My cat bites me while I'm sleeping!

[madeflynn]

Hi Everyone,
My name is Madelyn and I'm new to the forum. I have a 10 month old female cat (named Naomi, but NeeNee for short). She's a rescue kitty that I adopted from PAWS, and foundation in Centre County, PA that saves animals from being euthanized by the SPCA. I have her for nearly two months and she's been nothing but a joy to me. She's very well behaved and generally content, but in the past week and a half she's taken to biting me while I'm sleeping. She'll start nibbling on my toes through my blankets, she'll go for my fingers if they're exposed and she LOVES my elbows... Can anyone tell me why she's doing this? I haven't changed my schedule or our routine. I mean it varies a little biut from day to day, but nothing major. I have changed her dry food recently, but she seems to be enjoying it because she has a healthy appetite. I haven't yelled at her and I would NEVER dream of hitting her. I don't know why this behavior has started. She is pretty active and takes to night activities running around my apt. with her brother (they are from the same litter and my roommate adopted him). They do get pretty rambunctious and carry on in what I'm told is normal kitty sibling fighting. We've had both of the cats for the same amount of time, so its not like their games are anything new. Can she just be overly rambunctious from all the exertion of playing with her brother? What can I do to remedy the night-time biting?

 

[eburgess]

She wants you to pay attention to her... that's why.

 

[madeflynn]

Why is it that its only begun recently?

 

[kimba67]

It's probably a combination of becoming comfortable enough with you and her new surroundings and the night time rambunctiousness with her brother. Every kitten I've known, rescue kitty or otherwise, has had a "toe under the cover" fetish. I still have scars and old puncture wounds on my feet that are never going to go away.

You can try wearing them both out before bedtime with some active play and making sure they have enough to keep them occupied during the day. Night time is a cat's normal active time, so it will be difficult to "reprogram" them to settle down until morning. Honestly, the only thing that's ever worked for me is to simply deal with it and ignore the bites and scratches. Eventually, it will not be fun any more and she'll quit doing it. If you don't want to deal with the sudden "wake up calls" at all, you'll need to keep her shut out of your bedroom at night so she can't come in to play.

 

[arlyn]

She's saving you from the bed mice!

 

[madeflynn]

Thank you everyone for the advice... I'm so glad that I found this site!