Signs of Affection From Your Cat

My cat, Charlie, likes to hold my hand as a sign of affection. Does your cat do something that you consider to be a sign of affection other than rubbing against you and licking you?

This is a bit of fun with a tiny dash of seriousness to ponder on. Without any training, my cat, Charlie, through his actions, tells me that he likes to hold my hand. It is nothing spectacular by the standards of cat-video-spectaculars. It is actually very unspectacular. It is nice though – for both of us; a little bit of bonding.

Charles first indicated to me that he liked to do this when I was resting my hand on the duvet and he put his hand on mine. The beginning of this happy routine was instigated by him. It is a habit now. All I have to do is put my hand out and he’ll hold it. Well, he is not exactly holding it but I hope you’ll accept a bit of poetic license. It is a near as a cat can get to holding a human’s hand.

I take it as a clear sign of affection. He likes to be in contact with me. This is flesh to flesh – “pressing flesh” as the saying goes for human handshaking.

Sometimes when I pull my hand away he’ll keep hold of it. He doesn’t use his claws. He just grips me with his toes.

A lot of the time a cat’s owner instigates the signs of affection. Their cat is the recipient. It isn’t always that way. Cats often lick their human companion. Mine does.  And Charlie comes to me when I bang on the bed 😉 That is a type of training, I’ll admit. However, he likes to come to me. His behavior is reciprocated. He’ll ask for food and I’ll leap into action.

Cats often rub against us, which is the classic sign of affection and a scent exchange procedure. That and licking are probably the most common but, I am sure that, holding hands is less often seen.

However, occasionally, you will see it, cat-to-cat, as is shown by Dorothy’s Marvin touching/holding hands with his friend Daisy:

Cat and dog hold hands
Cat and dog hold hands. Photo by Dorothy
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32 thoughts on “Signs of Affection From Your Cat”

  1. Ozzie reaches out and touches me with his paw to give him fuss 🙂 Alfie stands on his hind legs and reaches up making eye contact for me to pick him up 🙂 Honey is quite solitary and prefers cat company to human 🙁

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