Do Love 'attacks' Freak Out Anyone Else?

[dustydiamond1]

Things will be nice and calm with me stroking her, when out of the blu,shes not over stimulated) she will wrap her paws around my wrist, bring her back legs up in attack position and grab my hand with her mouth. She will 'gnaw' my hand without actually biting and 'knead' with claws on front feet, not scratching. I never feel claws with the back legs rabbit kicks. I freeze and close my hand (we NEVER play hands with her!) I'm kinda terrified since I know exactly how much damage she can do with those teeth & claws. She will then lick my fist and let me unpry her front legs with my other hand. She never draws blood and if she does get a tad bit rough I just say NO and she will take off. I've read that when they do this it is a sign of affection but it is really freaky. Does anyone else go through this?

 

[jcat]

Mowgli has done that ever since we got him over four years ago. Aside from keeping his claws clipped (he only has front teeth after extractions due to FORL), I "hiss", disengage my hand, and give him a stuffed toy to wrestle with.

A lot of the kittens and young cats at the shelter do it - they want to play with you like they would with siblings. Generally you can redirect all that energy by throwing balls or toy mice, or giving them a large toy to bunny kick.

 

[susanm9006]

It is pretty common cat play and it sounds like she knows to be gentle, so no, I wouldn't be freaked out. But if she gets too excited there could be a scratch or even a harder bite so I would discourage the behavior by stopping play and giving her some kind of larger toy that she can bite and kick when she does it. Better to use toys to play with her than your hand.

 

[ArtNJ]

Mine only does it if you rub the belly. Which I usually do not, since it can definitely result in some scratches. Its definitely cute, just not worth the battle wounds so discouraging it makes sense. But it definitely does not freak me out...worst case, little tiny scratches.

 

[PushPurrCatPaws]

She actually sounds like she's very polite with you, no matter how much fun that kind of behavior is, nor how much she might want to let loose and really "go to town" on you! She seems to have her wits about her, and I would say you are lucky that you and she can work together (lol) to pull your hand away without those love and play bites turning into worse. If you both can keep up that good communication and awareness, to me it really shows a good bond with the two of you. Both of you seem aware of the line in the sand.

 

[orange&white]

My Farrell was born feral and she's come a long way in letting me pet her, but yes she does do that if I pet her longer than she prefers. Like your kitty, she uses a soft bite and doesn't pull claws out. When I say "Owww, Farrell" softly and let my hand go limp, she starts the licking like she's saying, "Oh, I'm sorry." lol It is cute.

Nothing to be afraid of. It's fairly normal with all kittens and young cats. Since you're correctly discouraging the behavior, she'll probably outgrow it. If not, she does know the boundary between hurting you and just letting you know that she's been petted enough for a little while.

 

[dustydiamond1]

Hi, thanks for the feed back I just wanted to add an update. We now have a deal, after I put my hand in a sturdy Barnes & Noble shopping bag we can play 'hands'. She never bites hard nor scratches deep, even rabbit kicks are with no claws. She has a couple of those long Cat Crinkle Toys she sometimes plays with. Still no biting or scratching on anything she isn't suppose to.

 

[dustydiamond1]

Well here we are 3 years later. Still with no claws out and soft bites. Usually she is in her box lid and I wrap my hand and arm in the Barnes & Noble bag and go for the tummy. She lets me know when she wants to wrestle. She'll bunny kick (it tickles) and I'll softly grab her open jaw and shake gently. Again no claws and no bites . If she gets too excited I just freeze and softly say Easy and she releases. She will jump up and streak away when she has had enough. I still NEVER use bare hand.

 

[Jcatbird]

It seems I am not the only one who sees that she is being very polite! Lol She loves her human!

 

[dustydiamond1]

It seems I am not the only one who sees that she is being very polite! Lol She loves her human!

Yes even back then folks could tell how loving and gentle she was (and still is)

 

[CatladyJan]

Things will be nice and calm with me stroking her, when out of the blu,shes not over stimulated) she will wrap her paws around my wrist, bring her back legs up in attack position and grab my hand with her mouth. She will 'gnaw' my hand without actually biting and 'knead' with claws on front feet, not scratching. I never feel claws with the back legs rabbit kicks. I freeze and close my hand (we NEVER play hands with her!) I'm kinda terrified since I know exactly how much damage she can do with those teeth & claws. She will then lick my fist and let me unpry her front legs with my other hand. She never draws blood and if she does get a tad bit rough I just say NO and she will take off. I've read that when they do this it is a sign of affection but it is really freaky. Does anyone else go through this?
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My oldest cat does she usually draws blood. I can usually tell when it’s coming on and I tell her to get down.