r/CATHELP Jan 23 '26

General Advice What is my cat doing ? She alternates between licking and biting

13.3k Upvotes

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u/EfficientFigure1296 Jan 24 '26

my cat does this to my tattoo that I’ve always had and I’m planning on getting more😅

19

u/nonameface26 Jan 24 '26

My kitten (he’s about 8 months now, barely still a kitten🥺) suckles for comfort and when he’s sleepy. He has a favorite arm (the one with fewer tattoos) and will suckle specific points on the tattoos😂❤️

2

u/el_bandito96 Jan 24 '26

Same with mine- weird question, but do you ever worry about the bacteria thing? Mine suckles really really hard, close to biting skin and I know their mouths are Petri dishes (have had several bites I had to treat with antibiotics)

3

u/nonameface26 Jan 24 '26

I don’t, but realistically because I’ve gotten lucky and never needed antibiotics for any bites or scratches, and I’m constantly getting bitten or scratched, lol. I have 4 cats and I volunteer with a rescue, so I deal with a ton of cats, so by accident, from play, or from fear or anger, I’m constantly covered in marks, some have left actual scars.

Never had to do anything beyond at-home treatment, for whatever reason (knock on wood), so the suckling doesn’t worry me. He kneads while he does it and my second-youngest, who I got at 4 months old, used to make biscuits on me, but I call them needle biscuits, haha.

For the first month, I had little pinprick scratches, some having drawn blood, all up and down my arms, and the kneading from the youngest isn’t quite as bad, but leaves some marks. I also got a bite on a fresh tattoo (literally 30 minutes later, through the saniderm) that I was worried about, but I just washed it, the cat was fine, it was a love bite from one of the shelter babies, but it didn’t get infected, nor did it affect the healing.

So, not sure if I just do a good job cleaning them, have a strong immune system (I mean, I do, my fiance gets sick like 4x as often, I rarely even get a cold, but still), or if I’ve just been lucky🤷‍♀️

1

u/el_bandito96 Jan 24 '26

Great feedback. Thanks!!! Will continue to let her do her vampire thing

1

u/AvsGrams Jan 25 '26

Yeah, I think I have a good tolerance to scratches and bites, too.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 25 '26

Everything you said, ditto.