2 little, 3 little, 4 little Sharp Teeth!

[HyperFerret]

All of my cats are Extremely Affectionate kitties. ...Sometimes, by their behavior, I would think that they think they are dogs. My youngest cat is just about 2 years and my oldest two (sisters) are 13 years old. Everyone else are between those ages. None of my cats know how to just lay around the house. (Sooo not complaining, my house is always entertaining LOL)

Okay, so here's the thing. About 6, maybe 7, of my cats have this biting thing. They NEVER break skin. But they love to give me what I guess I can call "love bites". When I pet them or just love on them they will set their teeth on me. It's always with gentle pressure but depending where they put their teeth ~ Ouch! Now, except for maybe 1 of my cats, all my cats also love to lick/wash me. Which I think their tongue feels weird and cool at the same time so I don't discourage the behavior. Some of the cats who will gently bite don't bite till after they have licked me. Any of them who do bite always lick right after the bite. And then a few of them will gently bite if I don't pet them when they want to be petted.

Anywho... I'm not really bothered by this biting thing. I was only curious to why they are doing this. The only time it hurts is when Tarista or Samurai give me their love bite. Tarista, for some reason, really loves to lick my nose. And every now and then her licking will turn into a gentle bite on the nose where gentle sooooo does not feel gentle. :eek: Samurai will only set his teeth on my arm. But a few times after he gently sets his teeth on me he will ever so slowly apply just a little more pressure, and then a little more pressure, and then juuust a little moooore pressure, until you say stop. Now he's the only one who will apply more pressure.

So ..... what up wit dat?:confused:

[kittykat05]

I know exactly what you are talking about. My mothers cats do that all the time. When you see them wash themselves they will do that too. Although I still to this day don't know what they are doing, they seem to "bite" themselves. What I have assumed is that they are working out hairballs, or pushing up dirt out of the skin, something like that.

I think it is very cute, and as you have stated they are not aggressive when doing this. So I wouldn't worry about it at all. Just have some bandages ready!! LOL.

And then a few of them will gently bite if I don't pet them when they want to be petted.


Well this is just typical cat behavior, this is his way of saying "Well.... I'm here now, you can start anytime....." LOL

[HyperFerret]

"Just have some bandages ready!!" LOL, I love that! Well, now that you mention that, I guess there's two kinds of bites. The one you described, from my understanding, is where it's like a quick knawing. To work something out or like something itches. My Lola Girl will do that to me if I have something abnormal on my hand or arm. Like if there's a scab of some sort. Hate to admit it but I once had a wart (**!Oh, such an Ugly word!**) on my hand. Well, Lola would be licking me and I would think nothing of this normal behavior. But then she ran across the (*Ugly word again!*) wart and she tried to knaw it off. Oh, yeah that hurt and I jerked my hand away from her. I forgot it was there till she found it for me. Um ... thanks ... Lola. Guess she knew it wasn't supposed to be there.

The biting I'm talking about.... My cats will open their mouth, set their teeth on me, and just sit there like that. And it's just that too. They don't move their mouth a bit after that. They'll engage in the bit and just literally sit there, mouth wide open, teeth upon my skin, just ... sitting ... there. They won't release the "bite" till I move my arm, face, whatever away from them. I've had them fall asleep like that before. LOL!!!!! Looks hilarious when they do that!!!

Like I said, I'm not at all alarmed by this behavoir, only courious to why they do that?

[TiaMaria]

These love bites are equivilent to a kiss for us humans, so suck it up and enjoy it! :D I get them all the time!

[Punkygirl0101]

my cats do that ALL the time! Some of their "bites" are harder then the others, and some prefer to lick me rather than "bite" me.

My Lola
I have a Lola too! :)