Kitten biting my face!

[crizze]

Hi, I was hoping someone could help me get rid of this behavior on my kitten...

Atlas is around 5 months old now, recently neutered, and he's currently taken a liking into biting my face. Hard. 
I admit it's driving me crazy.

It's been like this for the last month. I usually wake up to give him breakfast at around 7 or 8, and if I go back to bed, he may come to cuddle with me, purring and settling on top of my chest. OR looking like he's about to lick me, but ends up taking a munch on my face. It's always hard to tell, but it's the reason of why I let him come near my face. 8 out of 10 times is to cuddle or lick me...

This happens mostly in the morning or day time. At night he's really calm and goes to bed at the time I do without any problem.

I have a very fragile skin too, so it's easy for him to actually hurt me (not the greatest idea for someone like me to have a kitten, but I love him...)

He's drawn blood from my hands more than once. Most of the time I can handle that, tho it does hurt a lot. I hiss at him, tell him no... he seems to get it, but After it's all done and I've placed him away from me. He starts to make this soft meow that almost sounds apologetic, but the damage is already done.

He doesn't mind my "NO" commands. Anyone else, he stops. But mine he doesn't listen to.

I need some help. He's a very loving cat and he gets lots of love and play time, and is well taken care of. I excuse him to my family 'cuz I know he's only playing, but I can't make excuses forever when my face starts to look like I've been mugged or worse...

I'm leaving a picture of what happened like a week ago. Not the last time he bit me, but the worst so far. 

(Last time he bit me was like 15 minutes ago. And the morning of yesterday. And before that too, a little (very much) too close to my eye...)

Spoiler: Warning, it's kinda gory.

The blood that he drew from my face and the wounds it came from...

13957661_10210440650595613_1663237474_n.jpg

• crizze
• Aug 19, 2016

   

13942498_10210445714242201_1751239742_n.jpg

• crizze
• Aug 19, 2016

 

[tabbytom]

Hi Crizze,
My boy January use to do that we are sleeping. He'll come to our face and bite our eyes and that was when he was also around 5 months old. That went on for a a month or so. After that, he sort of stopped doing that.
He was neutered at 7 months and now he don't do that anymore. He'll come very near our faces but will just lick our noses to wake us up :blobyello
Continue to tell him no or just cover up your head with the blanket and ignore him. He'll get the idea soon and he'll leave you alone.
Look, quite a nasty bite drawing blood. Did you go see a doc?
Since he just neutered, give him some time to settle down and he'll be calmer.
Sometimes I look at January and wonder what is he thinking. He just lay there doing nothing, haha. January has calmed down a lot since his neutering, tho at times still nippy as in play aggression but on top of that, he looks like a different cat to me. He still runs about and playing peekaboo with me and climbing cupboards and playing in his tunnel but he's not wild. He still has a cat in him.
Give Atlas some time.

 

[basscat]

It will eventually stop. Lots of kittens nibble everything. More than nibbles for soft skin.
They learn real quick that NO means to stop.  (they just don't know it also means not to start in the 1st place...ugh).

If it makes you feel any better.  Yesterday morning I woke up and decided NO BLOOD.  I would be very gentle with kitty. I would be quicker to release his toys. I would keep my hands very still. I wouldn't wind him up. And for ONE day, I would not bleed.

Then I went and punched a hole right through my finger with a screwdriver....

Some days ya just can't win.

 

(and yeah, my fingers, hands, and arms look like I've been playing catch with a cactus).  And my cheeks and chin look like I'm not good at catching cactus with my hands. 
DON'T PULL AWAY.  When he bites, just be very still.  It's the movement that causes the "rip".  Being very still is just a little hole, and being still causes kitty to lose interest.

 

[crizze]

Hi Crizze,
My boy January use to do that we are sleeping. He'll come to our face and bite our eyes and that was when he was also around 5 months old. That went on for a a month or so. After that, he sort of stopped doing that.
He was neutered at 7 months and now he don't do that anymore. He'll come very near our faces but will just lick our noses to wake us up

Continue to tell him no or just cover up your head with the blanket and ignore him. He'll get the idea soon and he'll leave you alone.
Look, quite a nasty bite drawing blood. Did you go see a doc?

Since he just neutered, give him some time to settle down and he'll be calmer.
Sometimes I look at January and wonder what is he thinking. He just lay there doing nothing, haha. January has calmed down a lot since his neutering, tho at times still nippy as in play aggression but on top of that, he looks like a different cat to me. He still runs about and playing peekaboo with me and climbing cupboards and playing in his tunnel but he's not wild. He still has a cat in him.
Give Atlas some time.

