Cat Love Bites: 5 Reasons Why They Do It & How To Respond

Does your snuggly kitty like to nibble on your hands at times? Cat “love bites” mean no harm, and they can be indicative of affection, overstimulation, style of play, or even frustration. If you dislike love nibbles or find them annoying, figuring out the motive behind the behavior can help to prevent it.

Let’s learn why cats feel the need to mouth human hands and how you should respond.

What Are Cat Love Bites?

Love bites are a method of communication. They typically start with a lick of the tongue through grooming behavior, and slowly progress to gentle nibbles and nips. Love nips are common in queens that have had litter of kittens. Some cats also display similar behavior toward humans by licking a person’s hand and progressing to tiny nibbles.

Love bites are gentle. They don’t hurt, pierce the skin, draw blood, or require hospitalization. Equally, the cat’s body language is fully relaxed and there aren’t any signs of aggression, although some cats may become slightly jittery prior to nipping.

Cat Love Bite Versus Real Bite

Some bites are not love bites. Love bites are are gentle mouthing occasionally accompanied by rubbing or purring. Real cat bites are caused by aggression, fear, anxiety, or frustration.

Aggression aimed toward people can vary in its severity, from hostile vocalization like hissing, snarling, or shrieking to piloerection body posture (arched back with hair standing on end). More severe aggression includes clawing and full-strength bites with deep lacerations that require immediate medical treatment and antibiotics.

Reasons Why Cats Give You Love Bites

Although there’s little scientific evidence that explains why cats give humans love bites, here are few hypotheses:

1. Your Cat Is Displaying a Sign of Affection

Some kitties nip on your skin to convey their affection. Small, delicate nibbling gestures adopted from kittenhood and transferred into adulthood express the unbreakable bond between the two of you.

2. They Are Overstimulated by Your Petting

Sometimes your cat can be bitey if they’re overstimulated from an excessive amount of petting. A delicate nibble that intensifies into a firmer bite is a reminder to cease heavy patting. This is when love bites cross the border into real bites.

3. Your Cat Is Trying To Solicit Your Attention

If love bites have gotten your attention in the past, your cat might repeat the behavior.

Cats are extremely clever; they continuously learn by watching us and our daily routine to achieve the best outcome for themselves. Some cats have grasped that rubbing or nipping on your arm while you’re preparing a meal might solicit your attention and you might provide them with a treat or feed them. If the solicitation doesn’t result in obtaining what they want, they’ll bite harder out of frustration.

4. Display of Play/Predatory Behavior

Another reason your cat might nibble or grip their teeth and hold onto your arm is misdirected play/predatory behavior. This can manifest as pouncing followed by a nip of your hand or feet. Ultimately, it’s a style of rough play that should have been curved during kittenhood.

5. It Might Be a Comfort Behavior

Lastly, there might be a comfort element when your cat licks your face and nibbles on your fingers because this is similar to the behavior bestowed by the queen post birth.

Additionally, when your cat grooms, rubs their face against you, or gives you love bites they release pheromones that communicate communal scent. This serves to solidify a positive relationship with each other and might serve as stress-relief during short periods of anxiety.

How To Respond To Love Bites

Your response to love bites will vary depending on whether you find the behavior pleasurable or irritating.

Personally, I find the behavior pleasing since my cat Simba usually grooms my hand before and after the nibble, and it’s usually observed while he’s purring. Though if you find this behavior irritating or if it often escalates into a bite, follow the steps outlined below to reduce or stop it all together.

Also Read: Why Is My Cat Purring Constantly?

How To Stop Your Cat Giving You Love Bites

For those people who don’t enjoy love bites, there are several techniques you can use to prevent your cat from nibbling on your skin. It helps to understand what’s inciting your cat to nip in the first place—the communicative intent behind the behavior.

Here are few suggestions to discourage love bites:

1. Keep Your Hand Still

Try not to move your hand around when your cat bites so they give up and let go.

Although it’s going to sound illogical and tricky, keep your hand still and don’t pull it away. Innately, cats are a predator species, so lack of movement will often stop the bitey behavior.

2. Learn How To Read Your Cat’s Body Language

Watch out for your cat’s subtle warning signs of discomfort while stroking them, particularly pupil dilation, tense body, tail twitching, skin rippling, ear flattening, and a sudden head turn. Avoid extended petting in parts of their body they feel most vulnerable like their belly. Some cats have low tolerance levels and only enjoy short, low-intensity petting sessions.

3. Redirect Your Cat to a Toy

In cases of play nipping, redirect your cat’s attention by tossing a toy away from your body or divert their attention to a feather teaser wand cat toy. Most important, don’t encourage your cat to play with human body parts, and don’t hold small toys in your hand then tease your cat to grab for them.

Similarly, redirection to cat chew toys might offer a good outlet for cats that nip excessively.

4. Never Punish Your Cat

Never punish a cat who gives you love bites. Don’t hit, shout, scruff, or use spray bottles on a cat—this might only agitate your cat further, which could escalate into real aggression. Instead, use positive reinforcement with a reward when your cat displays desired behavior.

5. Boost Indoor Sensory Stimulation

Keeping your cat busy and engaged can help ward off love bites.

For those people with indoor-only cats who work long hours and find feline mouthing unpleasant, boost species-specific sensory stimulation in the form of bird or prey animal watching (cat videos in the television or bird feeders), classical music, food puzzles, Matatabi chew sticks, and cat-safe plants like silvervine, valerian, and honeysuckle.

Final Thoughts

Love biting is a normal cat behavior that’s usually used to communicate your cat’s love and affection toward you. If your cat suddenly starts biting you out of nowhere or if the love biting becomes a problem, consult your veterinarian. If you don’t mind occasional tiny hand nibbling, you’ll be glad to know that your feline companion is letting you know how much you’re loved.

Also Read: How To Train Your Cat Not To Bite?