LO there, hope the bleeding's stopped :-)

This extract might help:

It's is a verbatim (apart from typos, they'll be mine) extract from
the 1991 book "The Cat's Mind" by Dr Bruce Fogle DVM MRCVP,
London vet & prolific author. Pelham Books paperback,
ISBN 07207 2050 8.
It's a good informative read, btw, & you might find a 2ndhand
copy via www.abebooks.com

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PETTING AGGRESSION

Your cat is on your lap almost dozing and you are absently petting it.
It is a gratifying behaviour on your part because it lowers your blood
pressure, skin temperature & heart rate.  When you behave in the same
way with your dog, it too goes into a state of near-reverie and if you
stop it nudges you with its head or uses its paw to convince you to
continue, for it too benefits from the contact comfort you're offering
it.  All social engage in mutual grooming and benefit both
psychologically and physiologically.  But suddenly bites your hand and
jumps down.  Why do some cats behave in such an apparently insincere
way?

There are several possible reasons for this unpleasant behaviour. Dogs
are pack animals that sleep together in physical contact, think
together as a team and develop a dominance/subdominance/subordinance
heirarchy that they conform to rigidly and demonstrate by kowtowing to
the leader and licking his face.  Physical contact is a common theme
in many of their behaviours.  Cats mutually groom each other, but on
closer examination it is usually only the females who groom and they
do so only in conditions where colony life occurs, when a large food
source is nearby.  When they groom each other they do so for limited
lengths of time.  Otherwise physical contact is kept to a minimum.
With the exception of those inhabiting certain cold sub-Antarctic
islands feral cats do not sleep in physical contact with each other.
That behaviour is a consequence of early learning in house cats and
has been accentuated by selective breeding.

Contact comfort is enjoyable to cats.  That's why they rub against our
legs when we come home.  But too much of a good thing can lead to
aggression.  The cat's mind enters a state of conflict. On the one
hand the cat enjoys physical contact: on the other is it an
independent animal which seldom has physical contact except when
fighting or mating, and even when mating there are fixed emotions and
fighting.  The cat controls this contradiction within itself when its
owner is showing it affection until, suddenly and impulsively, it
feels irritated, bites, and jumps down from the lap where it had
seemed settled.

Dr Bonnie Beaver (sic) feels that petting aggression might be a form
of fear-induced behaviour.  She says that, because of cats'
world-class ability to catnap, they might fall asleep for a few
seconds while being petted.  They then wake up to the sensation of
something causing physical contact - in most circumstances a sign of
danger.  They then instinctively bite & jump down, but even on the way
down to the ground they've become conscious enough to realize that
there was no danger and upon landing they show no further signs of
fear.

TREATMENT

The best method of controlling this form of aggression is to control
your urge to pet your cat for long periods of time.  Single short
strokes that mimic the licking of another cat;s tongue are the best,
and these should be restricted to a length of time shorter than that
which you know provokes this seemingly irrational behviour.

**************************************************

Hope this helps to reassure you. I've observed similar behaviour
myself with several "rescue" cats whose early life was shrouded in
mystery, but who were likely to be poorly socialised (vis a vis
humans) in that vital first 8 weeks of life.  They'd accept, even come
up to encourage, a stroke or cuddle, but within a few minutes would
nip or swipe to say "enough already" before running just a few steps
away. They'd then settle down nearby as though nothing was wrong, and
might even come back later for another - short - pet.  The trick was
to stop before they'd had enough: this never seemed to upset them.

Good luck, anyway. Let us know how things go.

Purrs & best wishes

Gordon & the TT (who are all too well socialised to be bitey)

(PS obviously KFC now stands for Kitty Ferocious Character)  :-)