Why Does My Cat Bite My Nose?

                    Why Does My Cat Bite My Nose?

Any cat parent will tell you that we’re passionate about our felines, but we may not be so passionate about some of the behaviors that they see fit to bestow on us. For the most part, kitten bites don’t hurt, but that can change as your cat gets older and starts to bite harder. Reasons Your Cat Could Bite Your Nose There are dozens of reasons why your cat could be biting your nose, and it may be slightly difficult to narrow it down to just one source.

 However, the following reasons will give you a good idea on why your cat is doing this, and you can start correcting the problem so you and your cat can coexist happily and peacefully.

 1)Territorial Behavior Cats can be notoriously territorial, and this extends to their humans as well as their home. If you’ve added another cat to the family recently or if you’ve been around other cats outside of the home, your cat will be able to smell these other cats, and it can trigger their territorial instincts.
 Cats have scent glands all over their bodies, and by biting your nose, they’re spreading their scent all over you. This helps reassure them that they won’t lose you, and it can give a subtle warning to other cats that you are taken and off-limits for other cats .

 2) Overstimulation Your cat has dozens of sensations coming at them from all directions 24 hours a day, and this can make it easy for them to get overstimulated. When this happens, they may act erratically or act overwhelmed and do things that they normally wouldn’t do like bite your nose.

Your cat will give you plenty of warning signs that they’re getting overstimulated when they’re around you, and by stopping the contact, you can potentially stop the biting behavior. You may notice that your cat flicks or swishes their tail, rippling on your cat’s sides, rotating their ears back or to the sides, or tensing up.



 3)Cleaning By nature, cats are very clean animals that can spend hours licking, grooming, and cleaning themselves and each other. This is part of the reason why most cat owners don’t bathe their cats on a regular basis, and your cat also has an excellent sense of smell that they use on you. Everything that you eat leaves a scent, and this scent can linger for hours even after you’ve wiped or washed your face. You cat may smell this because they have such an excellent sense of smell and interpret it as dirty. In response, they’ll try to clean your face, and this can result in licks along with smaller bites.

 4)Attention-Seeking Behavior When cats are young, they tend to play- fight, roughhouse, and bite. They do this both with you and with their litter mates. Smaller bites are an excellent way to let you know that they would like attention from you right now, and it’s a behavior they learned as a kitten. 

Kittens can use this when they want to play with you if they don’t have a feline playmate to engage with as well. Most cats will grow out of this behavior, but some cats find that it’s a quick way to get your attention, and so they’ll keep doing it until they have your full attention. READ