Dear Sparkle,
My human is mad at me because I bit her — she had to see a doctor and take some sort of pills for a week. While I can understand the hating the pills part (I know from experience that is no fun!), I don’t understand why she should be mad — it is her fault she got bit! She should know better than to rub my tummy. I was whapping my tail and even growling a bit and she totally ignored me, so what else was I to do? How do I convince my human that her ire is completely misplaced and unfair?
Signed,
Jaws
Dear Jaws,
With a name like that, are you sure you aren’t in the habit of biting your human? In any case, it is clear-cut: your human is at fault here and she has no right to be mad at anyone but herself. You told her to stop her inappropriate touching in a bunch of different ways and she paid no attention. And biting did make her stop, right? The rest of it — the doctor and the pills — is all on her.
Some humans, like your own, are just so clueless about kitty language. They can barely speak their own language, actually, and it seems like they often have a hard time understanding other humans, so it should come as no surprise that they are even worse about figuring out what you are trying to tell them. The growling and tail whapping you directed at your human were no doubt the last signals in a long time of indications that she was supposed to back off. You had probably already twitched your ears and flattened them, tensed up your whole body, dilated your eyes and maybe added some vocalizing behind your purring. Humans tend to think that when you are purring, you are happy, but sometimes we keep purring when we are annoyed! Humans don’t understand our meows, so I suppose we can’t expect them to understand our different purrs either.
The bottom line is if your human pays attention, she will know when to stop petting you, and that there are no-petting zones, like your tummy. If she keeps up with her annoying behavior, I don’t recommend biting — did you know that your bite could cause your human to develop a serious infection and she could even wind up in the hospital? And then who would feed you? So maybe if you see her hovering when you are lying on your back, you should just get up and go somewhere where she can’t touch you. As far as showing her the error of her anger, well, humans tend to think they are always right, even in instances like this one, where she is totally in the wrong. It is one of those things we kitties just have to deal with.
As always, you give excellent advice Sparkle! Humans really really are clueless aren’t they? Meow and Namaste! ~ Pippy the Feline Yogini
Cat bites suck…and hurt! This is very sound advice Sparkle, I am still so amazed how people ignore the signs cats give and then seemed so shocked when it happens!
Jaws’ owner should have been able to read those obvious signs. My mum always knows when I am not happy about something, but tummy rubs is not one of them. I can never get too many, and she calls me her tummy tart.
I learned to understand the cat language very well and in several human languages ! But Rosie she is weird, she just bites you without warning and after having purred and leaked my hand !
Heimdall: My grandpa needs to read this, but he won’t. 😕 He came over this last weekend and had a lap for us! Carbon got petted first, then hopped down when he was done and I hopped up. I get over-excited and Grandpa couldn’t tell, so I bit him. I didn’t do it very hard, and didn’t break the skin. Grandpa pushed my head away and told me, “No!” so I swatted him gently and then Mommy told me to get down off his lap. 😡
Well, some Humans are just slow learners. I bet she won’t forget what she learned this time. Me, I’m a good boy. I never bite my Human–anymore.
Oh yeah, Sparkle. We agree … humans must know the signs and heed the warnings!
That is right Sparkle..my Mom says humans needs to listen to what kittehs areing telling them!
Excellent advice! Mes and Kozmo and Jo-Jo all loves to does the lickity-lick, bitety bites when we is being petted too long. Wes trained Mommy and Daddy to stops when they gets that first little nibble.
Kisses
Nellie
If your cat is to the point of biting you and drawing blood, then you are clueless. My Grace just has to look at me and I can tell what is up. My husband is always amazed at this. I can spot UTI, hunger, love….all from a glance. If you don’t get the message to stop touching the cat…then you deserve to get bit.
Some people just are clueless and push the limits with some kitties but hopefully they see your advice!
