Cat teething me?!!

[poiuytrewq]

I say teething because it's not a nasty bite. She just very gently opens her mouth and carefully bites. It never hurts, usually on my elbow but this morning she started on my elbow and moved up towards my hand.
She was a wild/abandoned cat and I've had her about 12-18 months. She was at first untouchable now if I sit on the floor and call her she comes and rubs all over me purring and I can stroke her but she does a lot of tail shaking and this biting thing.
I never put any pressure on her, she comes to me and never the other way round. I never try to pick her up so I don't think she's unhappy with human contact but her behaviour is a bit weird!

 

[TheBrokeHorse]

I say teething because it's not a nasty bite. She just very gently opens her mouth and carefully bites. It never hurts, usually on my elbow but this morning she started on my elbow and moved up towards my hand.
She was a wild/abandoned cat and I've had her about 12-18 months. She was at first untouchable now if I sit on the floor and call her she comes and rubs all over me purring and I can stroke her but she does a lot of tail shaking and this biting thing.
I never put any pressure on her, she comes to me and never the other way round. I never try to pick her up so I don't think she's unhappy with human contact but her behaviour is a bit weird!

How old is she?

 

[poiuytrewq]

I don't know. She was adult sized when I found her so no idea. I'd say not old

 

[Meowy Catkin]

My cat does a similar thing. He's never drawn blood and it is very, very gentle but I tend to nicely distract him by making a fuss of him that means that he moves his head away. I think it's a grooming behaviour as they run fur tangles through their teeth to comb them out, but I don't have fur so he's sort of trying to run a chunk of flesh through his teeth which doesn't really work.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Ok that makes sense, I used to be a bit scared she was about to sink her teeth in but as you say it's very gentle. I didn't want to tell her off or anything as it's taken a long time to get to this stage! I just felt sorry for the manky skinny old thing at first, now she's really beautiful and very well groomed herself so perhaps that's it!

 

[Sussexbythesea]

All my cats have done this not maliciously but you do have to be sure they don’t get over-excited and bite too hard.

 

[poiuytrewq]

All my cats have done this not maliciously but you do have to be sure they don’t get over-excited and bite too hard.

I've never been a cat person ( she's changing that!) so I wasn't sure if it's normal!
Any ideas on the tail quiver?

 

[poiuytrewq]

She does the tail quiver when ever she's near me not just doing the bitey thing.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Is the tail up? If so, it's a friendly quiver.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Yes tail upright. Aww that's really good to know! Maybe we are getting places

 

[Meowy Catkin]

It sounds like your patience has well and truly paid off, she likes you.

 

[montevxcii]

both my very affectionate cats who I've had since they were kittens do this to me and each other - she loves you and wants to groom you !

The boy can bite really hard when he's happy - he gets a little overstimulated.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

She does the tail quiver when ever she's near me not just doing the bitey thing.

I love a tail shake definitely a sign that she’s happy or excited

 

[LadySam]

If she's being careful with her teeth, think of it as a little love bite. It's a good happy thing, definitely.

 

[Evie91]

One of mine some times bites when having a fuss. She went through a phase of doing it a lot, then it dropped off. Recently commented she’s not done it for a while but just come back off hols and she’s at it again - she’s just enjoying the fuss!

 

[poiuytrewq]

I'm actually more pleased about this than I should be 😂
She's also started trying to rub against the dog.... he's maybe not quite as thrilled