slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) (07/21/85)
>I was wondering, has anybody noticed that declawed cats are more likely >to bite when you're just trying to be friendly? It's somewhat startling >to have a cat come up to you begging for stroking, you oblige, and then >it bites you. It's only happened to me with declawed cats. That is interesting. Ours are declawed and do this sometimes. But they did it before being declawed, so I never associated the two. Our cats do this, but the bites are not really a problem. They are not break the skin bites, in fact not even close. It is more a playful motion. I have found that if I whine a little when then do it (like a kitten, just a little noise in the back of the throat), then they stop right away. Sometimes they lick the spot (to apologize?). If I pet them more roughly, then they assume I want to play, and will bring the back paws up and chew a little more. We can play like that for quite a while. The bites are seldom painful, just playful. I have noticed they do the same with each other--whine means let's be gentle and lick each other, fight back means let's play. The only time I got a wound from one of them was when I was rounding them up to take them to the vet for shots. I tried for a long time to get one out from under the bed. Finally I gave up and just grabbed. He took a good chunk out of my finger. -- Sue Brezden Real World: Room 1B17 Net World: ihnp4!drutx!slb AT&T Information Systems 11900 North Pecos Westminster, Co. 80234 (303)538-3829 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Your god may be dead, but mine aren't. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~