lightly biting

[pnp26]

Hello, I have a sister and brother who are 7 months old.  I have had them since the day they were born, they were my from my foster cat and I kept them.  The female is a love, she cries to see me and loves being pet and never bites.  The male likes to bite ME, not my husband.  I am the one who does all of their care and I get bit.  It is not a hard bite and sometimes he will just place his teeth on me I swear to see my reaction.  I have stared to use a water spray bottle for when he does bite me and then he stops.  I will be petting him and all of a sudden he is biting my arm, and again it isn't hard or hurt, he has never broken my skin.  How do I get him to stop this?  what am I dong wrong that he is doing this?  Any advice would be great

 

[catspaw66]

Could it be that he is getting over-stimulated by the petting?  Or maybe he is trying to give you love bites.  Spray bottles are a no-no to most of us.   It could cause him to be afraid of you.  Here is an article that explains discipline and cats.

www.thecatsite.com/a/cats-and-discipline-dont-mix

 

[pnp26]

Thank you so much for that article, i had no idea it was a bad thing to do and i will just try to handle him biting other ways. Any ideas woukd he great because sometimes he just walks over and bites me. Thank you

 

[stealthkitty]

Try making a high-pitched squeal when he does it. He might recognize that as a sign of distress and learn that being bitten is painful to you.

 

[dawn harvey]

I'm having the same problem with a new stray cat I brought into my home.  She is isolated from my other animals right now, getting her used to this slowly, but when I pet her she often tries to swat me or bite me.  This is hard to deal with because you almost don't want to pet her.  Anymore ideas or if catspaw66 has found a solution please share it as I need help here.

 

[dawn harvey]

I forgot to add she meows all the time, only brief periods when she doesn't.  And she doesn't play either, I have tried and she is either too stressed to play or has never been played with.  I am waiting to get her into the vet and have to isolate her which I am sure is hard on her, but I need to do this anyway since I have other animals and I want to introduce her very slowly.

 

[stealthkitty]

Hi Dawn! Would you mind giving some more background information, like how long you've had her, in what circumstances you took her, about how old she is? It might be best if you started a new thread entirely.

 

[dawn harvey]

I found her outside, she was coming to my porch and I knew she wasn't completely feral as we have many ferals around here plus her front paws are declawed.  I have only had her in my home for 2 days and am deciding whether to keep her or not because a no kill shelter said they would take her and they are very good.  The only reason I would do that is because I already have 7 other pets, 4 dogs and 3 cats.  Two of my cats already don't get along so well, they are both female and so is the stray I found and I am worried it will not be a healthy environment for any of them if they can't get along.  Plus some of my animals are very old and I don't want to upset their living environment either.  I am deciding that for sure today.  But I just would like to be able to help calm her while she's here.

 

[stealthkitty]

Thanks for adding these details.

First, are you sure she's not owned by someone who is looking for her?

I can see why you might decide to turn her over to a no-kill shelter. In the meantime, while you are deciding what to do, just give her some space. Two days is a very short period of time; I'm sure she's still unsettled from all the complete changes that have happened. If she doesn't want to be petted, respect that. You can teach her to associate you with good things, by speaking softly when you bring her food and maybe giving her an unwashed T-shirt or pillow case of yours to sleep on. In time, when she sees you are a calm person providing her with a safe place, she might warm up some more.

Let us know how things go!

 

[sparklexo]

My roommate's cat does this to me, but it's friendly.. like she'll come up and be purring and nudging my hand, and then she'll nip at it and kind of lightly bite me. It's not in response to anything I'm doing because she pretty much just walks up and does it. I don't mind and actually kind of like it (haha), I've had other cats in the past that have done that too. I think it's just a greeting, because when I was growing up we had two cats and they would kind of lightly bite eachother as a playful/friendly thing. Unfortunately I don't think it translates as friendly to us humans Or it could be that the cat doesn't want to be pet anymore? Like as a warning? But if it's just random and the cat likes you otherwise, its probably just a love bite. I would just say 'no' or kind of make a noise whenever they do it, I think eventually they'll catch on that you're not impressed!

 

[dawn harvey]

If someone owned her they sure don't care about her she has been outside for quite awhile.  I just recently noticed she had  no front claws and that she was friendly, but had seen her around for some time.  I made the decision to either take her in or take her to the shelter because of her lack of claws and her friendly behavior, thinking she could be easily adopted or easily adaptable. 

She is doing much better, still nips at my leg, but it's when I'm leaving the room.  And she has settled down a lot.  I am going to keep her!!!!  She will end up being a very nice cat I believe and yes she has made a lot of progress in a very short time.  Thanks for the input.
 

 

[stealthkitty]

So glad for the happy ending!

 

[catspaw66]

My roommate's cat does this to me, but it's friendly.. like she'll come up and be purring and nudging my hand, and then she'll nip at it and kind of lightly bite me. It's not in response to anything I'm doing because she pretty much just walks up and does it. I don't mind and actually kind of like it (haha), I've had other cats in the past that have done that too. I think it's just a greeting, because when I was growing up we had two cats and they would kind of lightly bite eachother as a playful/friendly thing. Unfortunately I don't think it translates as friendly to us humans Or it could be that the cat doesn't want to be pet anymore? Like as a warning? But if it's just random and the cat likes you otherwise, its probably just a love bite. I would just say 'no' or kind of make a noise whenever they do it, I think eventually they'll catch on that you're not impressed!

Sounds like a love bite to me, too.  Yes, it does translate to friendly to humans.  After all, they accept us as one of their own, even if we only have two legs.  All of mine will do this to me.