# Purring but biting me?



## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

Picture the following scene:

I'm sat in front of the telly, wine glass in one hand, bag of potato chips in the other. Toby comes into lounge, sits in front of me on the floor and meows.

'Hey cutie pie, want a love? Come on then'.

Toby jumps on Mummy's lap.

Curls up on Mummy's lap, purring and making biscuits.

Mummy starts stroking Toby.

Toby turns round, bites Mummy and then settles down again on Mummy's lap, purring and making biscuits.

I don't understand. Why does he sometimes do this? He has never bitten me hard - hasn't ever even marked the skin with his little teeth. But honestly :roll:


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## -Ann- (Jun 30, 2006)

Chloe does this but it's not just sometimes. She does it quite often. Usually when she's on her side. I'll be petting her and then she'll raise her head, bite at me, then lay back down and let me pet her some more. She never bites hard. Cats. :roll:


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## zippy96444 (Mar 7, 2006)

That is his way of telling you he doesn't want touched. They cant say it, so that is their way of telling you. Mango will do it also.


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

melysion said:


> I'm sat in front of the telly, wine glass in one hand, bag of potato chips in the other.


Boy, I wish you lived closer, we could be great friend! :lol: 

I think maybe you touched a spot he didn't like. Maybe his stomach? Some cats don't like that. :lol: 

Or...he's playing with you.


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## manitu22 (Apr 25, 2003)

Willis does that to me too.....I call them "love bites".


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

It is cat language...he is either telling you to stop moving by holding your petting hand still with his mouth/teeth...or...he is enjoying himself immensely and cannot contain his feelings and must 'share', but does so by taking love-bites.

Marmy will give me little bites as I scrubble his shoulders. When I begin to scrubble to low down his back (below his shoulders) he will give my arm a little bite to tell me to stop and go back up.

You will know when you aren't doing what they want when they jump down and give you the hairy-eyeball while whipping their tail back and forth. :wink:


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

Not always...Franny HATES to have her stomach touched, or her paws and if you do either she will bite your hand and if you touch her paws, move her paws away. Otherwise she won't move, she doesn't jump down...but she's def. telling me to knock it off.


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## CataholicsAnonymous (Dec 4, 2006)

AddFran said:


> Franny HATES to have her stomach touched, or her paws and if you do either she will bite your hand and if you touch her paws, move her paws away.


That's exactly the way Chica is. Yet she will roll over and literally BEG me to rub her tummy. :twisted:


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

CataholicsAnonymous said:


> AddFran said:
> 
> 
> > Franny HATES to have her stomach touched, or her paws and if you do either she will bite your hand and if you touch her paws, move her paws away.
> ...


Isn't it funny how they are all so different. Trot lays spread eagle on the floor and loves having his stomach rubbed. So far two the kittens love it and Mahlee seems undecided. :lol:


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

I'll put in my plug for a love bite. :wink: 

Even so, I don't permit or encourage even love bites because if a cat knows a love bite is OK, then maybe a stronger bite will be OK as well.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

zippy96444 said:


> That is his way of telling you he doesn't want touched. They cant say it, so that is their way of telling you. Mango will do it also.


This is known as a "warning bite" and I don't think that's what's going on here. A warning bite is stronger than a love bite, it can hurt a little, but still not breaking the skin. As zippy says, it's a cat's way of saying "don't do that!!" or "stop!!" A warning bite doesn't occur without something that provokes it. If melysion's petting doesn't usually provoke a warning bite, then I don't see why it would here, in this particular case.


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

coaster said:


> zippy96444 said:
> 
> 
> > That is his way of telling you he doesn't want touched. They cant say it, so that is their way of telling you. Mango will do it also.
> ...


I don't know, Tim. Franny's got a serious mean streak in her and her warning bite doesn't hurt at all. You could pet her all day long as long as you don't touch her stomach or paws and if you touch either of those she puts her mouth around your hand and then lets go. It doesn't hurt at all. I know her well, so I know she's telling me not to do it, it's def. not a love bite...but it's not that rough either. She'll also let out a little snarl if you go back for more, but still the bite for doing either of these two is not a hard one.


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## coaster (Dec 1, 2004)

Just goes to show every cat's different and you need to know your cat. But I'd say based on the description of purring and kneading, it was a love bite, not a warning bite.


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

coaster said:


> Just goes to show every cat's different and you need to know your cat. But I'd say based on the description of purring and kneading, it was a love bite, not a warning bite.


I know that's why you would assume that and in most cases you are probably right, but what I was trying to say and perhaps I didn't articulate it very well is that Franny will be happy and purry with me petting her over and over but once I creap over to the tummy or toes I get the bite. So, I was thinking maybe Allie is rubbing" over an area that he's not liking her touching and he's telling her something along the lines of..."A little more to the right" :lol:


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

AddFran said:


> coaster said:
> 
> 
> > Just goes to show every cat's different and you need to know your cat. But I'd say based on the description of purring and kneading, it was a love bite, not a warning bite.
> ...


:lol: I'm not sure to be honest but I'll try to be observant the next time he does it - I might be able to identify an 'area' he doesn't like. 

