Why does she bite me?

Question

I have two cats - Turkish (male) and Bailey (female) they are 1year and 4 months old and brother and sister. I have had them since they were 7 weeks old. I could not wish for two sweeter cats, they are great. They both play together and with myself with no violence or thretening behaviour at all, they give me so much affection. But i have one problem which is really strarting to wind me up - Bailey wakes me up every morning, she jumps on the bed, without fail at 6am, purring her little head off and percistantly rubbing her face against me and at the same time she bites my fingers, its not a vicious bite, but its bad enough. I just dont understand it as she never does anything like this any other time, i guess you could say she just wants me to hurry up and get out of bed and feed her BUT why does she have to bite me? arrrrrrrrrrhhh

Answer 1

It sounds as if Bailey is trying to get your undivided attention.

Is Bailey fixed (spayed)?

Outside of that, I believe that Bailey is communicating in the only way she knows how.

I also believe that Bailey bites you, though delicately, because when she first started this behavior of waking you at 6 a.m. she probably didn't bite you right away. The rubbing and purring came first.
It's possible that you may not have responded the way she would have liked you to, so then she resorted to a more aggressive approach. When she saw how you reacted to the biting, she realized that it was the best way to "get your attention".

So what do you do after Bailey has purred and rubbed and gingerly bitten your fingers? What is she "asking you for"? It is the resulting reaction on your part that causes Bailey to behave this way. And this behavior can be broken once you understand what Bailey is trying to "say" to you as well as how you react to Bailey. For starters, react to Bailey when she purrs and rubs, but BEFORE she bites.

Bailey sounds like a very intelligent cat, so therefore her behavior can be modified. But it will take patience, consistency and persistence on your part to make that happen.

Best of luck to you both!

Answer 2

I cannot answer the "WHY" part of your question, but I can relate! My female cat displayes similar behavior especially on the weekends. She normally gets fed at approx 7am during the week. On non-work days I usually sleep a bit later to find her sitting on my pillow and pawing at my hair. When I wake up and look at her she meows and runs in the direction of her foodbowl. Once I feed her, I can go back to bed without incident, lol.

I figure it's because cats can't just say "Hey! Wake up and feed me, dang it!!" They must find other ways to communicate.

She will continue to do this as long as it's getting the reaction she wants. She now knows that if she does that, you'll feed her. Kind of like a baby cries until you pick them up.

Good luck! I would check some of the animal sites such as purina.com or purrsandpaws.com for behavior correction.

Answer 3

I have had experience with the Turkish Van Cats, they do nip, it is their way of showing affection and do this totally instinctively. If you have a look at cat breeds on the net and their behaviour you will see it. They also like water (watch it if you have a bath) and chucking pillows off the bed and sofa and emptying your wardrobe if you ever leave it open, check your dryer and washer cus they like sleep in those too!!! ENJOY!!!!

Answer 4

Well when she is rubbing on you you is not only being affectionate but putting her smell on you. As for biting she in no way is being mean she just is playing. My cat does that to me when she wants to play. I don't believe she is in anyway trying to hurt you. If you don't like her waking u up at in the morning try closing the door.

Answer 5

When she bites you, gently but firmly tap her on the nose. Cats really hate that, and if you do it every time she bites you, she'll get the message. Also, remember, you're the cat mama, not them, so YOU control when you get out of bed, not them. Mine used to be a royal PITA, especially about trying to get me up to feed her in the morning, but I started putting her out of the room when she did that, or rolling over and not getting out of bed, or if I did get out of bed, not going to feed her right away. Let her know that it's your schedule that she's on, not the other way round.

Answer 6

That's how a kitten gets its mother's attention in order to nurse. You should feel honored.

However, you could try painting your fingers with tabasco sauce before going to bed. After a few mornings of tasting the hot sauce when she bites you, she will likely stop...or move to biting something else...no guarantees on that. ;-)

Edit: Just thought of another trick. When she bites your fingers, blow in her face. They hate that, but it doesn't hurt them.

Answer 7

She wants you to wake up! She is most likely in the mood to play, or hungry. If you don't want her to wake you up, make sure she can't get into your room before you go to sleep.

Answer 8

It's breakfast time and she is waking you up. Just what she like to do. Try one of those timer feeders.

Answer 9

try sleeping with gloves on for a while and ignoring the biting.cats are clever and the biting works so she won't stop while it's working.

Answer 10

I had male cat who bit toes to get us up to eat.So I got one of those timing feeders that all ended.