You’d agree that it is the sworn duty of all cat caregivers to keep their cat safe and make them happy. Those are the two goals and the former precedes the latter. I believe that every cat has a preferred way to be petted. There is no universal petting method. How cats like to be …
NO, not NORMALLY is the answer to the question in the title but there are exceptions. The paws of the hind legs are almost always out of bounds in my experience. More so than the forepaws. But after living with my cat for around 8 years and developing an ever-closer relationship, he likes me to …
Do cats accept the touching or petting of their paws? Read More »
I was reading a section by Dr. Desmond Morris in his book Catlore and he suggested that sometimes domestic cats bite the hand that strokes them because of a traumatic experience they’ve had in the past and one example might be a visit to a veterinarian. Morris suggests that sometimes veterinarians, being fearful of a …
Has your cat been traumatised by a visit to the vet? Read More »
Because of her early days experiences, a kitten equates being provided for with her mother. As the human caregiver continues to provide for the now adult cat, the cat relates to their human caregiver as their mother. Her true mom licked her kitten a lot during her earliest days to clean them, which is part …
Infographic on “Why does a cat like being stroked?” Read More »
It’s been found that when shelter cats are gently petted and talked to their chances of developing an upper respiratory infection are reduced. They are healthier because their immune system picks up. And if shelter cats are not stroked and talk to gently, they are 2.5 times more likely to become sick due to stress …
Individual cats will have their own response to being petted and not all domestic cats like to be petted to the same extent. I think that we have to remind ourselves that people pet their cats mainly because they want to do it as it brings them pleasure. People expect their cat to enjoy it. …
I recently ran across an article published on Healthy Pets.com featuring a study done several months ago by a research team at the University of Lincoln in the U.K. The study was designed to find out more about how cats react to being petted. The team was interested in examining two aspects of cat petting …
Do cats dislike having their tails petted? Learn the opinion of a research team Read More »
The ‘cat love bite’ is, I believe, a misnomer. This is not about biting you because he/she loves you. Cats might bite their owner for a number of reasons (e.g. redirected aggression) but in this article I’ll discuss the reason why cat owners call this version of cat biting ‘love bites’. It happens when you …
‘Cat love bites’ – what do they mean and why do they happen? Read More »
Getting your cat’s purr-mission is simply another way of being sensitive to your cat’s desires and requirements – understanding feline behavior. I like the idea, though, of asking your cat for permission or consent to pet them. Although, it’s not quite like asking for permission. It’s more about reading body language and being aware as …
The best human-to-cat relationships have a lot of synchrony in their rhythms and routines. In this instance the synchronicity between feline paws and human hand. And the trigger, as we can see, is the belly rub. Domestic cats tend to dislike being petted on the belly but it depends on the individual. In fact …
You should pet your cat with sensitivity, respect and in a limited way. Although domestic cats generally like the same areas to be petted, each individual has their natural limit to how much they will enjoy or tolerate it. You can’t automatically presume that a domestic cat will always enjoy being petted for as long …
I can think of three reasons why a domestic cat might bite their owner during petting. The first is often discussed which is that domestic cats can be overstimulated by petting whereby the cat interprets it as play and, as we know, play incorporates biting. It’s not malicious biting but what I would describe as …
This video shows cat petting which is too vigorous at the outset and it gets worse at the end when the owner is way too self-indulgent. It is almost as of they are miffed that their cat is moving away from them and yanks their cat back by tapping their cat too roughly under the …
You’ll see various theories for this aspect of feline behaviour. In general, domestic cats are indeed reluctant to be petted on their stomach. I want to try and answer the question because the National Geographic’s reason is that the hair follicles on the belly and tail are hypersensitive to touch. This is incorrect in my …
Why do cats dislike being petted on their stomach? Read More »
Domestic cats don’t understand the full range of meanings of human kisses as humans do. For humans the kiss has considerable significance. There are a lot of connotations and underlying meanings. In fact the human kiss can mean different things at different times and under different circumstances. Nearly all of these are not on the …
