When I play with cats they often seem to want to grab onto my hand or wrist with their teeth for a moment. They never break skin, and never hurt me. It always seemed clear to me that this was just a part of play and petting.
But recently a friend claimed that this is actually the cat’s way of saying, “I’ve had enough play/petting for now - that was a friendly warning to back off.”
I’m skeptical.
Tonight, the cat I’m babysitting did it while we were playing. Then immediately (as in less than a second later) stretched out in the position that I’ve learned means she wants to be scratched on her chin. And she did indeed lay there and seemed to very much enjoy having her chin scratched.
So what are the little bastards actually trying to say with their playtime nips?
Cat nips can be friendly, or a warning, or just playful – it depends on the body language. If the cat looks agitated – tail lashing, low grumbling, etc. – then nips are probably a warning. But one of my cats will show affection by alternating headbutts, licking, and mouthing.
My cat will bite you if you stop petting her. It may be possible that she will also bite you if you pet her too much, but no one has ever been able to reach that threshold with this cat. The person always wears out before the cat does.
Having owned cats on and off for years (and no, I’m not one of those crazy anthropomorphising “cat people”), I think it’s true some of the time. Sometimes, it’s playing, and sometimes it’s a warning.
For an animal that probably ain’t that smart, they do seem reasonably sophisticated in their ability to warn at varying levels. I remember as a kid, I was roughhousing too much with a cat, and she did that soft bite to me. I ignored it, and then quick as lightning, there was a paw thrust into my eye. Claws retracted. That was like DEFCON 3, so I got the message and backed off. It was so damn fast she could have done me a real mischief with the claws out, had she chosen to.
I’d think that has to be true. Cat play instincts are, AFAIK, closely tied up with hunting that it’s hard to imagine that when the nip you in play it isn’t part of the fun, as it were.
Our cats get along well 90 percent of the time, but occasionally they do have a territorial confrontation. Usually just before one backs off and runs away, it and the other contender will exchange “air bites”, when they snap at the air as if to say, This is what you’re going to get if you keep on, and they never do that with us. Probably they’re too much in awe of our power and majesty. After all, we can make fresh wet food appear in a bowl, as if by magic.
If my cat is warning me over something, then she must think I’m pretty thick because I don’t get the hint. She has continually bit me since the day she met me. It’s never hard or vicious, but is simply what she does. Playing usually includes her full-on tackling my hand and gnawing and kicking.