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One of my kittens — Nano, ~5-6 months old, got him at 12 weeks — keeps biting my fingers when being petted. It always starts with purring; Nano will seek me out at 5 in the morning, jumps into bed and starts purring like crazy, I wake up due to the sudden added weight on my shoulder/chest, and I pet him to say good morning. It can also be during the day where he will jump on my desk while I work, I stop to pet him and he starts purring.

He will then cradle his head in my hand, rub his head against it, and after a few seconds starts chewing. If I remove my hand, he follows and repeats. I hide my hands under the covers, and he walks over to my girlfriend and does the same.

I'm pretty sure he does this cause he's content, but it's starting to get annoying and as he gets older he bites harder. What can I do to stop it without discouraging him from coming to me for petting?

EDIT: He's not just nibbling on my skin, he grabs my finger (esp. my thumb) with his paws and puts it in his mouth.

Jeff
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    To give you a keyword to search for: These are called Love Bites. – Philipp Sep 03 '17 at 16:43
  • @FarewellStackExchange Do you have any good resources for educating kittens? Also, he's not just nibbling on my skin, he literall grabs my finger (esp. my thumb) with his paws and puts it in his mouth, not sure if that's the same as the situation posed in the possible duplicate? – Jeff Sep 05 '17 at 03:48
  • @Jeff The last kitten we raised, when she bit or scratched inappropriately, I tried very, very gently tapping her on the bridge of her nose. Almost more of a touch than a tap. I had read about this somewhere, can't recall where. She didn't show any sign of discomfort or of being startled or scared, but she immediately moderated whatever aggressive behavior she was engaging in, and it stayed moderated. She was getting bitey for a while, and it stopped. She didn't get any less affectionate. – Ed Plunkett Sep 05 '17 at 17:32
  • @EdPlunkett i'll try it, thanks! Although I don't consider this aggression as much as nursing, he was bottlefed. – Jeff Sep 06 '17 at 17:00
  • @Jeff Let me know how it goes. One thing I didn't mention: I tried the same polite gentle nose tap after she grew up, and she got very offended. I don't recall what age that was; I'm pretty sure it was much older than six months. – Ed Plunkett Sep 06 '17 at 17:10
  • @EdPlunkett tried it a few times, no effect :/ – Jeff Sep 07 '17 at 11:36

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