Has your cat ever bitten you?

[Draco]

A friend of mine was telling me that her cat constantly bites. I've been trying to help her too. then my coworkers, two of them was telling me how their cats been biting them too lately.

but it made me think about my cats, considering I've been hearing how other cats bite a lot

Cassie has never, ever once bitten or hissed at me in the 5 years I've had her, even when I accidentally stepped on her tail, she never bit. My coworkers are shocked when I tell them that she never bit, not even love bites. (though she does bite and hiss at Monet, who harasses her)

Monet nips in the mornings when he wants me to get up for breakfast. He won't let me pet him (he'll nip) until he's fed (kind of grumpy like me until I've had my first cup of coffee, lol). He'll give a warning bite during claw trimmings or if I am doing something he does not like (like hugging him when he wants down, but kitty, I love you!).

I've had him for 7 years.. or is it 8 now? Otherwise, he does not bite.

So.. does your cat bite? any routine to these nips?

 

[my2cats67]

I had three cats Smokey who is no longer here she crossed the rainbow bridge august 2014 still miss her she was a stray that we found and took in she never bit anyone she was a lover and a cuddler. My boy tigger who is my avitar he will give me a nip when he has had enough petting. Nothing other than that my other girl zoey has never bit nip or nothing. Is it becouse they used there hands when playing with there cats and the cats think of it as toys or play thing i don't know.

 

[laura h]

Besides play biting, I only get "warning" bites. "Leave me alone human." Those are my fault because I push him a little too far. 

 

[hatchytt]

Hecate does play-bites when wrestling my arm, but not hard. Just showing that she is enjoying herself. I expect that to change with age and spaying.

 

[pompy]

Only if my hand gets in the way in the middle of our play sessions! He doesn't do it on purpose, of course. Other than that, I don't remember ever being bitten by him. He does give me a warning 'lunge' if I run his belly for too long...I can't help it sometimes.

 

[swamplady]

Cally was a feral kitten originally born last year on or around Valentine's Day to a feral cat in an old shed this elderly disabled lady has in her back yard. The feral in her comes out once in a while. Example. She LOVES to be held if SHE jumps in your lap. Oh things are so cuddly then. Now if you go to pick her up it is a different story. If she is NOT in the mood for a loving moment well you will get nipped but no blood drawn. She will fight the hold and jump down running off.

Tiger has NEVER bit anyone. Once I won his trust that cat wants all the love he can get from who ever.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

our jaspurr used to 'nibble' on my hand, especially fingers. when we were fostering him, before we adopted him. i found that for jaspurr, he had a very strong need of affection from humans -- petting and scritchins, etc. these days our jaspurr only licks my hands sometimes, because he has all the affection from me he needs -- and then some!

the girls, deedee and allie, don't bite or nibble. the only time deedee came even remotely close to it was when she was gently mouthing my lower arm while snuggling with me. our little allie absolutely hates claw trimmings (i call it kitty 'salon day'). the girls are about 5 1/2 months old, and joined our family not quite one month ago. so i've only trimmed the girls claws twice so far. i give each cat/kitten a few treats after allowing me to trim their claws, which helps allie because she's food-motivated. just yesterday while trimming allie's claws, she nipped at my hand -- didn't even touch my hand, was nipping at air in the direction of my hand.

my little snick, in her senior years and having medical issues, did bite me twice -- serious enough that i sought medical treatment, augmentin to prevent infection (because i'm prone to cellulitis). those two times were due to her age and gradual losing of mental acuity, and at the vet's right after a blood draw.

 

[margd]

Wesley would sometimes gently close his mouth around my arm if he's run out of patience with playing or grooming, but Sears would bite me with the intent to draw blood.  I tried holding my arm still, as I would do with Wesley to get him to stop, and instead he just dug in deeper.  He would actually try to wrench pieces of flesh out, like he was eating.  My solution was to say "Ouch" in a very loud voice and put him on the floor.  Eventually he did stop biting so frequently.  In his case, I had the oddest feeling that the biting was a reaction to being removed from his foster mother.  He bonded very strongly with her and never bit her.  

