Has your cat ever bitten you?

[plan]

Heh, here's another one. This post prompted me to flip through my phone gallery, and there's a whole sequence of these where he's biting me, but in this one he's taking a momentary break with that look on his face, like, "Yeah, I'm biting. So what? I didn't get turkey today, Big Buddy knows I like turkey and he gave me chicken! Bite bite bite!"

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• plan
• Feb 1, 2016

 

[stewball]

Neither whisky nor blighty bite or scratch. I've never been bitten hard by any of my cats. Gentle was a scratcher but as soon as I saw her tail twitch I stopped stroking. Softy would put my hand down with a paw when she'd had enough. Lotto, towards the end, would nip but not hard.

 

[SeventhHeaven]

Love bites, I can play rough with them to release pent up energy, if I push it with any of them they still won't

hurt me they immediately stop walk away, like a good dog.  If I've ever received a swat 

it's because I deserved it.

 

[hatchytt]

Hecate is still a kitten and often likes to wrestle. She's not mean about it, but claws and teeth do get involved. I let her know that she's pushing her limits by pushing her head and neck down and holding her down for a few seconds. Then I ignore her for a bit.

 

[posiepurrs]

I have had both love bites (that broke the skin) and normal fear, aggression bites. Two of my boys got into a fight and I broke it up (without touching them) . Gave them time to settle down and all appeared well. It was a good half hour later I started petting one of them. He started purring, so I picked him up - he bit me on the arm. I have been lucky that I so far have never seemed to get an infection from a bite. My husband was not so lucky. He broke up a fight and made a newbie mistake of grabbing one of the cats while the fight was going on. He ended up at the ER twice from that bite for the infection, even though I treated it immediately.  Anytime you are bitten you have the potential of a SERIOUS infection. Do not downplay it. Treat it immediately and if it shows any sign of infection go to the doctor.

We need to remember that even though they are our beloved fur babies, they are still animals and react by instinct, not out of meanness.  They do not reason especially when in a heightened state of fear, anger etc, that this is the person who feeds me and cleans my litter box - they just lash out. Learn your cats body language - it will tell you SO MUCH!

 

[magister]

I've known several biters over the years.

Pokey (don't blame me, my sister named her that, because she loved to poke her nose into everything ), the cat we had in my early teens, could really have a piece, if she was in the wrong mood and you didn't watch how you handled her. She was a large, DSH tortie-and-white, with a soft, luxuriant coat. She well lived up to the archetypal tortitude. She could be tremendously affectionate, but approach or annoy her at the wrong time, and that noggin would whip around, mouth wide open, and almost you'd be guaranteed to get a growl and a try at a good bite.


Nîma (I thought he was female when I got him, and the name stuck), was a huge, DSH ginger fur of purr I got in my early twenties, whilst living still at home. He bit constantly, but never hard, and only ever in play. We got him at five weeks old, and so he tended to get a little over-enthusiastic when playing, even though he never showed a hint of real aggression. Bites were gentle, and mixed always with licks (rasps), so Rasp became the name everybody used for him.


Kîa (tortie) and Nimrod (ginger), the DSH sister and brother I got in January 2013, were real little biters when first they arrived, at just over ten weeks of age. But neither had fully been socialised, even though they were well cared-for. Although they were fully domesticated and were never savage, they were wild when playing, and tended to be very rough with one another until they taught one another boundaries. Kîa stopped biting hard within a few days, but it took her brother a little longer and a few sharp warnings from me (not to mention his sister absolutely flattening him a few times) to understand. Nimrod stopped biting completely as they grew up, but Kîa loved gently still to bite any bare toes she could find, before trying to give them a bath. She tended also to like going for the wrong end of any interactive toy (the end with the hand attached ), so you had to watch her, even though she never intended any harm. Although she had a wild streak and remained fiercely independent, she was the gentlest cat I've known.


Rîna and Tällia, the two tortie-and-white DMH sisters I got in August last year after Kîa vanished, had been extremely well socialised from birth, and even when they first arrived at about eleven weeks, never did anything more than nibble (although Rîna did lots of this). Now, at a little under nine months, both are little raspers, and the most I might get is teeth resting gently on a hand; neither have ever tried truly to bite.

 

[donutte]

Of course, the doctor was obligated to report the bite and his vet records saved us a LOT of hassle!

