Play biting

[Mollysmummy]

I wonder if anyone has any experience of their cat greeting them in the morning/after work by face rubbing (normal) but then gentle biting of fingers? I don't mind this but I just wonder if it's normal? My cat is 1 so she's not teething. Thanks!

[Mollysmummy]

She had a good old chomp on my fingers this morning!! My husband was on his first night shift since we got her, and instead of spending the night in our bedroom windowsill she spent the whole night on the floor right next to my side of the bed

When I got up she face rubbed and licked my fingers then started nibbling as usual, then really chomped on my finger! I said ouch and she stopped immediately. Why does she do this? Is it part of their play or do I need to buy her some more robust toys to chew on?!

[andrewh1973]

I'm wondering similar... (sorry to hijack your thread here!)...
Arnie, the stray that adopted me earlier this year, has gradually become more inclined to bite and kick and to do so increasingly aggressively ... he'll be purring and friendly and maybe even licking my hand and then suddenly he's like he's caught a mouse and he'll have me in an arm lock and will kick and bite like he's trying to do serious damage! If I shout "No!" that used to stop him but now it doesn't so I miaow like I'm in pain and he normally stops, sometimes he'll lick my hand in response, if I try to take my hand away though he'll attack again. It's a shame as before he was neutered he was a calm, friendly, gentle cat. He's becoming a mean, bossy, aggressive little kitty and I'm not sure why.

When he is being nice though, he's absolutely charming. When he's hungry and when he's settling down on my bed at night to sleep, he's very loving but he plays rough and dirty though! I wonder if he actually needs another cat to play with? But there again he seems to have a love/hate thing going on with the neighbour's black cat Snoop. They will follow each other around and sniff each other's faces sometimes then other times will circle around each other, backs arched, tails fluffed up and attack. Can't figure either of them out but when the neighbour's cat is here Arnie seems to be the "victim" and when Arnie is in my neighbour's house, Snoop seems to be "victim". It's a weird dynamic!

Arnie will often rub against my face in the morning and/or headbutt and then, if I'm not waking up fast enough for him, will often then tap my face with a paw. If that doesn't work, it's repeated, with claws out now, until it gets the desired result/lovely red colour is seen/slave gets angry!

I find Arnie does all this "naughty" stuff if I've not played with him for several hours the day or so before. 15 or 30 mins play is not enough for him, he seems to need a lot of activity otherwise he sees me as a punch bag!

Hope you manage to figure your one out!

[Mollysmummy]

Molly doesn't get aggressive at all, in fact she only really uses her claws on her toys. If she climbs over us etc she keeps them in. I wondered if she was teething but she's too old so I'm not sure why she does it. She won't cuddle with us but she lets me stroke her now so we're improving!

With Arnie if he's a stray the hunter instinct is probably stronger for him if he's been fending for himself, so your playtime and fusses probably seem more like hunting to him, or he's not used to being gentle as his experiences have been to kill to eat?

[mr_frisky]

Tango does that when I'm playing with her. Maybe it's an atavistic nipple biting thing, when they nip to get milk from their mother?

[Mollysmummy]

It might be something like that as she only ever bites my fingertips never my knuckles or hands.

[JulieandBarney]

My Barney does this all the time...literally !! He can be purring away quietly then all of a sudden, the kicks start and the biting gets pretty rough !! He does his 'bunny kicks' and bites at the same time, it can get a bit sharp but it's just play time for him, and I understand that, he's just being his usual friendly, playful self...it's not meant to hurt, in fact I have read that cats do this as a method of bonding with their owner...i just laugh it off, it's quite normal....

[SarahT1 [PLLE]]

Yes, my Pepsi likes to do this. She'll be lying half on her back, lovely white fluffy tummy showing, and looking at me with the loving, teasing eyes, and I know what she wants!

[cathyday]

H has always done this. He'll show me his tummy to rub and then after a couple of rubs his tail flicks and he goes into 'play' mode. Trouble is his front claws are like razors which hurts the most, whilst he bunny kicks my arm and bites my hand. I blow gently into his face which seems to stop him.

I'm getting wise to him now though and don't tend to touch his tum even if he asks me to. Thing is he never does it to my OH who can rub his tummy for long periods without this happening.

[Nikki C]

My George does the biting and kicking his back legs when I play with him sometimes rubbing his tummy. Seems normal enough!

[Mollysmummy]

A lot of the time it's not during playtime, it's whenever she greets me, especially if I've been at work or in the morning. She will face rub to say hello then get my fingers in her mouth and chew! She only does it when she has access to my fingertips, she won't bike knuckles etc. sometimes it's really hard!