Queequeg, no!!
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I wondered if it was a breed characteristic. Ours wandered in the door a couple of years ago and decided to stay (one of our new neighbors had been feeding her as a feral for a couple of years). She’s as sweet as can be, but has no filter between affectionate contact and claws-out ‘play.’ It’s not so bad once you recognize the triggers, but she will draw blood quickly, if given the chance. It’s the only reason I can think of why someone would have abandoned such a beautiful animal. I’m happy to put up with the odd slashing, because she’s such an interesting and cuddly companion.
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Yup. Both my Maine Coon did it, I’ve assumed it was general to felines as my experience is fairly limited.
Depending on where the cat wants to be pet, petting the cat in that location creates a happiness/pleasure in the cat that builds up until in the ultimate expression of joy it rips flesh off you with claws and teeth. Mostly the clawing is to draw the flesh to the mouth.
If you pet them where they don’t want to be pet, they move until you are petting somewhere desired or they leave.
This is every petting experience. You can avoid the love-attack by stopping before the cat is happy about their attention seeking, but they then tend to find revenge.
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Yeah, it seems to take a bite to really finish the cycle. She likes to be chased, and we have formed a sort of detente, where when I have her cornered, I ground my hand so she can grab it with the claws and administer a satisfying bite, a good bit short of breaking skin. In other modes she hasn’t learned to moderate, somehow.
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My old coon cat used to jump onto the railing next to the door and swat at the door knocker when she was done prowling around for the night. Scared the bejeezus out of me the first few times, too.
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Mrs Spat is quite good at sheathing her claws and pulling her bites when she’s in the mood for boisterous games, having learned that the house-apes have soft skin and bleed easily. She is a lot rougher when play-fighting with her Siamese toy-boy or beating up neighbourhood dogs.
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JazzPurr was long hair ( half Persian ) and would get big flaps of matted hair on his tummy during his summer shedding time. I would try and remove these hanging mats by cutting them off with those kid safe blunt scissors. He would lay down and allow me for perhaps 1 minute, Once I tried to stop him from getting up. I still have the scar where he bit through that webbed area between my thumb and pointing finger. His canine teeth were at least 5/8th of an inch long.
I loved that cat.
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Apparently I had the world’s only rock stupid Maine Coon cat. Granted, Chivas was a mix, and a gloriously handsome one at that, but he couldn’t find his way out of a paper bag. As a kitten he plonked his head down into my then boyfriend’s glass of Scotch and had to be extracted. In his defense, he might have been overcome by the fumes, but that’s how he got his name. A few months later something spooked him, and he ran into the utility closet and dove headfirst into the corner gap between the water heater and the wall. All I could see was his fluffy tail popping up at intervals as he tried to scale the slick sides backwards, and once I stopped laughing enough to grab his tail as it appeared, I did rescue him from that. Then there were the multiple encounters with stinkbugs that always ended with him biting at it, getting zapped with the stink and him launching himself 3 feet vertically. Picture windows were unsolvable mysteries to him. Then there was his unnerving habit of sitting on my bedside table at night staring at me. I miss him.
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Wow, such a beautiful glamour puss!
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For purely physical reasons, Maine Coons remind me of (second incarnation?) Snarf.
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Maine Coons are the best. This is a scientific fact.
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I joke with my wife that we own generic cats. We see ones like our own in every pet store.
My Tabby was a shelter kitty (we presumed his dental issues why he was left there)*
The B/W was part of a litter from a pregnant feral mother taken in by an acquaintance.
Despite about 3 years age difference, they get along pretty well. The tabby developed a paternal instinct which was absolutely adorable.
- I cannot stress how much I love The Humane Society’s vet care services. Tooth removal cost about 20% of the local vet in my area.
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I have a Norwegian Forest Cat. He is also very affectionate. He follows me around and insists on grooming me back if I pet him.
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That’s like the cute version of that one scene in The Godfather.
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The black thing this dentally challenged cat is laying on top of is his buddy that looks just like your tuxedo cat.
It’s something cats do when they become frustrated by a human’s inability to behave properly, despite repeated attempts at communication.
Maybe I can help a little; cat language is almost entirely non-verbal. Blinking, ear position, whisker alignment, tail posture and motion all have rich and complex meaning. Note how cats greet each other; the specific sequence of blinks, the turning of the head… I suspect your cat is very frustrated and annoyed by the way you are ignoring its very clearly expressed wishes, and it sees no other option than to treat you like an idiot or a kitten - so it bites you.
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Tuxedo cat! I never heard that term before, but should have. Its a perfect description. I am mostly unfamiliar with cat breeds and names.
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Well, it’s probably not any sort of official name. I try to call the various standard model shorthair cats by names people can get right away… tuxedo cats look like sharp dressers, holstein cats are marked like cattle…
Most people probably don’t know what a ginger tabby is, but they’ll know right away what you mean if you say “orange marmalade cat”. 
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Tuxedos can have white on the face and the tip of the tail as well, but the main requirement is black body, white chest and white paws. I have the cutest little tux who is the biggest brat.
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The claws and the teeth and the fire – don’t forget the fire
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