My previously abused cat bites faces...?

[Lunacy.x.Wolf]

One of my cats has taken to biting people on the face for no apparent reason...

I DO feel his past may play a part in this... So, I'm going to explain it:

My husband and I used to live with a roommate, she was, to say the least, a very cruel person. She brought home a Turkish Shorthair kitten, and the way she treated him was horrible.

To teach him not to beg she would punch, yes that's right, PUNCH him in his poor little face.

She'd constantly be gone for DAYS leaving Sammy without food or water (I was in the hospital after my son was born and came home to discover she'd been gone for OVER A WEEK and this poor cat had no food or water!!

Needless to say I had formed a bond with him because I was the one looking after him since she was obviously too irresponsible to do so properly.

The last straw came when I came out of the bathroom, and saw the kitten hanging by his collar to one of those ceiling hooks you use to hang plants on.

I asked her why the &%$# she did that and got the respone "He's not really a small kitten anymore, and I only like kittens." She was going to do away with him and get a new kitten.

I flew into a rage, said screw the rent, and took Sammy and the rest of my family and MOVED. I also phoned the humane society on her.

ANYWAYS, I've had him for about a year now, which would make him about a year and a half old.

We'll be petting him, he's all snuggled and comfy, purring as loud as our vacuum (no joke!) and then, all of a sudden, the face bite happens, RIGHT ON THE NOSE!

I've heard of cats turning and biting people once they've had enough, but in my personal experience they always slink or run away after.. Sammy doesn't, he just continues to purr and snuggle... until about ten minutes later when he creeps back onto our chests and WHAM right in the nose..

I'm truly baffled and confused, I've tried putting him on the ground and ignoring him after the 'incident', but I've been doing that for months and there is no improvement...

Could his past be to blame, or is their another behavioral issue at hand?

[MiserySmith]

Maybe use a spray bottle of water?
Nose bite= spray and firmly say no. Who knows if it'll work, it could just be a game to the kitty at this point but it's worth a shot.
Thank you so much for saving him!

[RattiesSix]

Honestly, some cats are freaks.  We have a girl here who does the exact same thing, but with hands. She'll reach out and just CHOMP and go right on purring. The spray bottle is worth a shot, but nothing has worked with our girl so far. 

[danadu6]

My  cat Baxter use to do something similar, but he would bite my arm. I read somewhere it can mean they are over stimulated. Baxter always did it after he was purring away being petted. The foster kitty I have now will do that to my boyfriend. He will be sitting on his lap and all of a sudden just nip him. I say its just love nips from Tommy.

[Rzrwyre]

My former girly would nip...only nip, if you combed her butt too much.  But then usually let you finish.  (She was weird about her butt being combed).

Yeah, the only thing I can think of too, that's more gentle is the water bottle.  But my last boy ended up thinking that was a lot of fun!

Maybe find a word other than "no"...like anything in non-english language that you won't use much ever, so it's the "special" word.  I have one in Russian...or so my Gma says....that is the REAL no word.

Whomever that person was is beyond my comprehension, is all I can say.

- Raaz.

[forkyfork]

Ive had a few twitchy cats. My husband is a little afraid of Frank because he cant read his irritation and frank will bite when he has had enough.

Watch the cat and see if you cant figure out what is going through his mind before he lets into you. Some cats want to cuddle but being pet needs to stop now and the way they have learned to make it stop is to bite because you have ignored all their other signs of irritation.

Watch the tail is the tail letting onto the irritation before the bite? It may not be all out tail flinging but the tip may get more twitchy. Usually just stopping petting gets the cats to settle down.

The eyes reflect a cats soul and intentions. Often you know you are going to get it because the eyes will dilate just before you get pounded or bit. Does it only happen when you look into his eyes? some cats find it threatening.

Were his ears back at any time? What about his whiskers?

When he comes back to bite your nose is he stalking you first? He could think he is playing.

To stop the behavior for your situation since he is still there soaking up the love you should first try saying NO BITING! and dump him out onto the floor. 

When frank bites I make sure I dont yank my hand away or stop whatever I was doing. My husband does and he keeps getting nipped because it works for frank ot make it stop. I read frank while petting, I usually dont get him to where he feels like he needs to make it stop.

In our house we use squirt bottles and time out for problems. You would say NO BITING! just before giving a squirt. You have to have a squirt bottle handy right there. Getting up to get it will serve no purpose other than to make the cat afraid of you because they will have forgotten what they did.

I only use timeout on one of my cats. Chester beats up and tortures his sister. His 15 minutes in time out gets the point across and he usually leaves her alone for about a week. His action words are LEAVE MOLLY ALONE.   

[Been to the Mountaintop]

Only one other idea to add. I have had young cats fascinated by the movement of my eyes, and bat or bite at my eyelids, eyes or nose after staring intently into my eyes. Sometimes there is warning as the "soul to soul" gaze communicating from creature to creature becomes sort of a blank/glazed, fascinated "hunting" gaze tracking the eyes.