Pay attention to where you are touching him when he is asleep. It may be he has a spot that is starting or is tender. I also had a cat that dreamed and would attack in his sleep. I just had to be careful not to touch him when he was asleep. He had been abused when he was a kitten by a little hellion.

Not when he is sleeping, but my “grandcat” does bite. First cat I ever had trouble with. He just comes here with my daughter on vacations, but I always have to be careful walking down the hallway. He will jump on my leg and start biting. It has gotten better though. With my daughter he does attack when having enough of being petted. He is also the one starting to knock things of shelves at 4 am because he wants breakfast.

Susan a little more information about the origin of these cats may be useful. I am wondering if they may have been separated from their mother and siblings too early.

Every Siamese or Siamese mix that I ever have known that's done this. It seems like they want some love, oh they want love, but then they get overstimulated.

A couple of years ago, when the missus was out of town, Tony the Tiger really got me. Blood all over the place. I walloped him with the newspaper. Hasn't happened since.

He climbs onto my lap, with the right cushion there, and sits and purrs. He never, ever gets on the lap of the missus. However, occasionally (like once every couple of weeks), he will jump up and bit her arm. Looks ugly and tough to try to explain tot he neighbors.

I gave up trying to figure out his whims. If her were to bite me again as he did before, there would be no more live cat in this house.

Cat bites that break the skin can be very serious. DH was holding ours at the vets when he was bitten. The vet told him to go to the doctor and he had to go on antibiotics.

I have a lunge biter. He was an injured rescue, when I got him. I always wondered if he has a bit of brain damage. He can be exceptionally sweet when he wants to be. I keep a water bottle in several locations, to spray him, when he starts to lunge.

My daughter’s boyfriend had to go to the doctor because one of the bites was infected. He is also allergic to cats. Has been living with the cat for a couple of years now. Guess he is a keeper.

I think it's fairly common particularly when the cat is young or feral. Two of the cats I've had over the years never bit me but all the rest scratched and bit when they got irritated when young. But after a couple of years I was seldom scratched. At least for me it was a maturity thing in general.

Cat bites can be very serious. I have had 15 cats over the years and never had a biter. But the Maine Coon cat I rescued 18 months ago could be one and maybe that's why he was abandoned in my town. When I first rescued him from the alley, I took him to my vet to be checked for a microchip. None and was neutered and declawed on four paws. The vet was manhandling him and then she and the tech went to another room. The tech informed me later that he had been muzzled. He will lie like a dead animal on his back. You can pet and pet him until you can't anymore. He decides and then you'd better move on because I think he'll bite.

Cat bites that puncture deeply can be very serious. Our old cat ... who was bitey anyway ... wasn't feeling well and was on antibiotics at the time. DH went to move him and he bit deeply into the back of DH's hand. It was very painful and started swelling immediately. Within a few hours the back of his hand had swelled and turned very red. We took him to immediate care where they treated him aggressively...antibios in a butt shot and heavy duty pills.

Turns out it took an infectious specialist, 2 weeks of daily antibiotic IVs through a pic line, 4 different antibiotics and a total of 6 weeks of treatments to cure. If it wasn't for today's antibiotics, he would've lost his hand for sure.

That being said, I've also had cats "bite" where they just open their mouths and rest their teeth on you...that can be a sign of affection.

susan,

Just pay attention to your cat's body language. If the ears go back or the tail flicks, those are just 2 signs he's had enough petting or you're petting in a manner he doesn't appreciate. Usually, when cats are more aggressive it's due to boredom, pent up energy, feeling threatened, unhappy with diet, or just plain hungry. Even changes with the home can cause a cat to be upset.

Also.......declawed cats tend to become biters since they've lost the defense of their claws. Some can even have pain in their toes from the amputations, which can make them lash out at others.

I have a cat who administers "love bites", too, Annie. He does it if I stop scritching him.

My cat nibbles my arm sometimes when I’m petting her. In cat body language it’s a precursor to grooming, which is how cats acknowledge who is bonded to whom.