# Kitten can't stop biting my face



## siwain (Mar 19, 2009)

My youngest cat, a kitten of nearly three months has recently caught the bad habit of biting my face.

He's always purring and in a good mood when doing it and I've been having a huge problem figuring out why he does it! It always starts with him being cuddly and before he started biting, he had the habit of licking my face.

He's generally an easy going cat and not at all agressive; though quite hyper and impulsive and has shown to have poor judgement when facing risky situations. I'm not sure if it's related to the biting problem.

He was weaned very early as his mother seemed to have lost her milk, and came to my house when he was just under two months old, due to the previous owner's unwillingness to keep the kittens any longer.


----------



## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

That's love bites. Your kitten is saying "I love you"  My Metoo does that from time to time.

Either enjoy them, or gently push her away whenever she does that. She might learn later on that you don't like it.


----------



## Rebbie (Jul 11, 2011)

Ha! I actually had the same question a couple of days ago. Nice to know I'm in good company on being confused by it at first.

http://www.catforum.com/forum/37-behavior/146014-cats-how-they-use-their-teeth.html

As yingying said, it's a love bite.


----------



## siwain (Mar 19, 2009)

Those are pretty darn hard lovebites then! :lol: He leaves marks every time and worse still is when he bites and then pulls! Maybe little Kvote simply doesn't understand it hurts...:?


----------



## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

Cat's skin is a lot tougher than human's, so most probably he doesn't know his bite hurts you. It's one common thing happened when kittens are separate from their mom too soon, otherwise mom cats will teach their kids to play gentle. 

It's something you better teach him now, otherwise when he grows older the bites will lead to blood. Sorry I cannot help you on how to train kittens not biting hard, since my cats don't have that problem. But there are lots of posts on this forum about this issue, and I'm sure some will work 

But I would suggest whatever method you take, don't do the "punish" way, like spray bottle or so. Afterall, nobody want to be treated harshly when they are saying "I love you", right? You may hurt his feeling and push him to turn cold on you. You can start from crying in pain and dodge away when it feels hurt. If you get a very smart kitten, he will learn soon. Good luck!


----------



## its.alice (Jun 15, 2011)

Foster some kittens, or have a kitten play date. The other kittens will tell yours that he's biting too hard. Alice did this as well, and I was handed some fosters, until they are old enough to be adopted, and they taught her quick not to bite so hard.


----------



## siwain (Mar 19, 2009)

I usually protect my face with my hands so he doesn't get through. If he doesn't give up, I grab him and put him far from my face while saying "no". You think it's it a good method?


----------



## Tinker1 (Apr 22, 2011)

Tinkerbell did this at about the same age as yours. If she did it hard I made this high pitched sound and saying that's not nice she stopped and then I was able to distract her by giving her a toy. I put her down and walked away. She no longer does it now at 5 months old.


----------



## hal1 (Jul 16, 2011)

I don't know how old he was before separated from him mom/litter. But the kitten needs to be trained the way his mom would teach him. One or any of these things should work.

1- Give out a very loud high pitch yelp when he bites you. This is part of the training that his mom and litter mates teach each other that biting hurts.

2- Scruff him (I'm new here, do we allow that?) the way his mom would, and take him a short distance away to re-direct him to a toy.

3- Make a hissing sound at him.

4 -Scolding "NO" in a deep growling sound.

Never any physical punishment of he will learn to be fearful and not trusting

1 or 2, or in combination, should get his immediate combination


----------

