young cat biting

[gizzy]

My cat gets in very cuddly purry moods where she rubs against me and demands to be cuddled and get under the covers to cuddle me, I honestly don't mind at all, but last night she rubbed up on my chin purring then started biting it. She does the same if i sing or make noises when i'm lying down but without purring.
She's about a 13 months old at the moment.
Why does she do this??

[Ruth B]

I'm not sure if its true or not, but I have heard it comes from the way a mother cat will bite the kittens to make sure they know she is boss, and so it is the cats way of trying to be dominant. If you watch kittens you will also see them doing it to each other as a way of establishing the pecking order, or as preparation for adult life.

What ever the reason yours isn't to only one to do it, my Saturn often tries it on and tries to bite either my chin or my nose. I normally just turn away or tuck my chin in so he can't get to it, on occasion I have actually bitten him back, not hard but enough to know that I am the dominant one in this house.

Others may come up with other reasons, but that is my understanding.

[Lilith]

Hi there, does she bite gently? A sort of 'love bite'? Cats often do this; I have one who gnaws me affectionately. I think sometimes they get so excited it's a way of saying 'I love you so much I could eat you.' Once I met a cat for the first time and he went overboard, nuzzling and rubbing and - crunch! He bit me so hard he drew blood. I scolded him a little and stopped stroking him but not for long; I could see he hadn't meant to hurt, as opposed to a frightened or confused 'fear-biting' cat, who I'd apologise to. My youngest used to bite - still does sometimes - if she didn't want to be stroked. That's something else entirely though - I doubt if fear's got anything to do with your girl's biting. She sounds great and although I don't know exactly why they do this although I've seen mother cats pounce on their kittens and roll them about and 'bite' out of sheer high spirits and love I think -ah, Ruth, we overlapped, yes highly likely to be a dominance thing. Errm well they do dominate us lol.

If a cat got too rough I would say 'no' or hiss, or both, and withdraw my attention for a little while and then praise the cat for NOT biting, but in my experience this sort of biting doesn't usually need curbing despite the young man who got carried away. My present 'nipper' is an ex-feral who's been timid all her life, my Mouse, and it's lovely to see her being cheeky and extrovert in her old age.

Give your little nipper a love from me

[Lallum]

Lola is a biter. She seems to use her mouth for other things. She carries her toy monkey from room to room and gets upset if monkey gets closed into the living room. As I sit in bed at night, I can hear her lugging monkey up the stairs. I think she was given her in a cattery as a substitute mum and she has to go everywhere with Lola. She snuggles on my lap and likes to be stroked. She purrs and purrs then, with no pre warning, she bites me. Sometimes a nip but sometimes she has drawn blood. She doesn't try to scratch me, it's always the teeth. I can hand feed her and she's fine but every toy gets bitten, she likes biting anything which dangles (e.g winter coat ties, evening dress straps, Ugg boot loops etc). She's like an over grown kitten. I shout 'No!' and push her off my lap. It has got better but she is the dominant cat and nothing phases her.

As an aside, the cat at No 5 came in and stole Monkey. Lola came to the top of the stairs and saw him rolling on top of Monkey, purring and biting poor Monkey. Lola went berserk. She ran down the stairs, hissing and shrieking until Twilight left. She then came in and gave me grief which I interpreted as a telling off for not taking seriously her warning of monkey thieves in the area. She then bit me!

[emmab]

Is it more nipping as this is a sign of over familiarisation andher contentment with you. Ours do it all time time during cuddles. They also know when they are doing it and as they nip they realise they musn't do it too hard.

[gizzy]

thanks for the replies guys, It seems to be a playful loving nibble? always on my chin and she's always purring loudly without going too hard but she does open as wide as she can for the bite and it's only me,
Could this be because I'm seen as her "mum"? I feed her, she follows my commands (eg bedtime), sleeps with me, she only really proper play fights with me and not my brother,

[emmab]

She sounds a very happy and contented cat Gizzy.

[Kay]

I once had a Siamese who used to nip me on the nostrils, and that certainly brought tears to my eyes!! but I never doubted it was a loving bite, and could have been a great deal harder if she had wanted to inflict real pain