Cat Behavior Question

[McGurk]

We adopted a supposedly “feral” cat last year as a barn cat.

A friend said he was hanging around her house, fighting with her cats and that she was going to trap him and take him to a spay neuter clinic. I said we would happily take him after he was neutered.

I would estimate that he was about 2 or 3 years old when he was trapped and neutered. Clearly not feral, clearly someone’s pet cat that had strayed or been dumped. Came out of the carrier from his vet appointment, rubbed my legs, flopped over and purred. Not a mark on him; ears and face have no scars or marks, so clearly hadn’t been a feral Tom for any length of time.

He has mostly been a delightful addition to the household; sleeping indoors most of the day, going outside to hunt at night, bossing the dogs around and mousing like crazy.

He has one very annoying habit though - when he wants attention or is being affectionate, he nibbles on me. It starts out fairly mildly, but progresses to little nips. When he gets more aggressive I usually put him outside.

Am I correct in assuming this is courting behavior in male cats? I’ve never had a cat that did this, but then, I’ve never had a male that was neutered this late. Has anyone been successful in correcting this behavior? (Behavioral correction in cats being, um, challenging.) Our should I just accept that his love language is love bites and dead rodents?

[gailbyrd]

For the ones we’ve had who were a little more aggressive about their “affection”, a stern NO, with a rap on the nose with a finger will generally give them the idea they are getting too “loving”. We start with a stern, almost growling, NO, keeping our hands very still. If the behavior continues, that’s when the rap on the nose takes place. Pretty soon they know not to bite hard although they may still rub their teeth on us or take much gentler bites. When the gentle bites occur, keeping hands still and a stern EASY generally keeps the biting to an acceptable level.

And some cats are just like this. Our one problem boy was neutered before he became mature, it’s just his nature to play and love rough.

Edit: one word was incorrect

[Larksmom]

I have always thought this is a sign of affection. I have had ‘biters’, but it was gentle. I agree about a bop on the nose. And may we see a photo of the offender?

[OnAMission]

I have a big cat that was neutered probably around 9 months and he loves to bite. He also had a big bold personality from jump and thinks he’s a dog half (most?) the time. Lots of character and really fun but he bites as part of his love language.

[McGurk]

[OnAMission]

This cat could be our dog/biter/cat’s twin! Well… ours has more white. I woke him from a nap in the basket for this picture and I think he wanted to bite me. We call him CrayCray or Kramer…

Maybe it’s a tux thing!

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

I don’t think it’s just a male thing - I have a female tabby, Sassy, who LOVES to nibble and bite. Mostly when she wants attention, but sometimes it’s clearly meant as affection. She was dumped here when she was a little less than a year old, but was never feral (she was already spayed, in fact), so I don’t think it had anything to do with that, either.

[Kyrabee]

I have a female lynx point Siamese that “love” bites. My other two never did that. She was seven when I adopted her so don’t know much of her history. She bit my 92 yo Mom twice her first week here. Not hard but you know old people’s paper thin skin. I thought I was going to have to return her to the rescue. We got things worked out but she still does her love bites. I have become better at recognizing her demeanor and can usually disengage before we get to that point.
I mean you can’t get too mad or upset at this…

[Pep_n_Ann]

Your cat is a twin to my daughters cat! Sugar also gives love bites, or play bites. Normally when we are rubbing her belly

[beowulf]

Does he only do this if he’s not getting the attention he feels he is entitled to?

I love that photo of him in the bowl!! What a dude.

I’m not sure it’s male specific but that is N=1 or N=5 cats, four of which are ladies and three of which will ask for attention politely and then resort to less polite means, including biting, if they feel attention is suboptimal. One has even patented hooking a claw in my nose while I’m asleep and she wants attention.

[avjudge]

My sister and I have a whole family who seemed to be particularly bitey. It has diminished a lot with age (they just turned six last month). The hardest biter, one she kept, is a female. Of the two I took, the female bit harder (never enough to break skin but hard enough to be uncomfortable) but the male bit more. It just seems that when you pet them they wanted to do something back so they start playing with/chewing on the hand that was petting them. With time they seemed to learn to just enjoy having people pet them.

Our most recent addition, a lynx point who is almost certainly a cousin several times over to the two above (same small feral pool), probably turning three this spring/summer sometime, is the bitiest of them all. He will only take a minimal amount of petting before he starts play-fighting with your hand. I am bad about letting him start this, but when he gets too vigorous I shut him down (extract my hand, yelp or hiss a bit).

I don’t remember other cats I’ve had being so oral, so I wonder if there is a family tendency to this sort of thing. The older two grew up in my sister’s barn with her children playing with them. We don’t know the full story of Sméagol’s (the lynx point’s) first year. He is one of the most people-oriented (or me-oriented?) cats I know, never wandered off to hunt but would always come to my call when I first met him at her house, and yet had obviously never been in a house or seen a litter box before I brought him home to my place (and for months was terrified of everyone who wasn’t my sister or me).

[McGurk]

@beowulf,

THIS

@beowulf

he’s not getting the attention he feels he is entitled to?

@beowulf

if they feel attention is suboptimal.

All of this. I’ll be petting him, and he’ll be purring, and if I slow down or stop, the nibbling starts.

[beowulf]

Ah yes. I feel your pain. I have one of those also - your OP made me think of her immediately. She is an “all the corners filled” cat - every inch of her body has to be in contact with you, and she expects the same level of attention to detail in return.

[McGurk]

BTW, the lab in front is 75 pounds, the lab in back is 110. The cat is a chonkster and completely, totally, in charge of the dogs.

[Zevida]

I would say a stern “no” and then remove yourself to teach him that if he does that he gets the opposite of what he wants - less love.

I have done the rap on the nose before but I don’t really think it’s necessary. With most cats they learn the word no pretty quick and taking away what he wants will be effective eventually. Getting physical could have unintended consequences depending on the cat.

[CanadianTrotter]

I’ve never had a cat that bites until Dizzy. He likes to bite when he’s playing and when he’s being patted because both actions excite him.

He has calmed down with his biting considerably after I used verbal correction. He would lick several times then bite, I should mention his bites are quite gentle. When he would move in for the bite I would very loudly say, “Ow Ow Ow!!!”, and he would quickly stop. He will still put it to the test once in awhile but it’s far and few in between. I use “no” for many other corrections and feel it loses its effectiveness if applied to every bad behaviour.

[red_mares]

This is exactly what my big Siamese girl does. She’ll kind of gnaw on me sometimes, especially if I stop doing whatever it was I was doing. Every once in a while, she gets a little more skin than she planned.

She’s always been mouthy. When I picked her up, the breeder made a comment that this was this litter was ‘energetic.’ She’s always been ornery. Part of the reason I got the second cat was so that she could chew on her and not me!

[Texarkana]

My one neutered male does this all the time to me. Although he wasn’t neutered particularly late or anything. He’s still young, approaching a year, and it’s been getting more frequent.

Most of my cats, male and female, have had some undesirable way to demand attention. My best kitty didn’t bite or claw, he would just unplug whatever electrical device you were using.

[OnAMission]

When we got our biter cat he came with his brother. They were supposed to patrol for mice at a grain elevator I was running but sure enough they ended up at the house instead. When the kid delivering them to me brought them in he grabbed crazy cat and said “this one’s really loud” LOL And he was, still is a very vocal cat. And if I don’t let him chew on me he will slap me across the face. His brother is the sweetest cat we’ve ever had, go figure.