New cat keeps biting me, any ideas?

[LemonsAndMelonsAndPears]

A bit of back story - A couple of weeks ago, a beautiful cat turned up at my back door meowing. I opened my window to chat to him and he tried to jump in so I went outside for a cuddle. This cat hung around for two days, I put a paper collar on him to see if he lived around here but no one called so I took him to the vet to be scanned for a chip and he had one, registered to a town that is at least a half hours drive from here. They called and left a message but no reply, posted a letter to the house and it was returned to sender as the owners had moved. He stayed at the vet for 7 days which, I was told, is the legal amount for rehoming. Lost cat shared all around Facebook, no luck. So I have adopted him.

He is the most affectionate cat I've ever known, he follows me around like a dog, sits on my lap, asks for cuddles. And yet he bites me. I have had cats all my life and made a point to find which areas he likes being stroked and which not, so I know it's not because of that because I don't stroke those bits. He purrs and he's not swishing his tail so I know that he's not being grumpy, I thought maybe affectionate but he has started just randomly biting me on the leg and arm if he's laying on me when I havent touched him, so no idea what to do about that!

This is what I know about him:
He is almost certainly full Siamese according the vet, though I think he is mixed.
He's 2.5
He's neutered

Would love some ideas about why he does this and if I can stop it

If he's a bonded Siamese, they can become so full of excitement and love at being with their person that they just have to let it out somehow. (A sort of 'all wound up and nowhere to go'. )

I'd dial down the emotional temperature a bit by not stroking him at all at the moment - even if it's not a sensitive place, the effect might all be too much for him. And it's coming out as a bite.

Maybe try substituting physical love with lots of talking. Lots!

Does he sleep with you?

Thanks for your reply!

I've never had an oriental breed. I would probably say that he is bonded considering he won't leave my side, he comes in the toilet with me, he sits on the side of the bath in fact wherever I am he is or wants to be! That makes sense, probably not helped by having to keep him in while he gets to know the house.

Okay, I'll have a go at that. It's hard when he sits on my chest and meows in my face though haha.

And even more talking, I can do that! I'll treat him like a baby, he can have a play by play of my life.

He doesn't sleep with me no, I tried it one night but I am a light sleeper and I couldn't sleep with a cat on my face. Especially as he took my wake ups as "oh hi!! you're awake!! love meeeee"!

I've had Siamese since I was knee-high. It's quite an experience.

Lots of talking would certainly help. I fear that having him sleeping in bed with you is likely inevitable - they need to!

They're actually very easy to train. Exclusion from The Presence is such a dreadful prospect to them that if he behaves badly, shutting him out of the room for twenty minutes should sort things out. ( They remember their 'sin' and clock the exclusion just so. )

I've only had him two weeks, and I would agree that it's experience already he's more like an extremely needy dog rather than a cat!

We'll see, for now he seems okay sleeping downstairs. I have no idea of what happened to him, how long he'd been stray or anything. He seems well looked after but he was starving and covered in fleas so who knows.

Easy to train... But stubborn by any chance? He is obsessed with food and no matter how many time I put him off the kitchen sides he won't listen! But cat time out, I'll do that next time.

I suppose I should post a pic! I hope it works, I've not posted one before. He is absolutely beautiful, but I'm bias of course..

Here he is!

God he is beautiful. I can't believe someone went to the trouble of getting a pedigree then abandon him.

Have they transferred your details onto his chip?.

Isn't he just

I know it's odd, isn't it? I can't understand it. To have him chipped and neutered too, that's a lot of trouble for a cat you're going to abandon.

The chip details are in the process of being changed. Hope it's done soon, I'm not sure how long it takes as I know it's more complicated because he's been stray?

I'd keep him in until it's transferred. Just in case he wanders and gets picked up. I'd ring the chip provider to chivvy them but I'm pushy.

It's all very odd.

Ah - a seal point. He's great. (My first cat was a very old-fashioned seal. )

I'd guess he became genuinely lost, Fluffy. Maybe hundreds of miles lost.

Who can tell?

PS - Yes. They can be very stubborn. You just have to be implacable in your resolve. ( They don't seem to mind that at all by the way - they seem to enjoy the secure structure. )

As cozie said, sounds like "emotional overload" biting. If he's not breaking the skin and is, well, chewing on you it all fits.

I have never felt quite so much love as when my sister went on holiday for two weeks and left her rather beautiful and elegant lilac tortoiseshell point Siamese with me. She slept under the duvet with her head on the pillow. Of course, I was no substitute for her Person but I'd do temporarily. She was such a chatterbox too.

Mine is (technically) not Siamese. As in I suspect he may be but we will never know
But if he sleeps in bed with me he is much less needy the next day, where if he sleeps in the living room it's constant pestering from the minute he howls to wake me up

He doesn't bite but he is obsessed with washing my nose and kneads me constantly. Also if you so much as glance in his direction he's "hi! What you up to, what you doing, I need attention now, fuss me human"

They're like small very needy dogs

I think the microchip transfer can be up to 6 weeks. My friend is in the process of doing it for his two new furballs.

Bogbastard does a nip of my legs to communicate 'where is the food NOW, slave?' It's not meant to hurt but is definitely a style of communication, as he uses his voice very little. He's beginning to learn that a firm miaow and a pathetic look are more gratefully accepted

He will also do it for attention which is perhaps what your boy is doing? Probably the answer is to give lots of attention in other ways and ignore the nibbling? Like toddlers?

Seniorboy used to bite my mother who was much more indulgent with such things than I am. When he came to live with me - at about 14 - it had to stop and he's not really tried it again. Just to say that this behaviour can be altered, even in a strong-willed, older cat.

My cats do this. It's affection I think.

This makes me really want a Siamese cat!

They're certainly to be reckoned with!

My first cat was a Siamese so I guess I'm used to them and their ways. (My father didn't like cats - but always said (and demonstrated) that he made an exception for Siamese. I don't think he really regarded them as cats.)

I recall seeing a film once - not the one on YouTube - of a Buddhist monk in prayer and meditation. Except that he had a temple Siamese sprawled on his shoulders and although he was deep into his ritual, his hand kept coming up to the cat to chuck its chin.

A force of nature they are.