Bringing out the inner cat

It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat.

Seated at the table, I sensed my cat wished to communicate. She had
food in her dishes but was not eating. A sign that communication is now
possible. A channel has opened up. She is giving me obtuse signals,
like blocking my path and grabbing my ankle.

So I sit at the kitchen table. She is on the table by now. She proceeds
to bite the top part of my wrist with some provocation by myself.

And lo and behold she does a new twist to her biting. She quickly bites
the tender part of the underside of my wrist.

Whew. Good that she is keeping her combat skills not only up to date
but trying out new moves.

wrote in message
oups.com...
It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat.

Seated at the table, I sensed my cat wished to communicate. She had
food in her dishes but was not eating. A sign that communication is now
possible. A channel has opened up. She is giving me obtuse signals,
like blocking my path and grabbing my ankle.

So I sit at the kitchen table. She is on the table by now. She proceeds
to bite the top part of my wrist with some provocation by myself.

And lo and behold she does a new twist to her biting. She quickly bites
the tender part of the underside of my wrist.

Whew. Good that she is keeping her combat skills not only up to date
but trying out new moves.


I'm glad to hear you like to be bitten by your cat as she seems to like to
bite *you.* I don't and mine don't. Why do you let her? puzzled

Tweed

Christina Websell wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat.

Seated at the table, I sensed my cat wished to communicate. She had
food in her dishes but was not eating. A sign that communication is now
possible. A channel has opened up. She is giving me obtuse signals,
like blocking my path and grabbing my ankle.

So I sit at the kitchen table. She is on the table by now. She proceeds
to bite the top part of my wrist with some provocation by myself.

And lo and behold she does a new twist to her biting. She quickly bites
the tender part of the underside of my wrist.

Whew. Good that she is keeping her combat skills not only up to date
but trying out new moves.


I'm glad to hear you like to be bitten by your cat as she seems to like to
bite *you.* I don't and mine don't. Why do you let her? puzzled

Tweed

She likes it. Just playing. She has never broken the skin or even
bruised it ever. Just a fun thing to do. Play fighting.

I'm glad to hear you like to be bitten by your cat as she seems to like to
bite *you.* I don't and mine don't. Why do you let her? puzzled


Our Nocturne is a biter...or rather, a nipper, being as she never
breaks skin. We notice her doing this to the kittens too. It's her
way of trying to prove she's dominant in the household.

We found that struggling against or reacting to the bite just made her
do it /more/...while ignoring it causes her to no longer feel the need
to "prove" her dominance and just settle right back down again.

She does it if we do something we know she won't like (such as touch
her tummy) and then, every once in a while she'll take our hands in her
teeth just to remind us.

--Fil

On 26 Jan 2006 06:36:29 -0800, "
wrote:

It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat.

Seated at the table, I sensed my cat wished to communicate. She had
food in her dishes but was not eating. A sign that communication is now
possible. A channel has opened up. She is giving me obtuse signals,
like blocking my path and grabbing my ankle.

So I sit at the kitchen table. She is on the table by now. She proceeds
to bite the top part of my wrist with some provocation by myself.

And lo and behold she does a new twist to her biting. She quickly bites
the tender part of the underside of my wrist.

Whew. Good that she is keeping her combat skills not only up to date
but trying out new moves.

My Kenzie was declawed by one of her two former sets of humans :-(

When giving her a big scritch session, as I do as often as possible,
she sometimes gets a bit over stimulated, and will bite me. HARD. While
purring up a storm.

But, she's never once broken my skin, or even scratched me with her
teeth. She releases pressure when I pull my hand away, enough so she
knows 'enough is enough'.

Biting for her, is just playing with me. Cats without front claws are
forced to use their mouth and teeth to manipulate things, that a cat
would normally do with it's paws and claws.

And they tend to bite far more than cats with claws.

But Kenzie knows,even when she's overstimulated, not to bite so hard as
to *really* hurt me. She could easily bite hard enough to break the
small bones in my hands. But she's a very smart kitty, and doesn't do
that, or even draw blood.

So biting doesn't mean a cat doesn't like you. Many cats with all of
their claws will bite during play sessions.

I've never tried to get Kenzie to stop biting, because I know in her
case, it mostly comes from being declawed. It would be a very difficult
thing to get her to stop doing, since it's so ingrained. It would
involve discipline she doesn't deserve, and likely wouldn't understand.
It would be very difficult for both of us; I simply couldn't, and
wouldn't even try to do that to her.

(Declawing a cat is cruel on so many levels; it's shame it's not illegal
here in America, as it is in the UK, and some other countries.)

And while she bites hard enough to hurt, she know not to really damage
me, which would be so very easy for her to do. She's just playing a
little rough with me. And I can live with that.