Hi Tabby

I see...  I guess it's normal behavior then. I just find it pretty dangerous for my wellbeing ^^U
Atlas used to bite my nose too when I was asleep at first, but that didn't last long. Then he started biting my chin. And now he's fixated on my cheeks.

When he bit me that time I had just woken up. I take some antiallergic pills at night, and I wake up pretty disoriented. He wanted to play but I couldn't indulge him. He was on my pillow and biting my hands, so I hid them under the covers. But then looked at me and attacked my face instead. I pushed him hard away and that's how he ripped my skin that badly.

I didn't go to a doctor, but my dad is one. He lives far away tho, but I know how to care for wounds. Like I said, I have fragile skin, and I'm used to getting hurt. I get bruises easily as well.
I took care of the wound with some peroxide, then alcohol later, and left it with antibiotic cream for the day. Then I put on a band-aid that night with some healing cream and it was no longer red or swollen the next day. Right now the wounds have almost disappeared. But I get new ones everyday ^^U

And this started way before the neuter tho. I guess it could be affecting too now, but the worst bite happened like a week before he got the surgery.

I hope he'll calm down soon...
Thank you c:

 
It will eventually stop. Lots of kittens nibble everything. More than nibbles for soft skin.
They learn real quick that NO means to stop.  (they just don't know it also means not to start in the 1st place...ugh).

If it makes you feel any better.  Yesterday morning I woke up and decided NO BLOOD.  I would be very gentle with kitty. I would be quicker to release his toys. I would keep my hands very still. I wouldn't wind him up. And for ONE day, I would not bleed.

Then I went and punched a hole right through my finger with a screwdriver....

Some days ya just can't win.

 

(and yeah, my fingers, hands, and arms look like I've been playing catch with a cactus).  And my cheeks and chin look like I'm not good at catching cactus with my hands. 
DON'T PULL AWAY.  When he bites, just be very still.  It's the movement that causes the "rip".  Being very still is just a little hole, and being still causes kitty to lose interest.

I know it's pretty normal, but "why the face?" is my issue xD
It hurts a lot and leaves the mark for a week or so.

That started so nicely, and ended so wrong! XD
Oh my God, you ok?? lol

(Sounds about right. Yup)
I DID PULL AWAY the time the bite in the pictures happened. But I was pretty disoriented and he bit really hard. It did hurt a lot and I didn't think to "stay still". I pushed him off the bed right away and that tore the skin. 

But when I was writing the thread, he had bit me about 15 minutes before. I was carrying him into my room to give him his post-op meds and had him on my arms looking over my shoulder. He then looked at me and started sniffing at my cheek. I thought he'd lick me. I was wrong. I stayed still for like 5 seconds, and then I used one of my hands to open his mouth a bit and free my face. But he wasn't going to let go. And it hurts pretty badly to wait more.

I'm hoping once he finished teething and those fangs fall off, he'll settle down a bit. All his other teeth have fallen and grown back, but his 4 fangs are still there. I'm guessing they must still bug him...

 

[basscat]

I have to carry kitty with my right arm under his belly, right hand under his chest with my fingers split between his front legs.  (basically just a cradle with my right hand/arm like what I would consider normal carrying of most any small pet).

BUT, I have my left hand laying on his scruff (top of the neck).  I wiggle my fingers to pet him there, or keep my fingers still and just my hand laying on him if I think that will be better.

Yet, inevitably, I'm more than likely going to have to lightly grab scruff when the wriggling starts.  If we are not there yet and the wriggling gets bad with him trying to nibble my right fingers that are under him?  I may wind up with a tight enough scruff with my left hand to pretty much subdue him.

Usually at that point, I'm running to our destination.

 

Don't let him near your face.  Try not to let him look up. Definitely NO eye contact (it's all over if he looks up and sees my eyeballs!!). 
AND...Don't hold his belly to your body. 
Just like a bath.  You can put a window screen wire in the bottom of a tub to bathe a cat.  That gives them something to hang onto and it's much easier to bathe them.
If his belly is toward you?  You are now the screen and he CAN and WILL climb.  You'll pay the price as he climbs to the top.

 

[basscat]

Have you gotten to experience the eyebrow munch yet?  That HURTS!!

 

[crizze]

 
I have to carry kitty with my right arm under his belly, right hand under his chest with my fingers split between his front legs.  (basically just a cradle with my right hand/arm like what I would consider normal carrying of most any small pet).