 

[jcat]

Jamie bit me twice, bad enough that I had to go to the ER. Both times he was overexcited because I'd put up the Christmas tree. Mogli likes to chew on me, but that cat will chew anything, and it's more that he "mouths" my arm while playing.

 

[Kat0121]

Sophie will occasionally nibble on me but softly. Lilith has done the same a few times but not as often. Henry has never bitten me. 

 

[donutte]

Penelopy gives love bites that occasionally get a bit enthusiastic. But that's it.

Lucky used to give the occasional love bite also, but was more into "gumming" me. He did bite me shortly before he died though when I tried to give him medicine and he didn't want it. Blood gushing and all. But I couldn't blame him. I mean, if someone was forcing some bitter liquid into my mouth, I'd probably try to bite them too!

What are the circumstances under which this person is being bit?

 

[kitty kisser]

Katness bites she's nipped my mother when she was staying with us. She bites your hand and then licks like a mom grooming her kittens would. Once she drew blood when my daughter had her trapped in her room purposely not letting her out she attacked her leg and left 2 puncture wounds! She is a crazy cat. My other cat Rose has never bitten.

 

[misterwhiskers]

Robin does what I'd call the "pinch bite", which is exactly what it sounds like and is very painful because he keeps my skin in a pinch for several seconds. (Dratted middle aged skin haha). He also does the "sideways slide bite" which makes him look ferocious, but in truth he's too afraid to follow through. These leave my skin dented.

He's never drawn blood with his teeth, but he's broken the skin a little a few times. I'm not happy about that at all, but it's always under the same circumstances. I've recently been banning him from the bathroom if I'm using it, because for some reason that upsets him, and if he nips otherwise, I walk away, or throw him off the bed (if he nipped at me in bed). He immediately calms down.

I don't look at it as being his fault, rather as me not reading into his body language.

 

[kristenann]

Tiberius is a nipper. He doesn't seem intent on hurting anyone though and has yet to try blood.

He nips when being pet or brushed in a way he doesn't appreciate, or when he's not getting enough attention. We just say no and ignore him until he's ready to come back himself.

 

[plan]

All. The. Time.

Last night, Bud bit me because I was sitting on the couch and looking at my cell phone instead of playing with him. Seriously. He brought his toy up to me, meowed at me for a while, and when I still wasn't paying attention, he attacked my arm.

Sometimes when I go to sleep he attacks me.

Sometimes if I'm watching a movie he jumps on me and bites my feet.

And if I pick him up he bites me. He doesn't like to be picked up at all.

Other than that, they're love bites, or play bites. But yeah...he's a biter, and a scratcher, and I don't think he understands that human skin is so fragile.

 

[zed xyzed]

Midi has bitten me a few times, a few times I had four puncture wounds, and I had no warning. He just snapped when I was petting him. For the most part he is really good, but there are time he just loses it 

 

[greycat2]

I haven't been bitten yet by any of my cats over the years, even when they were sick or in pain. A couple would nibble but not break the skin.

They seem to mostly nibble (the ones that do) when they are either very hungry or have had enough attention and I don't read their body language right.

However - 1 had bit my dad once but he admits he was partially at fault for getting between the cat (who is and already had been neutered) and a stray intact male cat. Hasn't happened since.

 

[fyllis]

When I was very little (maybe 6 yrs old?), I cornered a kitten in the barn and when I picked her up she bite right through my fingernail! Nothing ever came of it except that my finger hurt for a couple days. I was truly lucky!

Kricket 'nips' at me very gently if I rub his belly too much (which is RARE!). He is very affectionate and will beg for belly rubs and massages.