I know he isn't always keen on his tummy being rubbed. I only dare do that if he rolls over and displays it to me.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

CataholicsAnonymous said:


> AddFran said:
> 
> 
> > Franny HATES to have her stomach touched, or her paws and if you do either she will bite your hand and if you touch her paws, move her paws away.
> ...


Cats. Who can explain them?


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## melysion (Mar 12, 2007)

Heidi n Q said:


> Cats. Who can explain them?


Not me :lol: I bet theres lots of money to be made though if someone out there can at some point :lol:

Oh well. I guess that is part of what makes us love them. Funny little cutie pies :heart


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## Frostine (Jun 4, 2007)

Ok, Muffin does this thing where I'll be petting her, and if I stop she'll give me a little bite or a swipe with her paw, without claws. I think she wants me to continue petting her. Pookie is the opposite. She only likes to be petted around her face, anything else and I get the bite. It's only a tad harder and doesn't hurt, but I know it means "enough!"


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## Scarlett516 (Jun 12, 2007)

Chloë does the same thing. She only likes to be petted by her head. Sometimes she will let me pet her down her back, but she really doesn't like me touching her anywhere other than that. She does bite a little, not enough to hurt, when she's had enough. It's definitely not a love bite, she licks me instead for that.

Chloë does this weird thing where she'll walk further away from me while I"m petting her and expect me to come to her! She definitely still wants to be petted because she gives me a look as if to say "Come on, move it! I want more lovings!!"


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## gunterkat (Aug 19, 2006)

When I first rescued Sam he didn't like his paws or belly touched, and gave a hard warning bite if I did. But after some months, as he grew to know and trust me better, he relaxed those boundaries. He even liked to have his belly brushed with his dry bath.  

Sam was badly abused as a kitten and young cat. The biting in Sam's case was because he had trust issues at first. It took time for him to learn that I'm a "good human'  who deserved his trust.
:catrun


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## Krystalily (Jul 13, 2006)

Just earlier today, Andi was being super snuggly, so I petted her and carried her around (as she should always be, she's such a princess :roll: ). I put her down on the floor because after a while, a 10 lb cat can get kind of heavy so I put her down gently and petted her. She walked over to my feet and proceeded to gently bite my ankles and feet. She's done this in the morning and it's woken me up several times. 

Does she like how my feet smell or something? :lol: She's done this pretty often to both me and my husband!


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## gunterkat (Aug 19, 2006)

Andi's happy and playing with you, and your feet are just the most accessible thing.  Play is a way of expressing affection.
:kittyball


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## Nini (May 6, 2007)

When we first got Mew and Isis, they were about four months old. Mew had a weird habit of chewing on our fingers whenever you would pet her, or when she was purring and kneading around. She would even wake us up in the middle of the night doing this, because she was NOT doing it gently - she crunched a finger more than once between her molars doing the side crunch thing like when they try to eat something hard - OUCHIE 8O 

We finally taught her not to do it anymore, and she has been good with it, but occasionnally when I pet her and she is purring, she will still go for my fingers, and as before she is not that gentle :? 
Could she be telling me to get away from her instead of showing some affection?


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## AddFran (Jul 10, 2004)

Maybe...or she could have initially been playing and just formed a habit out of chewing on your fingers. It's good you taught her not to do it anymore that's the reason why the experts advise against playing with kitties with your hands because then they don't know the boundries and they will bite (often too hard) just because....


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## gunterkat (Aug 19, 2006)

i think most kitties can learn that, for all our relative size, people are fragile compared to a cat. 
All the kitties I've known and loved have very quickly learned to play gently.


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## raquel519 (Jul 10, 2007)

love bites to me are signals of play or affection. warning bites seem to be accompanied by something else, like ears set differently, eyes wider, tail swishing differently, a specific meow that says "i don't really like that", but they're not totally annoyed yet. but right now, my male kitty just likes to bite anything & everything, so i'm not sure what all his bites mean... but i've figured out some of them :wink:


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## OhMy (Jul 2, 2007)

I read somewhere that some cat bites are actually a sign of affection. Let me find some information: 

Why does your cat take a small bite on your arm or cheek and hold on for a few seconds? 

Some cats, when they are very happy and feeling extremely affectionate toward the Big Unfurry Cat, will gently take a piece of human skin between their teeth and hold it for a few seconds. Think of it as the feline equivalent of kissing.

(Nakie does this alot to me. He's a total love bug)

Here is another theory: 

Why does a cat suddenly bite or hiss at a person after it's been petted for a while? 
If a person persists in touching a sensitive area (such as the cat's tail, ears, or belly), the cat might give a gentle nip to as a way of staying "stop." Too, some cats can tolerate pleasurable stroking only for short periods of time; again, he may communicate "stop it" with a nip or cuff of his paw.

Here is where I found this information: 

http://www.xmission.com/~emailbox/whycat.htm


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## Krystalily (Jul 13, 2006)

Andi has been doing it more often. She really wants me to pet her in the morning. It's gotten to the point where she'll bite my arm gently and lick it afterwards repeatedly until I pet her. She'll plop down, curl up, and purr VERY loudly. If I don't keep petting her and showing her affection, she'll repeat the soft biting process. It's very cute but it was confusing to me at first.


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