Hi all,
I came to the boards to try and get some insight into biting behavior in my cat; I have read a couple other threads on the topic here but didn't see any pertaining to my particular situation (feel free to redirect me if I missed a post and this topic has been covered, however! (: ).
Basically, my kitty seems to get into bitey moods where she'll nip at my hands. Generally this happens when she's been sleeping in my lap (as she is wont to do from the moment my lap is available after I get home from school). I've read that some cats get overstimulated when being petted, and occasionally she'll get this way if I try to pet her while she's on my lap, but sometimes it seems to be totally unprovoked. For example, she'll wake up from a snooze on my lap and look around, stare at my hands, and then bite them if they get within biting distance. Even when she's like this, she wants to be on my lap though. She never bites hard, but I still find the behavior a little troubling since it doesn't seem to be a typical "love bite" situation. I was especially concerned yesterday when she was in this mood, proceeded to get her claw stuck in my sweater, and then growled at me a little while also trying to bite me as I was trying to free her.
As a little background, I adopted her from a rescue shelter almost three months ago; she was at another shelter prior to that and moved to the new shelter when the first reached full capacity. The shelter couldn't give me any more info on her past prior to that. She's a little over 4 1/2 years old, and she got a clean bill of health from the vet when I took her at the end of September. She's been a little sneezy lately, but the rest of her behavior (sleeping, eating, drinking) seems normal and there are no other symptoms (no runny eyes or nose, etc.), and she seems to be getting over whatever was causing the sneezing. She's normally a sweet kitty, and after a biting mood passes, she is back to her normal self.
Sorry this is so long. I just wanted to get some insight from some more experienced cat owners on whether this was normal, what might be causing it, and maybe how to deal with it. This is my first time owning a cat on my own, so I feel pretty inexperienced. Thanks for reading!
I came to the boards to try and get some insight into biting behavior in my cat; I have read a couple other threads on the topic here but didn't see any pertaining to my particular situation (feel free to redirect me if I missed a post and this topic has been covered, however! (: ).
Basically, my kitty seems to get into bitey moods where she'll nip at my hands. Generally this happens when she's been sleeping in my lap (as she is wont to do from the moment my lap is available after I get home from school). I've read that some cats get overstimulated when being petted, and occasionally she'll get this way if I try to pet her while she's on my lap, but sometimes it seems to be totally unprovoked. For example, she'll wake up from a snooze on my lap and look around, stare at my hands, and then bite them if they get within biting distance. Even when she's like this, she wants to be on my lap though. She never bites hard, but I still find the behavior a little troubling since it doesn't seem to be a typical "love bite" situation. I was especially concerned yesterday when she was in this mood, proceeded to get her claw stuck in my sweater, and then growled at me a little while also trying to bite me as I was trying to free her.
As a little background, I adopted her from a rescue shelter almost three months ago; she was at another shelter prior to that and moved to the new shelter when the first reached full capacity. The shelter couldn't give me any more info on her past prior to that. She's a little over 4 1/2 years old, and she got a clean bill of health from the vet when I took her at the end of September. She's been a little sneezy lately, but the rest of her behavior (sleeping, eating, drinking) seems normal and there are no other symptoms (no runny eyes or nose, etc.), and she seems to be getting over whatever was causing the sneezing. She's normally a sweet kitty, and after a biting mood passes, she is back to her normal self.
Sorry this is so long. I just wanted to get some insight from some more experienced cat owners on whether this was normal, what might be causing it, and maybe how to deal with it. This is my first time owning a cat on my own, so I feel pretty inexperienced. Thanks for reading!