She's a very good cat, with virtually no bad habits; while I have so
many. I'm in no position to pass judgement on her for expressing herself
in a way that comes naturally to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Life without cats would be only marginally worth living."
-TC, and the unmercifully, relentlessly, sweet calico kitty, Kenzie.

How you behave towards cats here below determines your status in Heaven.
- Robert Heinlein

Life is very difficult. Once you understand that, life becomes easier.
-Buddha

Gandalf wrote:
So biting doesn't mean a cat doesn't like you. Many cats with all of
their claws will bite during play sessions.

I've never tried to get Kenzie to stop biting, because I know in her
case, it mostly comes from being declawed. It would be a very difficult
thing to get her to stop doing, since it's so ingrained. It would
involve discipline she doesn't deserve, and likely wouldn't understand.
It would be very difficult for both of us; I simply couldn't, and
wouldn't even try to do that to her.

(Declawing a cat is cruel on so many levels; it's shame it's not illegal
here in America, as it is in the UK, and some other countries.)

And while she bites hard enough to hurt, she know not to really damage
me, which would be so very easy for her to do. She's just playing a
little rough with me. And I can live with that.

She's a very good cat, with virtually no bad habits; while I have so
many. I'm in no position to pass judgement on her for expressing herself
in a way that comes naturally to her.

Smart kitty. If you have the time, look into Clicker Training with
Cats. Does she get bored easily with toys? I engage in play fighting
with my cat because I am way too lazy to maintain teaching her tricks.
I was teaching her simple things, like Jump Up and Jump Down and Give
Me A Kiss. The last one is too cute.

Christina Websell wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat.

And lo and behold she does a new twist to her biting. She quickly
bites the tender part of the underside of my wrist.

Whew. Good that she is keeping her combat skills not only up to date
but trying out new moves.


I'm glad to hear you like to be bitten by your cat as she seems to
like to bite *you.* I don't and mine don't. Why do you let her?
puzzled

Tweed

Persia bites me, *very very gently* when she's feeling particularly loving
towards me. She usually licks my wrist or elbow first, or my knee if I'm
seated on my throne! then she gently nips at me, purring loudly all the
time. It's not aggressive behavior. It's "I love you!" behavior. And she
does the slow, blinkey eyes thing at me when she's doing it.

Sounds to me like treeline is trying to encourage some sort of aggressive
play and/or (as stated) combat skills rather than an expression of love.

Jill

jmcquown wrote:
Christina Websell wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat.

And lo and behold she does a new twist to her biting. She quickly
bites the tender part of the underside of my wrist.

Whew. Good that she is keeping her combat skills not only up to date
but trying out new moves.


I'm glad to hear you like to be bitten by your cat as she seems to
like to bite *you.* I don't and mine don't. Why do you let her?
puzzled

Tweed

Persia bites me, *very very gently* when she's feeling particularly loving
towards me. She usually licks my wrist or elbow first, or my knee if I'm
seated on my throne! then she gently nips at me, purring loudly all the
time. It's not aggressive behavior. It's "I love you!" behavior. And she
does the slow, blinkey eyes thing at me when she's doing it.

Sounds to me like treeline is trying to encourage some sort of aggressive
play and/or (as stated) combat skills rather than an expression of love.

Jill

Why do you assume, incorrectly, that I do not also encourage
expressions of love? That seems a rather negative and biased assumption
on your part. Quite catty, actually.

In any event, if you read further down, my cat also gives me kisses. It
was originally a trick I taught her but she also rubs noses with me
briefly because settling down to sleep with her face on my chest.
Purring of course.

For a former street cat, not a former pet, that's not too bad.

On Sun, 29 Jan 2006 14:23:46 -0600, "jmcquown"
yodeled:

Christina Websell wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
It's good to bring out the inner cat in my cat.

And lo and behold she does a new twist to her biting. She quickly
bites the tender part of the underside of my wrist.

Whew. Good that she is keeping her combat skills not only up to date
but trying out new moves.


I'm glad to hear you like to be bitten by your cat as she seems to
like to bite *you.* I don't and mine don't. Why do you let her?
puzzled

Tweed

Persia bites me, *very very gently* when she's feeling particularly loving
towards me. She usually licks my wrist or elbow first, or my knee if I'm
seated on my throne! then she gently nips at me, purring loudly all the
time. It's not aggressive behavior. It's "I love you!" behavior. And she
does the slow, blinkey eyes thing at me when she's doing it.

Sounds to me like treeline is trying to encourage some sort of aggressive
play and/or (as stated) combat skills rather than an expression of love.

Jill



Cats bite each other all the time, in various ways, so when they live
with us, it's natural for them to at least try it. We try to
discourage it, and make them understand that it's not appropriate to
do it to their hoomins. But there are those very gentle, force-free
bites, and I don't mind them. It's the frenzied, heat-of battle
bites that aren't allowed.


Theresa
Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh
My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com

Make Levees, Not War