Anyone else have a cat that does this?

[Archae]

When Charlotte, my calico is feeling affectionate, she lays on my lap, and "chews," on my fingers, not quite teeth to finger contact, but I can hear and feel her side teeth slicing against each other.

Anyone else have a cat like this?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I have a cat who nips me gently sometimes.

And another one who seems determined to lick my flesh off my bones. He licks and licks and licks and I don't know why.

[Archae]

2. Charlotte loves to lick me too.

Even my nose.
I get nose to nose with her, and she is like my neighbor's dog, lick lick lick...

Lucky, my older b/w girl likes to give my shins a lick in the bathroom, with a little nip too.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Speaking of nipping in the bathroom...

The cat who likes to lick has another disturbing habit. When I am, as it were, enthroned, he slinks up alongside said throne and bites me on the haunch. I think he thinks it's funny.

[Archae]

5. Maybe it is!

Do you jump and yelp?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. I yelp "Stop that!!" and he scoots away. Laughing.

[orleans]

15. there is an easy way to get that behavior to stop:

shut the door when you go into the bathroom!

(either that or do it to him when he's using the potty)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. "Shut the door when you go into the bathroom!"

I have two bathrooms: A small powder room downstairs and a full bath upstairs. The door to the powder room does not latch tightly and can be easily opened by a large, muscular cat throwing his shoulder against it. The door to the upstairs bathroom does latch, but there is a gap at the bottom of the door large enough to admit an entire cat arm. If I shut the door I get cat paws waving under the door, clawing up the bottom edge, and/or loud, mournful wailing by at least one of the three. The largest of them (not the haunch-biter) knows in theory how to operate the doorknob (though without thumbs he can't quite turn it), so if he's out there he rattles the knob and howls. Letting the cats in is less stressful than listening to the yowling, scratching and rattling. Being bitten a little now and then is a small price to pay.

There is a mandatory cat rule: No human may occupy a bathroom unless accompanied by at least one cat. I have to obey their rules.

[orleans]

19. OMG!! i never realized cats could be so cray-cray! and insecure! n/t

[TexasTowelie]

21. My cat is also familiar with that rule.

It's an offense if I go to the bathroom alone.

[LWolf]

12. That, too.

If my feet or legs are bare, they're fair game.

[ballardgirl]

13. You are not alone

My sweet Archie (RIP) did that every morning (the haunch biting)!

[Sweet Freedom]

10. Your soap?

My cat is also a licker. I noticed he does it after I have bathed with liquid soaps or used moisturizer or sunscreen.

He will also lick my hair if I use hairspray.

[Brigid]

4. My cat Brigid loves the scent of Jergens lotion.

I put some on after my shower, and she sniffs and licks and sometimes nips my leg.

[shenmue]

7. :)

Awww.

[smilodon populator]

8. Yup.

My big guy, Smoky, does that but he gets too excited and really chomps down. Then I yell OUCH! and stops and starts rubbing my hand with his cheek to apologize. He's a real Jack Russell cat.

[clarice]

9. Yup !! feels kinda tickley. nt

[LWolf]

11. I have a cat that lives to bite.

She is very affectionate. She has a definite oral fixation. She likes to be stroked...a little. She likes to be scratched, in very specific places only. She wants to be the center of attention.

She also has a great deal of energy, loves to play, and must bite everything she plays with. So when she crawls on my lap, she'll begin by clearing my book or kindle out of her way, and if I resist, she'll administer a bite. She's like a snake; a very fast, hard strike, no attempt to puncture. At this point she gets removed from the lap. She'll be back soon, eyeing the book or kindle and determining her best route to maneuvering around it. She wants to be on my chest, with her bottom end just resting in my lap. When she achieves that, I'll get another head butt. I scratch or stroke; she squinches up her eyes, purrs a little, and affectionately licks my hand. Until she decides she's done, and attacks the hand. Her invitation to play. She's got tons of toys, and she does play with them, but she prefers my hand.

Her favorite play is when I give in, put on a heavy glove, scoop her up like a baby, and tickle her belly. She then "grabs" the gloved and with powerful front paws to trap it, and explodes in biting and bunny-kicking bliss until she's done, when she hops up and waits for me to take off the glove so that she can corral the hand and lick it, purring happily.

[orleans]

16. she sounds like the devil!

(just kidding!)

[LWolf]

23. Oh, she can be...

when she's not cuddling, purring, and generally being adorable, lol.

[Skittles]

14. I have a cat who "faux bites" me in anger

when he doesn't get his way - it's like a pretend bite

[orleans]

17. it's just his way of kicking your ass!

[Jenoch]

20. Our cat licks us all the time.

She also licks the shower door every morning. I have to open the bathroom door after I'm done showering. I can hear her asking me to open the door. She also licks the sliding glass door to the deck after a rainstorm. We have a glass topped patio table and after it rains, she jumps up there to lick too. I have seen her dip her hand into her water dish and lick her paw. She certainly does have a water fetish.

[libodem]

22. I get an occasional love bite from Ralphie

Usually on the chin and usually when she is feeling REALLY lovey. It is always soft. Pretty rare.

I suppose I only love her up to medium, most days, not high, when petting her.

[snot]

24. I think these behaviors are usually

expressions of affection, related to nursing or grooming – they're expressing it the way they would to another cat. They don't automatically understand that those of us without fur are a little less protected from roughness.

I generally discourage anything but the gentlest mouthing, since if it accidentally got out of hand with someone else, it could be misunderstood. If it gets a little too intense, yelp like it genuinely hurts. Probably don't need to yelp loudly or angrily; just sound like you sincerely feel pain. Basic emotions like that are a language they understand, and it seems to work to let my cat (or dog) know they they need to lighten up.

Now if I could just figure out how to tell my cat that my bare thighs are not impervious to his back claws . . . but he doesn't seem conscious that he has them.