There are times and circumstances under which we should accept being bitten by our cat. We can even enjoy it to a certain extent (and I don’t mean masochistically!). Our cat certainly expects us to enjoy it. This is because when our young cat wishes to play with us he may bite us. This is the way cats play. Have a look at this video of Savannah cats at play (this is fiercer than normal).
If our cat sees us as another cat, which is the way it is in my opinion, then when a cat is young we should engage in play with him. That does not necessarily mean that our hand should be bitten, or our arms or legs or whatever but if we are bitten in play which is not aggressive biting, we should accept it. If we don’t; the way I see it is that we are rejecting our cat’s advances to play with us and I don’t think that is good psychologically for a cat.
Of course, we can play with our cat with a cat tease or some other object while keeping our hands and arms away from his teeth. Sometimes that is not possible. Sometimes our cat will ambush us. Sometimes our cat will be so pleased to see us that he will want to play especially if he is a young cat. In fact, we could probably argue that this sort of informal playing with us which happens spontaneously is more of less restricted to kittens and young or youngish cats. Often it comes out of excitement. I know that that is the case with my cat, Gabriel.
If he hasn’t seen me for a while because he’s been outside or I have been away, his pleasure in seeing me may spill over into playing with me at any opportunity which may mean that he attacks my arm or even my feet.
When he’s been outside hunting sometimes his hunting instincts spill over into his interactions with me. I accept them all because they are normal behaviour and I don’t want to upset him. I do not want him to feel rejected by me. I may be oversensitive in this regard but I do want to make sure that he is content and able to expresses his natural urges and desires in an unrestricted manner.
I realise that some good cat caretakers would categorically reject my easygoing attitude and say that cat owners should train out this sort of behaviour even by punishment. I don’t agree that. Also I believe that cats tend to lose the desire to play bite us in play. I am not saying this is always the case but older cats are less likely to do it. On this basis the “problem” (and I don’t see it as a problem) fades away.
When my cat bites in play he does not pierce the skin.
I’ve never met a cat that didn’t at least give ‘love bites’. My youngest cat is a nibbler and nibbles on everything she’s rubbing on, especially fingers and noses.
When playing with cats and kittens, if they bite too hard, I hiss at them. It’s what they do with each other and eventually they understand to be more gentle.
All of mine give love bites. Kitten never seen another cat until she was 18 months old. She was a bit of a weed whacker. I accepted it as part of her not learning better and my sub standard first time parent with a hand raised baby. She did mellow out with time and lots of patience. Mook and Mercy both give me love bites when grooming my hand at night or just being playful. I don’t have a scratch on me. If we had children in the house I might feel different.
>>>Sorry for the typo’s above and a special note of caution here: It should be stated that it is NEVER justified in any way to lash out physically or verbally on an animal.
The feral cats reactions are all she knows and uses to survive. How could we possibly step in her paws nor her walk in our shoes. Love is the only cure here.
My indoor [ mostly] cats are trained to not exhibit negative behaviors-so we live copacetic.
There are times when your cat may be ill or injured or just overstimulated and will bite a little bit or perhaps lash out and scratch, but these are natural instincts and I try to immediately forgive and understand the reasons involved.
My husband adopted [or rather they adopted each other] an outdoor stray who bites him out of the blue and for not apparent reasons that we can detect.
He is new at being a cat parent, and has tried to respond in a gentle manner. This ploy does not work for and untrained cat; because the cat is confused and has no clue of human disciplines I believe that these two were made for each other! Eva