You are so right, Sparkle. Humans need to pay attention to what we are telling them. This lady was pretty lucky. Prince Maximillian bit our mommy once but nobody was being naughty. He got his leg caught in the back of a chair and was hanging by his ankle. Mommy reached in and held him up cause she was afraid he would break his leg. He was scared and hurt so he bit her really bad. She had to have surgery and stay in the hospital a couple days. When she came home she had a tube in her arm and had to go to the doctor’s office everyday for three whole weeks to get something called IV antibiotics. But she never got mad at Max cause she knew it wasn’t his fault and he wasn’t mad at her either cause he figured out she was trying to help him. So see, this lady was pretty lucky – she could have been hurt a lot worse. I hope she learned something!
That human had it coming to her. I can’t believe she was so dense. My peeps would never pet my tummy cos they know that consequences.
Peeps who don’t listen to cats saying no get bitten. It’s a shame they can’t seem to grasp that.
Good Advice Sparkle. We are so lucky that Dad speaks Cat.
Whew
*sigh* because humans never learn, we kitties have to suffer!! It’s a bummer! 🙁
Human people are a bit slow. Target and Guido train by the “whappy paw with no claw” system. They have to do it repeatedly sometimes but it eventually sinks in. Eventually.
Humans!… they’re such drama-queens! What’s a little bitey!
Very good advice Sparkle. Some of us humans are slower than others. 😀 😀
Ichiro bites a lot. Fortunately the Woman has thick skin (like a dinosaur) and he never manages to puncture her. Because she is always annoying him…
“And then who would feed you?” Ha ha ha, that’s what my mom says to Snapoline when there’s danger of an unprovoked nip!
Too true! In most cases. Some cats are just mouthy – biting is their way of communicating – BB does this all the time. He comes looking for head-scritching and when you do he bites, then licks then head-bumps your hand for more scritches…it’s just who he is.
Your mom wasn’t mad at you, it was a little redirected aggression going on there.. I promise.
You are right! I keep forgetting that redirected aggression is not just a kitty thing!
Some humans are slow learners and some learn the hard way. 😥
Humans do need to learn kitty body-language. I’m entitled to not be touched if I don’t want to be! If you don’t know when I am saying, “Stop touching me,”…well, we have a long and difficult road ahead of us. 😕
great advice…..we hope the human is OK and that they can come to some agreement as to where and how long to be petted
Great advice Sparkle. We have our Person well trained so she knows when we are annoyed and when we are happy. We usually go to her for attention instead of her coming at us. Some of us don’t even allow touching so she has learned the language of cats.
Have a wonderful day.
MOL Excellent advice Sparkle…sometimes one needs to be careful what one names one’s pet. Jaws…MOL
Hugs madi your bfff
Mommy continues to try to pet Lisbeth’s tum ’cause the silly cat rolls over on her back and presents it whenever Mom comes near. The only thing she really likes are butt scritches. So why does she continue to present her tum like this? Is her deck missing a few cards? We are so sorry that this kitty’s human had to go to the doctor for medicine. That did happen to our mom once, and she even had to postpone a surgery on her hand ’cause that’s where MacKenzie scratched her! Thank you, Sparkle, for you always good advice. Purrs and paw-pats, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
Pawesome advice Sparkle 😛
Do we really need to wave a red flag which says ‘Danger!’ on? Some peeps just need to get with the kitty body language programme! MOL
That is so true Sparkle. Humans need to learn to pay attention!
Super advice, Sparkle. We’re pretty easy going, but our human never takes that for granted and always keeps an eye on warning signals. We admit we do love belly rubs, though!
Good advice Sparkle although we rarely bite our Mum and it’s only if we get a bit excited when we have had a sniff too many of nip.
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
Oh, the biting thing… Leia nips Mom sometimes when she gets over excited. That never goes over well either.
Great advice! Hoomans are SO SLOW!!!!
We think that if humans were smarter, they would learn to read kitty body language.
They claim to be good at reading body language :/
We agree that biting is not the best way to train them.
Purrs Georgia and Julie,
Treasure,JJ
and Angels Tiger and Tillie
Great advice, Sparkle. #1 read about all those warning signs a long time ago, but none of us have ever bitten her and we don;t mind where she touches us.
Purrs,
The Chans