'I'm a pet expert – what your cat is actually telling you when it bites you'
Cats are one of the most common pets for people to have in the UK, just after dogs.
While most people know cats might bite you if they're scared or aggressive, it might also have a more gentle meaning, depending on what mood your cat is in.
A pet behaviourist named Dr Annie answered a viewer's question about why their cat keeps biting them.
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"Believe it or not, but some cat bites are actually a friendly or affiliative behaviour known as allogrooming," Annie explained. "These bites are usually very gentile and are likely to happen when your cat is super relaxed, likely getting pets from you and might be accompanied by some licks."
She emphasised that these won't be aggressive, skin breaking bites, but instead more gentle bites or nibbles, and your cat will most likely display calm body language when it happens. This might include forward-facing ears, eyes partially closed, and purring.
Another reason for biting – which might be less gentle but still comes from a well-meaning place – could be play aggression.
"These bites are usually harder than the allogrooming bites and the body language is very different," Annie explained. "Whereas allogrooming occurs when the cat is relaxed, play aggression as the name suggests occurs when the cat is physiologically aroused and is looking for an outlet.
"Cats bite during play because they have been taught to play with hands or feet."
Some signs of your cat being in play aggression include dilated pupils, more tension in the body with more activity and movement, forward-facing ears, as well as other playful behaviours such as bunny kicks.
If you want to stop or prevent play aggression, Dr Annie recommends giving your cats lots of scheduled play sessions to give them an appropriate outlet for their energy, as well as to stop allowing play with your hands and feet.
"You may have to carry toys and treats around with you in order to successfully redirect them and break the habit," she said. "If they latch on, make yourself as uninteresting as possible. No squealing, no moving your foot around, no running away from them – be boring."
She then emphasised the importance of scheduled play sessions as it gives the cats the opportunity to use their toys and realise that there are even more fun things to play with.
The third type of bite, according to Annie, is petting-induced aggression, which is due to physical overstimulation. To prevent this kind of biting and aggression, she suggest keeping petting sessions to about three to five seconds at a time before withdrawing contact and looking at the cat's body language.
"If you see signs of increasing arousal like vocalisations, those ears moving towards the side, that swishing tail, piloerection, skin twitching, any of those, do not continue to pet," Annie said.
The final reason your cat might bite is in order to ask for more space from you. Annie explained that these bites are usually the last resort and only occur if you have ignored your cat's attempts to warn you of its discomfort or fear with other subtle signs.
"There are a few cats that have a more quirky biting behaviour, and in these cases, the biting is almost always something that has been unintentionally reinforced or trained by the human," Annie explained.