This. If this isn't a good reason to keep my cat vaccinated, I don't know what is. If I'd had to go in after Lucky bit me, I wouldn't have had a leg to stand on - he'd not had a vaccination since he was a kitten. And I can't imagine what would have happened if someone wanted to take him away because of it.

 

[csts]

Charvone is an easy-going guy and only bites (or tries to) when he has to get his claws trimmed, take a bath, or get shots at the vet's office. He never bites down very hard, though. He also occasionally bites when he is being held when he doesn't want to be held. Charvone does give love bites to my husband though, usually when he is trying to groom the hand that is petting him.

Sakura also only bites under the same circumstances, but she does not give love bites to humans. She is quite fond of nipping other cats on the ear or biting them on the front of their necks while they're lying belly-up, though. When we were visiting my parents' house for Christmas and New Year's, Fry (my parents' big orange and white tabby boy) tried to nose himself into her bowl while Sakura was still eating from it, and she nipped at his ear. He never tried to steal her food in front of her again. She didn't bite him hard at all; he was just not expecting any resistance.

 

[mollyblue]

Whoo haw... well anyway, somehow within the last year we have ended up with 4 new cats.  1 from the Shelter, 1 from a person looking to dump one, 1 from the streets, and her son. 

Shelter cat had never been socialized, and she is deaf and has plenty issues.  When we first got her, I was getting scratched, and not necessarily bitten, but more like grabbed with teeth as well as claws.  Most of it was play, I think. 

Tati never used to bite me but the last couple of months, all night long she will come in and lick my fingers and if that doesn't wake me up, she will chew on them.  for the last two weeks, her thing has been coming up to give me a forehead bump, and grabbing my nose in the process.  Like a kitty version of got your nose... lol... or a higher version of cat got your tongue?  (nope, missed again... cat hanging from nose).

Buttercup  is the street kitty / feral/stray.  Anytime she can get at my hands she is licking and biting them.. not hard... but its definitely nibbles.  She can't stand to be picked up, and I always pick her up when she starts doing it.  Sometimes she looks at me with a ferocious little look and I think, oh crap, here it comes, but she has never attacked me mean for picking her up, just yowls really loud and stared daggers at me.  As soon as I put her down, she is back to licking and nibbling my fingers.  If I don't pet her, it gets more intense.  Sometimes she just scratches me with her teeth (like scent marking in a way, but her tooth is out there scraping skin). 

.

 

[kellie roberts]

Both our boys are love, or attention, nippers.   I adore it

Our oldest boy, when he decides its morning feeding time, will nip your calf or ankle area all the way to the kitchen cabinet where the food is kept.  This is after he has jumped from my ribcage to the DH's ribcage a couple of times.  Haha.   And while he loves to be cradled in your lap or arms like a human infant to nap, if you start rubbing his belly - one time too many times - you will get a nip.  He will get in the middle of my chest in the wee hours of the morning for cuddles but always ends up love nipping the end of my nose or cheek bone.

Our youngest boy, when hungry, will rub past your legs twice.  Never ever more than twice, before you get a nip on your kneecap with a rather abrupt meow!  LOL    He rarely nips at other times unless he's really wound up from playing with the string toys.

 

[rpandcat]

My cat bites me--apparently, I'm being "bad," and she has to let me know. She's never broken the skin. I would have liked to have taught her not to bite, but was living with someone who thought it was cute to allow her to bite (not make the "you're hurting me" noise). It doesn't bother me--I know it's not going to be hard--but for my little niece and for my mother, it's not great. And my niece makes the mistake of whipping her hand back--which my cat takes as a play invitation.

With her, she'll hold me with her mouth. If she uses her paws, she doesn't use her claws--I don't think I've ever been scratched (I can't think of a time, though I'm sure some freak out moment happened--but as a rule, no)...

She also "love bites." Quite frankly, the love bites are really painful. Getting my nostril bitten or my lip or cheek--when I'm sound asleep--is not fun. At one point, I started putting my hand over my face (needed a few more zz's) with my fingers spread just a little so that she couldn't get her little face in there.

 

[acolyteofbastet]

Griffin likes to play bite sometimes. If I don't play with him and get his energy out, he takes initiative and starts playing with me.

He'll also bite to wake me up in the morning. If he wants breakfast and I do not get up from him meowing at me and knocking things off my shelf, he will start biting my arm.

 

[hatchytt]

Griffin likes to play bite sometimes. If I don't play with him and get his energy out, he takes initiative and starts playing with me.