BUT, I have my left hand laying on his scruff (top of the neck).  I wiggle my fingers to pet him there, or keep my fingers still and just my hand laying on him if I think that will be better.

Yet, inevitably, I'm more than likely going to have to lightly grab scruff when the wriggling starts.  If we are not there yet and the wriggling gets bad with him trying to nibble my right fingers that are under him?  I may wind up with a tight enough scruff with my left hand to pretty much subdue him.

Usually at that point, I'm running to our destination.

 

Don't let him near your face.  Try not to let him look up. Definitely NO eye contact (it's all over if he looks up and sees my eyeballs!!). 
AND...Don't hold his belly to your body. 
Just like a bath.  You can put a window screen wire in the bottom of a tub to bathe a cat.  That gives them something to hang onto and it's much easier to bathe them.
If his belly is toward you?  You are now the screen and he CAN and WILL climb.  You'll pay the price as he climbs to the top.

Most of the time I place my hand on his chest like you described, but my other one is supporting his butt. He's never minded getting picked up tho, so I don't think it's related. This time, he just saw the chance. He's way too hyperactive at morning/day time. Afternoon and forward, he gets cuddly and sleeps more. I have a morning cat, apparently 

The thing is, I do let him near my face, because ever since I got him, he... well, he likes to cradle on my between my neck and shoulder (or on top of my chest now that he got bigger) and "suckle" on my earlobe. Kitten behavior, according to the vet. He purrs eternally that way and eventually lets go and falls asleep there. That's why I let him near my face. Again, 8 out of 10 times he does that. Licks my face, my nose or cheeks, and then goes for my ear and stays there forever. And I love when he does that, so I don't wanna turn him away 

 

And when I look at him from an upper view, I can see when he wants to attack. His eyes are very easy to read (I do look at him if he's looking at me. He either ignores me and turns around, comes to my lap to cuddle, or attacks. Either way, I can always tell when he's about to attack. I hiss at him before he jumps on me, and he backs off).

But he mostly bites my face when I'm in bed, with him jumping on me to play. If I hiss at him from an upper position, he gets it and be backs off. But if I'm lying down, he doesn't care how I react.. I can scream (real scream) of pain, and he'll still bite. And I wake up way too disoriented to realize if he's about to bite me...

And I don't pick him up with his belly towards me. Most of the time I pick him up facing to where I am walking so he knows where we're going. 95% of the time. The other 5% I let him on my shoulder like I did before. 'Cuz I don't think it too much ^^U

 

[crizze]

 
Have you gotten to experience the eyebrow munch yet?  That HURTS!!

Not yet, but now I have something more to look forward to 

 

[binkyhoo]

I once had a kitty that would attack my face int he middle of the night.  When i had REM sleep.  He would jump on my face.  That was time to keep the cat out side of the bedroom at night.

 

[crizze]

 
I once had a kitty that would attack my face int he middle of the night.  When i had REM sleep.  He would jump on my face.  That was time to keep the cat out side of the bedroom at night.

But my kitty attacks me at morning, after I've already woken up and he's had breakfast. I just go back to bed most of the time, and he wants to play.
Besides, I can't kick him out of the room. His food and water bowl are in there.

 

[tabbytom]

To hm when you wake up, you must be out of the bed, otherwise it's not counted as in waking up.
And is the litter box in or out of the room? He might want to go pee?
Give him some time to let his testosterone diminish.
Maybe you try sitting up on the bed the next time.

 

[crizze]

To hm when you wake up, you must be out of the bed, otherwise it's not counted as in waking up.
And is the litter box in or out of the room? He might want to go pee?
Give him some time to let his testosterone diminish.
Maybe you try sitting up on the bed the next time.

The litter box out of the room, near my door, and my door is always open, day and night. He just wants to play ^^U
And it is pretty hard for me to wake up
The antiallergic pills I take before going to bed are super strong. I wake up feeling dizzy and today was the first time since I started taking them that I was able to wake up at a decent hour. And he still bit my chin/lip after breakfast. I got up half an hour after that.

Might be a good idea to see if I can change my pills to less strong ones, but the biting problem is still there.
How much do you think it might take for his hormones to settle down? 

 

[tabbytom]

My boy did that before he was neutered and then he stopped and it was also around Atlas's age. And he was neutered 2 months later. Now it's almost 3 months already. It'll take around 6 weeks to see the difference after neutering.

 

[crizze]

I see, thanks!
As long as it eventually stops, I'll have to be more cautious around him lol