Here are the explanations behind why cats sometimes bite or chew their owners’ fingers, and how to test which reason is leading your cat to chomp.

Some cats will bite and/or nibble fingers for multiple reasons, others for the same one over and over, and many adult cats (especially if trained as kittens not to bite) will pretty near never do it at all. While it may be a bit of a mystery knowing how to interpret your particular cat’s behaviour at first, there are simple ways of figuring out why your cat – in the moment – is choosing to give you a little nibble or bite, then simple ways to change this behaviour in case you’d prefer it to stop. There are a variety of reasons that explain away why cats choose to nibble or nip their humans’ digits. The reason adult cats and young kittens bite, chew, nibble, and gnaw on human fingers is also the same. It’s similar to purring insofar as there isn’t one simple explanation behind it, since cats can perform this same action, but by it mean many different things. Then there’s that common, but confusing behaviour where some cats lick then bite their owners, or do the same in reverse.

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