Ok, so the old lady and I got a kitten this summer (his name is Chairman Meow, though we call him ‘kitty’") and he does something really annoying.
I should tell you that this was supposed to be my girlfriend’s cat, and as such, she got to pick him. She picked the only one at the animal shelter that wasn’t sleeping. In fact, she picked the one that was flinging litter at his cell mate and attacking any fingers that strayed near his cage.
As further background: we got him when I broke my foot skateboarding this summer figuring it would be a good time as at least someone would be home with him for the first bit. We didn’t want to condemn the little fucker to solitary confinement when he was still getting used to being in a new place. Anyways, this cat, since we got him, will sleep on my chest at night. That’s fine. He also likes to shove his little rat cat face into my mouth and nose and nibble on my beard and lips when he wants to be scratched. When he gets really into being scratched, he’ll try and put his mouth over my nose. I say ‘put his mouth over my nose’ because I’m pretty sure he’s not trying to hurt me as he doesn’t clamp down, but those little teeth are sharp! He’s gotten swatted a few times for ‘over energetic mouthing’ and knows that he shouldn’t be doing it. I can tell he knows 'cause his ears go back and he just looks guilty. It’s like he can’t help himself. I’ve googled around and find no mention of this behaviour. Are these ‘love bites’? He only does this to me. Also, a bit ironically, he only really likes me and this is supposed to be my gf’s cat. I think he imprinted on me when I was home with him for a month.
You know the rule about cat threads…
Pictures?
Heh. My Buffy is another “love biter”. She mostly does this when I’m busy getting ready for work in the mornings, and she wants my attention-so she’ll reach out and grab my leg, or worse, nip at me. I love her dearly, but dammit, that hurts!
Put an old knitted or crochetted wool blanket at the foot of the bed. You may be able to pick him up and put him there and transfer the nip/suck behavior to the blanket. I have had some luck growling at my cat, who wants to creep over at night and bite my ear.
It’s nursing behavior. He was probably taken from his mother too early. (Maybe not though, he might just be an especially anxious cat, or maybe bored?) See if you can give him something else to nuzzle and drool on as you pet him? Though be careful what you give him, some cats are “wool suckers” and you have to be very careful not to let them get into fuzzy things and eat them, it can cause a gut obstruction and require surgery/possibly kill them. It’s official name is Pica. Here is a page with recommendations on how to deal with Pica, and maybe some of the suggestions could help you, since Pica is thought to be an extreme of nursing behavior.
Is it really nursing behaviour? I did have one cat who’d latch onto any bit of fabric and suck on it until it was all soggy and smelly, but this sounds more like other cats I’ve known that seem to be more into the ‘love chomp’ after being petted for a while. I figured it was more to do with the cat mating ritual neck-bite.
There’s a fine line between gratifying the urge to suck, and gratifying the urge to fuck, especially during the hormonal transitional stages from kittenhood to adulthood.
I have a cat who likes to dry hump the sheets and blankets on the bed on occasion when we happen to leave them bunched up and unmade. It starts innocently enough. He’s just makin’ muffins and purring, then he starts makin’ muffins with all four feet, then the pelvis starts getting into the party. Although (thankfully) this doesn’t happen on my face, I think it is somewhat similar behavior. It feels good to him, and there’s lots of neurons plugged into the pleasure centers of the brain, and signals can get crossed.
I also think a special blanket or even a special stuffed toy would be a good transitional Nanavut Boy face for the little guy. You could try buying a small stuffed toy at the pet store, get him used to it so it smells familiar, and hold it in front of your face when he’s making his approach for some quality time. Be persistent and consistent and try and get him to clamp onto the toy instead of you, and reinforce the good behavior when he does with lots of pets.
QG, did your cat knead as it sucked? For some cats it can be sort of sexual, (if the are Toms who didn’t get snipped early enough) but usually it harks back to kittenhood and nursing. Often the cat will also knead, purr, and some even look like they are nursing outright. Like this.
As I said though, be careful with giving a fuzzy substitute, make sure the cat is only nuzzling the bear, and not eating the fuzz. It took us a bit to realize our cat was a wool sucker, because she was sneaky in acquiring the q-tips to eat, (q-tips are now stored in such a way that she cannot get them, and disposed of very carefully) and didn’t intially chew/eat our fuzzy blanket. I wonder how many people own a wool sucking cat that don’t really realize it?
Oh yeah, that boy was definitely in nursing mode (deadly cute clip, that, BTW).
However the biter (nother cat entirely) might grab my arm if it was my hand he wanted to bite but he neither kneaded nor sucked, just purr purr purr purr chomp. He eventually got to where a good NO! would prevent him from doing it more than once and it didn’t happen often but he never did give it up entirely.
Rhiow can be a chomper when she’s getting petted and cuddled. She’ll be purring away, rubbing her head on your hand, then go to give you an affectionate headbut/cheek rub (you think) when suddenly her head goes in snakelike to latch on your nose or chin. (Often while drooling, it’s definitely as though she’s trying to latch onto a teat.) She used to try to nurse off my chin as I slept, but that behavior has been curbed. Maybe for your cat it was a case of overstimulus, and the biting was a reaction to it though? Rhiow also does that. She’ll be fine, then suddenly she’s had too much and nip on the petting hand.
Er? Did you read the description on that video? Read it, you’ll see that it’s a shelter kitten, and I cannot ascertain if it’s found a home yet. That isn’t my cat at all… (And the kitten is looking for the milk, which it just knows must be there, and is objecting to being bothered while trying to eat.)
That kitten isn’t quite old enough to be weaned, much less hormonal enough to have sexual urges. It’s not about sex there, it’s about seeking mama’s milk/comfort/nurturing. I guess it’s just so plain to me that the joke fell flat for me. Sorry. wry face
When I was about 18, my father came back with a farm kitten. The parents went on holiday and the kitten slept on my pillow and got used to his ‘mother’ smelling of beer and cigarettes. He would nurse on my shirt buttons.
He grew into a tough brute - he hunted squirrels. One ripped half his face off - it did not deter him.
Years later I came back home, having been away some time. He spotted me and raced down the garden - leapt into my arms and purring frantically nursed away on my shirt button. It made me think of Milo’s Calf.
I think you had better ween him off your nose - it could be dangerous if he has a similar reversion to kittenhood.
Incidentally, once my mother took him to the vet, she pointed to his ragged ears and generally scarred face and body, and asked whether anything could be done about them.
The vet replied: ‘Madam, he is an alley cat’
(And the kitten is looking for the milk, which it just knows must be there, and is objecting to being bothered while trying to eat.)