Reasons Behind Cat Biting
Cats sometimes bite for no apparent reason. What drives them to unexpectedly sink their teeth into you? Cat biting is quite a perplexing behavior, and there may be a number of reasons why cats do this. Most of the time, cats bite to communicate something to you, so when your pet starts to bite you, try to find out what’s making it behave this way.
One of the most common instances of cat biting occurs during petting. This is referred to as petting-induced aggression. Have you ever experienced petting your cat, who seems to be enjoying your strokes on its fur, when all of a sudden it lashes out and bites your hand? This is not an unusual behavior, although on your part it can be confusing. Cats often do this to let you know that they have had enough petting. Some cats will enjoy more amount of petting while others will tolerate less of it, and when they want you to stop, they will bite.
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However, cats don’t just bite outright; they first show other indications of their disinterest in your petting. Some of the telltale signs that they’re not enjoying the strokes on their fur anymore include lashing of the tail, flicking of their ears, rippling of their skin, and shifting of their bodies. They also usually turn quiet and quit purring. If you notice these signs in your cat, then you should stop petting it if you don’t want its teeth sinking into your hand.
Cat biting can also be an indication of pain. If an area of your cat’s body hurts when you touch it, your cat will react instinctively and bite you to let you know that it is painful. If your cat is naturally yielding to your attentions and enjoys your petting but suddenly bites when you touch it, then there is a good probability that it is in some kind of pain. When you observe this reaction from your pet, you may need to take him to the vet for a check up.
Some cats bite because they were not properly trained to avoid it when they were young. A better way of saying this is they were ‘trained’ to bite when they were kittens, usually by their owners. How does this happen? When you play with your kitten, it’s hard to resist their cute little bites. You may even encourage cat biting sometimes by using your hand or finger as ‘bait’ that your kitten lunges after.
The play seems innocent enough. However, when your kitten grows older, it will recognize your hand or finger or other parts of your body as the ‘target.’ So when your cat sees this ‘target,’ it will pounce upon you and bite. For cats, this is a natural display of predator-prey behavior. But because your pet is all grown up, the bite of its teeth can hurt.
Playtime is an important activity for cats to release their instinctive hunting energies, so don’t discourage it just because your cat bites. However, use toys – particularly fishing-pole kinds of toys – as targets for cat biting instead of your body. Let your cat know that the toys are the target and not you.