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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / January 2006Bringing out the inner cat
It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat. Seated at the table, I sensed my cat wished to communicate. She had food in her dishes but was not eating. A sign that communication is now possible. A channel has opened up. She is giving me obtuse signals, like blocking my path and grabbing my ankle. So I sit at the kitchen table. She is on the table by now. She proceeds to bite the top part of my wrist with some provocation by myself. And lo and behold she does a new twist to her biting. She quickly bites the tender part of the underside of my wrist. Whew. Good that she is keeping her combat skills not only up to date but trying out new moves. > It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat. > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > Whew. Good that she is keeping her combat skills not only up to date > but trying out new moves. I'm glad to hear you like to be bitten by your cat as she seems to like to bite *you.* I don't and mine don't. Why do you let her? <puzzled> Tweed > > It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat. > > [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > > Tweed She likes it. Just playing. She has never broken the skin or even bruised it ever. Just a fun thing to do. Play fighting. > I'm glad to hear you like to be bitten by your cat as she seems to like to > bite *you.* I don't and mine don't. Why do you let her? <puzzled> Our Nocturne is a biter...or rather, a nipper, being as she never breaks skin. We notice her doing this to the kittens too. It's her way of trying to prove she's dominant in the household. We found that struggling against or reacting to the bite just made her do it /more/...while ignoring it causes her to no longer feel the need to "prove" her dominance and just settle right back down again. She does it if we do something we know she won't like (such as touch her tummy) and then, every once in a while she'll take our hands in her teeth just to remind us. --Fil >> It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat. >> [quoted text clipped - 9 lines] > > Tweed Persia bites me, *very very gently* when she's feeling particularly loving towards me. She usually licks my wrist or elbow first, or my knee if I'm seated on my throne! then she gently nips at me, purring loudly all the time. It's not aggressive behavior. It's "I love you!" behavior. And she does the slow, blinkey eyes thing at me when she's doing it. Sounds to me like treeline is trying to encourage some sort of aggressive play and/or (as stated) combat skills rather than an expression of love. Jill > >> It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat. > >> [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > > Jill Why do you assume, incorrectly, that I do not also encourage expressions of love? That seems a rather negative and biased assumption on your part. Quite catty, actually. In any event, if you read further down, my cat also gives me kisses. It was originally a trick I taught her but she also rubs noses with me briefly because settling down to sleep with her face on my chest. Purring of course. For a former street cat, not a former pet, that's not too bad. >>> It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat. >>> [quoted text clipped - 20 lines] > >Jill Cats bite each other all the time, in various ways, so when they live with us, it's natural for them to at least try it. We try to discourage it, and make them understand that it's not appropriate to do it to their hoomins. But there are those very gentle, force-free bites, and I don't mind them. It's the frenzied, heat-of battle bites that aren't allowed. Theresa Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com Make Levees, Not War >It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat. > [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] >Whew. Good that she is keeping her combat skills not only up to date >but trying out new moves. My Kenzie was declawed by one of her two former sets of humans :-( When giving her a big scritch session, as I do as often as possible, she sometimes gets a bit over stimulated, and will bite me. HARD. While purring up a storm. But, she's never once broken my skin, or even scratched me with her teeth. She releases pressure when I pull my hand away, enough so she knows 'enough is enough'. Biting for her, is just playing with me. Cats without front claws are forced to use their mouth and teeth to manipulate things, that a cat would normally do with it's paws and claws. And they tend to bite far more than cats with claws. But Kenzie knows,even when she's overstimulated, not to bite so hard as to *really* hurt me. She could easily bite hard enough to break the small bones in my hands. But she's a very smart kitty, and doesn't do that, or even draw blood. So biting doesn't mean a cat doesn't like you. Many cats with all of their claws will bite during play sessions. I've never tried to get Kenzie to stop biting, because I know in her case, it mostly comes from being declawed. It would be a very difficult thing to get her to stop doing, since it's so ingrained. It would involve discipline she doesn't deserve, and likely wouldn't understand. It would be very difficult for both of us; I simply couldn't, and wouldn't even try to do that to her. (Declawing a cat is cruel on so many levels; it's shame it's not illegal here in America, as it is in the UK, and some other countries.) And while she bites hard enough to hurt, she know not to really damage me, which would be so very easy for her to do. She's just playing a little rough with me. And I can live with that. She's a very good cat, with virtually no bad habits; while I have so many. I'm in no position to pass judgement on her for expressing herself in a way that comes naturally to her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Life without cats would be only marginally worth living." -TC, and the unmercifully, relentlessly, sweet calico kitty, Kenzie. How you behave towards cats here below determines your status in Heaven. - Robert Heinlein Life is very difficult. Once you understand that, life becomes easier. -Buddha > So biting doesn't mean a cat doesn't like you. Many cats with all of > their claws will bite during play sessions. [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > many. I'm in no position to pass judgement on her for expressing herself > in a way that comes naturally to her. Smart kitty. If you have the time, look into Clicker Training with Cats. Does she get bored easily with toys? I engage in play fighting with my cat because I am way too lazy to maintain teaching her tricks. I was teaching her simple things, like Jump Up and Jump Down and Give Me A Kiss. The last one is too cute.
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