Keeker, on the other hand, is bold and blatant! I can walk through a room and he will zoom out of nowhere and jump up and wrap all 4 feet around my arm and dig his teeth in - sometimes topically breaking the skin. This is his way of letting me know he wants to play... and he IS an aggressive player. Sometimes when I am just petting him he will bite me, but if I say, "Play easy!", he will immediately let go. It's just his personality.

About 5 years ago, I was staying with my sister and her cat bit me one night! It was 4 o'clock in the morning and he was carrying on so loudly he woke me up. He was on the windowsill in the living room looking out at a stray Tom who was sitting on the porch just outside the window. I grabbed a spray bottle and cracked the front door open and shot a stream at the other cat and he ran off around the house. Keeker continued staring out the window, growling and hissing at a cat that was no longer there. This went on for several minutes and I finally decided he needed to be moved from the window. DUMB!

I walked over toward him with the idea of picking him up - well, in hindsight, I realized that I approached him from the rear and when I touched him he must have thought I was the stray Tom and he turned his head faster than a snake and plunged his teeth into my arm. When I pulled away, he was hanging onto my arm and chewing and shaking his head - I could feel his teeth going deeper and deeper and it felt - literally - like a serrated knife going into my arm! I had four very deep puncture wounds and they were each about 1/4 inch in length. Finally, after grabbing him by his scruff and digging my nails into his neck he let me go. 

I immediately washed my arm with hot soapy water, straight peroxide and finally with some diluted bleach and I iced it. 

Within a couple hours, my arm had swollen twice it's normal size and went to Urgent Care as soon as they opened (4 hours after the initial bite). The doctor kept asking me how long ago I had been bitten. I kept telling him, Just four hours ago! He said he had never seen a cat bite become so inflamed in such a short time. My sister had all his vet records with her and he was completely current on all his shots. Of course, the doctor was obligated to report the bite and his vet records saved us a LOT of hassle! He was also a strictly indoor cat. I ended up being on antibiotics for 30 days. The wound drained for more than two weeks and took close to 8 weeks to heal. And talk about hurt! I have a fairly high pain tolerance, but my arm HURT for a long time after! And I proudly display the scars to this day!

This was clearly an incident of redirected aggression and completely my fault. When I got back from Urgent Care, he curled up next to me on the couch and purred his little head off! My sister swore I did something mean to provoke him - until two years later when he bit HER. Same basic scenario - he was once again looking out the window at 'something' and she went to pick him up and BAM! He nailed her good! Justice was finally served! LOL She said she did nothing to provoke him!

We both learned a lot from our experiences and I know it prevented me from being bitten by other cats because I knew not to approach them while they were in an 'aroused' state. 

Cat bites ARE serious! Be sure to clean them immediately and at the first sign of redness, get to a doctor immediately! 

And just an FYI: They are just as serious when one cat bites another cat. Kricket bit Keeker on the head during one of their rough play sessions and Keeker ended up at the vets with a serious infection that took 3 weeks to heal! If your cats play rough, always check them afterward for bites.  

 

[qiahmed]

My cat fight with me, grab my fingers, hands, even my neck and my ears with her teeth, she punches me like I'm a mouse, but politely, she also use her paws and nails in fight with me. she assumes me like a mother cat, If any cat biting you then its mean she feels upset and asking for your attention, or otherwise she want to be alone, 

 

[plan]

These are from this past summer when I was taking Buddy on a walk. Something spooked him, I forget what it was exactly, and he tried to bolt. I picked him up and tried to calm him, and he went ballistic on my arm, wrist, hand and palm.

These are scratch and bite wounds. Actually it doesn't look that bad in the photos, but up close it looked pretty bad. My SiL was with me at the time and she couldn't believe it. But, I don't blame Buddy because he really was scared. Also, I got him at like 7 weeks, which was too early for him to leave his mom and his siblings, so he probably didn't learn caution when playing. I regret that a lot, believe me, but if I hadn't adopted him he would have been sent to the shelter or adopted to someone else. Still, I feel really bad that he was separated from his mom so early.

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• plan
• Feb 1, 2016

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• plan
• Feb 1, 2016