I have a beautiful calico that I adopted when she was a very young
kitten (about 7 years ago). The problem is, any time she sees a hand
coming towards her, she'll lunge at it, bite it, recoil and hiss, then
run away.

She does this alot with people she doesn't know (I assume she feels
threatened), but recently she's started doing it to me a lot. I've
tried reaching out to her very slowly, talking to her while I do it or
putting treats in my hand and them reaching out to her but even this
doesn't work.

She's never been mistreated and I don't know where this agression comes
from... I've read that cats get over stimulated from petting. She does
that sometimes as well. I'm concerned about the biting with no petting
stimulation or threat.

Even when I play with her with a toy (catnip animal or wand) if my hand
is within her reach, she'll lunge and bite me instead of directing the
biting toward her toy. I have another cat and they play together, so
she does have an outlet for pent up energy.

She's very timid around new people, but she's very affectionate with
those she knows well. At night, she likes to curl up in my arms and
sometimes she sleeps there all night. So, I know she's not antisocial
and she doesn't feel threatened or scared of me in general.

When she does bite my hands, I make a lound noise (OWWW!) but she runs
away too fast for me to do any positive punishment. I don't know if
it's better to ignore her biting episodes and hope they stop when she
realizes she doesn't get any kind of attention from them, or to make
her biting me an unpleasant experience (with a lound noise or some
Bitter YUCK on my hands).

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

D