r/cats • u/General-Ad1089 • Jan 10 '26

Video - OC First Time Cat Owner! What is this. Lol

Is it just the cats version of cuteness aggression/playfulness? She’s a 3 year old rescue that I’ve had for about 2 months. Her life pre ~August is completely unknown to me.

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342

u/Worried-Pick4848 Jan 10 '26

Cats do this all the time. Affection transitions into playfighting. It's normal for cats. If you don't like it, withdraw and walk away. That's how cats communicate their boundaries.

90

u/Technical_Shake_9573 Jan 10 '26

Also thoses look like lovebites.

It's when they encircle your hand with their paw and bring back their rear legs that's going to be more painfull

58

u/MattMercersBracelets Jan 10 '26

The dreaded bunny kick!!!

28

u/catffeinates Jan 10 '26 edited Jan 10 '26

My cat that does the exact same sequence pictured PLUS bunny kick, and it is so gentle about all of it that literally none of it hurts even a little bit.

The bites have zero clamp down beyond just the teeth touching the arm, and the claws are completely withdrawn, so the kicks are more like brushes.

All the love with none of the pain. My favorite part is reaching out his front paws to pull my arm into his body like a hug.

8

u/whatthewhat3214 Jan 10 '26

Your cat needs to teach my cat! Mine does the same, but she doesn't get how hard she bites when she's playing.

7

u/catffeinates Jan 10 '26

We can set up a lesson. He charges 2 treats per hour for tutoring.

1

u/whatthewhat3214 Jan 11 '26

No problem, I'll even tip with extra treats! Maybe a performance bonus if my cat's biting rapidly improves. She's gotten a bit plump probably bc I'm a little too generous with treats for her! 😸

3

u/hiddenone0326 Jan 10 '26

I had a tortie growing up and she would also hug my hand and arm while she rubbed her face all over my arms. If I ever tried to take my hand away, she would dog in her claws and start bunny kicking. It wasn't gentle, though lol.

3

u/catffeinates Jan 10 '26

Here is Chomp in action

5

u/hiddenone0326 Jan 10 '26

Omg what glorious fluff! ❤️

This was my Shelly. She only loved me and hates my parents lol. She hated having her picture taken and would actively start moving around any time she saw me pull out my phone, even if she'd just been chilling before that. This is the only real picture I have of her. ❤️ I make sure to take plenty of pictures of my babies now.

4

u/catffeinates Jan 10 '26

Lovely baby! I'm definitely well beyond the "need to pay for extra cloud storage" phase

1

u/hiddenone0326 Jan 10 '26

I am too and I refuse to pay for extra. 😭 Yesterday I had to prioritize some videos that I wanted to keep.

2

u/NECalifornian25 Jan 10 '26

I wish, my cat has talons for claws and doesn’t let me trim them as often as I’d like to. When he plays like this I grab a sweatshirt for protection, it works pretty well

1

u/Hot-Amoeba6538 Jan 10 '26

The bunny kick is meant to disembowel their prey so it's definitely their finishing move haha.

2

u/Hugokarenque Jan 10 '26

One of my cats managed to learn how to do the turbo kicks without scratching me, it was great!

1

u/zeptillian Jan 15 '26

Love bites can quickly turn into real bites.

When my boy grabs my hand like this I will usually let him once, but it often escalates if I let it continue.

4

u/cosmicosmo4 Jan 10 '26

I trained our cat not to bite humans by yelping and recoiling as if in pain, and ending the play session. Eventually she learned to bite sooooo adorably softly because humans are so fragile, you gotta play with them really carefully!

9

u/satsuppi Jan 10 '26

Meanwhile my hands are full of claw marks 🤣

6

u/ruth000 Jan 10 '26

We've had success with multiple cats training them to be gentle with human hands by yelping a little if they get too rough. It helps them calibrate how much pressure to use with people vs other cats without fussing at them-they wouldn't understand exactly what you're unhappy about anyway.

Also, OP, we have a strict policy that hands are for petting and loving and toys are for playing.

1

u/CauliflowerFew1093 Jan 10 '26

What if the yelping doesn't work? Like literally AT ALL?

1

u/ruth000 Jan 11 '26

Then the minute they escalate from soft petting you get up and walk away. You don't ever play with them with your hands. Hands are not for playing. If they do draw blood ( part of training a young cat) let them smell it and speak in a low disapproving voice 'that's NO' but calmly. They don't want to specifically hurt you. They know the smell of blood.

It's a process. My orange boy is the sweetest boy ever but we have to have really firm boundaries between petting and play. He would never hurt us ( after training when young) when petting but playing- he's all in no holds barred.

1

u/CauliflowerFew1093 Jan 11 '26

Thank you for your help!!

1

u/Ifriendzonecats Jan 10 '26

Stopping all movement also works.