Response from Dr Patricia Simonet:
Let me tease apart the behaviors and answer your questions separately. First, let me begin with behavioral changes and onset. If the onset of a behavior or suite of behaviors is rather sudden or unusual for a pet, then a medical condition may underlie the change(s). For example, the endocrine system is complicated and many ailments can cause changes in the hormones produced by our pets. Some of these hormonal changes can manifest in overt behavioral changes, even what appears to "positive." Change in affectionate behavior is a trademark of an endocrine change. You may want to take your kitty in to see the vet.
Nipping, nibbling, and biting by cats are common behaviors, which cats share with one another. I have one cat who loves to nibble on my big toe. She never bites hard but it does make it difficult to walk from one room to another when she is in her toe-nibbling mood. Another of my cats loves to nibble on my chin. These behaviors are how they groom and care for one another. In some regards it is our cat's way of caring or showing affection as s/he would to a close companion (or offspring).
About singing, hmm, I don't mean to offend you, but do you sing soprano? Cats are very sensitive to high frequencies. Sometimes when we humans produce sounds in high frequencies it interferes with their ability to listen to the world around them (like those pesky mice or even insects). I once had a delightful little cat who hated it when I whistled. She would seek me out while I was whistling, and if I were accessible, such as sitting down reading, she would approach as calm as could be and place her paw upon my lips. I got her rather blunt message, no more whistling. Being a mad scientist, I had to test this response multiple times to see if she would replicate her response to whistling. Every single time I whistled she would seek me out and place her paw upon my lips. Cats can hear high frequencies exceedingly well. Singing, whistling, and even some speech can disrupt or interfere with the cats hearing. As she gets older, how you speak (pitch and tempo) may be interfering with her hearing range (just as humans' hearing diminishes with age, so do our pets' hearing). As an experiment, try speaking in a lower pitch and see if her behavior changes toward you.
It is not always a sin to assign human descriptions to our pets. However, we don't want to diminish our pets' amazing abilities by limiting them to human attributes. When I use human terms I use them carefully. For example, if a cat stops eating and drinking, moping around the house, just after the death of a companion (human or non-human), I would describe the behavior as such: "If I were to see these behaviors in a human, I would suggest that the person is grieving. The cat behaves as if she is grieving."
I hope this sheds some light on your cat's new repertoire of behaviors.
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Posted on SHARE Yahoo group Oct. 11, 2005