out on her side -- I stepped away and she immediately jumped up and bit me on my ankle very hard, and immediately ran away. I have no clue why she did that and she hasn't done it since she was a few months old. When she got too rough I'd put her down, stop playing, whatever it was, tell her in a low firm tone that I was not speaking to her until she apologized, and left the room. If she followed me, I left that room and went somewhere else. It only took about 5 occurences of that for her to get the picture and she actually stopped. (her version of apologizing was falling down in front of me on her side with a grunt and looking really pitiful like 'You can pet me again') She did NOT like being ignored. She will nip us on the elbow (Mom especially) if she is getting petting and Mom stops, to watch TV or something, .. POW! nipped on the elbow. No bleeding but it is not pleasant.