My Cat Keeps Biting Me (but Not Hard)

[sourcucumbers]

Hey all,

so I took my cat Kirby to the vet to get a flea bath and a nail trim and he's been acting up ever since. He has been biting me lightly for reasons I am unsure of. My room is full of toys for him to play and has spaces for him to jump on and hide in. I just don't understand why he is acting up. If anyone can answer my question that would be much appreciated.

 

[Notacrazycatlady]

If he't not breaking the skin, then I'd say he's not trying to hurt you. He might have just been unsettled by the vet visit and is trying to re-establish a sense of ownership/dominance? I know it's inaccurate to ascribe human emotions to animal behavior, but you violated him and now he's trying to put you in your place. I'd just suggest increasing your interaction with him (playing) by re-directing whenever he gets bite-y with a toy for him to actually bite and spend a couple of minutes playing with him when he's engaged with the toy instead of your flesh. When he bites, just whimper or hiss and then ignore him for a few minutes so he understands that biting you is bad.

If he's breaking the skin, that's a whole different ball game that I'm nowhere near qualified to respond to.

 

[Pucks104]

Louie grasps my hand when he’s curled up in my lap for cuddles. He’ll just lay there holding my hand in his mouth purring to beat the band. Don’t know why he does it but he does. If he did it to someone who didn’t know him they would probably say he tried to bite them but it isn’t aggressive at all. On the contrary it seems a loving gesture.

 

[sourcucumbers]

If he't not breaking the skin, then I'd say he's not trying to hurt you. He might have just been unsettled by the vet visit and is trying to re-establish a sense of ownership/dominance? I know it's inaccurate to ascribe human emotions to animal behavior, but you violated him and now he's trying to put you in your place. I'd just suggest increasing your interaction with him (playing) by re-directing whenever he gets bite-y with a toy for him to actually bite and spend a couple of minutes playing with him when he's engaged with the toy instead of your flesh. When he bites, just whimper or hiss and then ignore him for a few minutes so he understands that biting you is bad.

If he's breaking the skin, that's a whole different ball game that I'm nowhere near qualified to respond to.

Thank you so much for responding! That's so relieving to hear. He isn't breaking skin but I have noticed that he is more irritable. I do whimper at him when he bites me but I will try hissing at him. I also noticed he doesn't want play time with me as much, but I think that plays in part of me violating his trust. I literally tricked him into his cat carrier. Kirby has been a bit disengaged since the vet visit, but we're working on it.

 

[Notacrazycatlady]

If there's a particular treat he likes, you could try 'making nice' by offering the treat or if he likes being scratched, just spend some extra time making him feel good. You could also try meat flavored baby food as a special treat that he only gets after grooming--I used meat flavored baby food on a baby toothbrush to introduce Angus to having his teeth brushed.

Angus also loves being brushed with a grooming glove. He will stretch himself out flat on the floor, all four legs splayed out, and lay there while I stroke him with the glove. It's the closest he'll get to cuddling with me.

 

[KarenKat]

Gohan gets bitey if he’s overstimulated (ramped up from petting, running around or playing) or irritated. and he does just that - grabs my hand gently but with claws and “bites” but not hard enough to break skin. I look at it as a way to lash out and get it out of his system but not aggressive and still playing by our “rules”.