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Sat 2 Apr, 2005 10:05 am
Cat People;
I need some information..I have been feeding five stray cats now for about five months. Each morning around seven they are standing in line 3 females and two males.
One of the males is a young Gray cat...when I pick him up he just cant get enough of my strocking him and he purrs very loud....Now here is the catch...every once in awhile he will bite my forearm hard enough to bleed.Whats going on ???????
Joe Harris
It could just be that the cat no longer wants to be petted. This sometimes happens out of the blue.
Usually, you will see some warning before the biting. Watch for restlessness; the cat's tail beginning to twitch; the cat's ears turning back or flicking back and forth; the cat turning or moving her head toward your hand or arm.
Stop the petting and/or put the cat down when you see this behaviour.
I think Intrepid posted a pretty good evaluation.
umm, do you know if the cats are healthy? i'd be a bit worried if a stray cat bit me. Probably nothing to worry about, but if you notice a first sign of not feeling alright, see a doctor STAT. might be wise to get a checkup anyway, just to be sure.
i have a 4yr old ex-stray cat. he gets itchy spots on his back that i rubbed and scratch for him. when i do this he licks and bites the air or my arm. i don't think it's vicious behaviour but a reaction similar to a dog's scratching the air or your hand when you scratch their belly. or... it could be what the other dude said..
Young cats also purr when they're frightened or threatened, a sort of "don't hurt me, see I like you" response.
male cats sometimes bite you out of affection as well,
Vivien wrote:male cats sometimes bite you out of affection as well,
Yes, they do, Vivien!
I've had this happen any number of times, with a number of different cats. They only do it if they think you are absolutely the pant's pants!
Strange though, don't you think?
I use to feed a stray that did the same thing to me. He was all affectionate, but after a while of petting him, he would bite me. I think it was his way of showing affection because he was obviously enjoying my petting him.
Oh yeah! Sometimes it means "I think I'm in love," and sometimes it means "That's enough, now go away." You gotta watch the signals.
Too bad they're not interested in learning to speak English.
It was a very hard and long process to get my cat (male) to stop biting me, although they were never hard bites. To us, biting means "I hate you," but to them, it seems to mean something different, close to "I like you."
Yes, there is "love" biting and then there is "agression biting". You can tell the difference because the love biting does not usually break the skin like the agression biting does.
Again, watch for the signals. Cats can, however, give mixed signals. i.e. The tail straigtht up is a sign that the cat is happy to see you (stop, do not read anything else into this). A flicking can be good and it can be bad. Careful observation will soon reveal the true intentions of our feline friends.
Eva wrote:Oh yeah! Sometimes it means "I think I'm in love," and sometimes it means "That's enough, now go away." You gotta watch the signals.
Too bad they're not interested in learning to speak English.
Yep, so true. My cat now will give me a little bite once in a while when I pick her up and she wants to be put down. She doesn't like to be held for long and I think it's her way of saying "enough already". Her bites are very gentle though.
Lucky will often just jump up on the back of my office chair, give me a few head bumps and then chow down on my ear. This begins a game of "If I catch that cat Im gonna skin im" The game continues until one or the other gets tired then shell just plop down on my lap
Awwww!!! That's cute, Farmer :-D
I had a stray cat that would hiss with pleasure when I fed it, hiss with pleasure when I scratched the top of its head, and, after some long time of breaking down his skittishness to touch, I would brush his coat and he'd hiss some more.
I don't think he had a mom around for long, or siblings to help him with appropriate responses. I can't remember him ever purring.
I'm not sure if I posted Screech's latest odd behavior here. He has started to flea-bite my arm when I scritch his hind quarters. He gets small patches of matted fur in the winter (has has significant kitty-down), if I start to imitate flea-bites at the matts, he returns the favor on my arm.
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