He'll also bite to wake me up in the morning. If he wants breakfast and I do not get up from him meowing at me and knocking things off my shelf, he will start biting my arm.

Hecate jumped up on the bed as soon as I spoke this morning, doing her silent meow. She wanted her Whiskas. Now. She doesn't wake us up, (she probably can't), but she's right there the moment she hears us. I wonder what she does when we talk in our sleep?

 

[lmj1954]

Liberty Belle bites me, but not out of spite, I am petting her and talking to her and she purrs and gives me love nips, but sometimes

it hurts if she gets too into it then her nip is harder. Mya, she is one that will bite me out of spite just because I wanted to get up and

she on my lap, or just because she is in a bad mood. Lulu has never so much as nipped at me. Freedom Belle never did either,

she was the kindest cat, RIP baby. And Blam  Blam Black better (RIP) never did either. About 30 years ago I remember a woman

who had to put her cat in a room if she had guests, it would hiss at and try to bite and attack people, I think that was had a mental

illness or something. 

 

[roobear]

As a baby before he learned that biting was bad, Max used to bite mum a lot, he's never bitten me even an this point. But I think in a thread like this we need to decide what constitutes biting. My fiance's cat Fred was at a rescue cos his previous owner claimed that he bit, now my fiance has had lots of cats in his time so he knows how cats behave and he decided once and for all to find out if Fred was a biter, he spent ages play fighting and annoying him and not once did Fred actually bite him, he might place his teeth around my fiance's hand with no pressure to show you he could bit you of he wanted to but he never actually bit him. I had massive go at my auntie for smacking my cat on the nose because she claimed he bit her daughter, I asked her to show me where he bit her and the was not even a mark, definitely not a bite. No one punishes my cat when he has done nothing wrong. He bit my mums boyfriend a couple of times but i don't think you can blame him for that he was very unhappy cat at the time there was lot of change going on over the previous couple of year, my dad had died, but mum got a new ore demanding job so she wasn't home as much as well as having new boyfriend so she wasn't home every night. After this her boyfriend refused to have him when they moved in together, so he wen to live with my Nana and I'm told within minutes he was changed cat, now Nana and her boyfriend adore him and I've been informed that I won't be getting him back.

 

[di and bob]

Cats will bite if they are frightened or in pain, a true bite will go deep through skin and into muscle. Your cat is giving 'warning bites', not breaking the skin, but meant to get your attention. Some cats have a low stimulation  thresh hold, one or two strokes and then they can't take any more and bite or scratch, especially with visitors or strangers. Stroke a cat just up to the point of dilated pupils, fluffed or swishing tail, or growls, then back off, and warn others to do so also. Some cats never have this 'limit', but many do, especially females. There's not a whole lot you can do about it, just accept it as a part of your cats personality, it just makes it that much more rewarding when they do accept your affection.  As for the love bites in the morning, you have to let her know it is unacceptable, usually with a loud 'no', or even a big hiss which they understand. Physical punishment doesn't work with cats, it only makes them scared of you, or work out ways to get around the problem.  Putting her out of the room and shutting the door might work too, she'll learn what bothering you means. But you have to do this EVERY time, even with the no and the hissing, one time missed and she becomes confused at the mixed signals she is receiving. It will take a while, but eventually she'll get the point. Good luck!

 

[lmj1954]

In my previous post recently I stated how Liberty Belle only love nips me, never bites. What did she do, read this thread? 

When I go to bed at night it is our bonding time and she is always looking forward to it because she stays in my bedroom

about 90% of the day and night, she does not join the rest of us in the house. So she gets lonely. So I lay down to sleep for

the night and her always beside me and I pet and talk to her. I was petting her as always and she full on bit my hand, I got

a tooth puncture mark on the palm of my hand and it smarted for about 20 minutes. I gave her the benefit of the doubt

thinking maybe I touched a sensitive spot or maybe she did not feel well. Anyway she seems well and fine, so I just

don`t know what was up, it was out of the norm for a deliberate bite from her. 

 

[lykakitty]

I'd never been bitten by one of my cats until I got my 2 youngest, who are currently 6 months and 4 months. Though Isy bit plenty of other people, just never me. I don't think that girl so much as hissed at me her whole life, but even my family could barely touch her without getting clawed in the face. The kittens both bite but only in play. Aria has mostly grown out of it but Calypso is right smack in the middle of teething and she's a rough player already. But she's learning, it just takes time.