Occasionally, my cat likes to reach out with his right forepaw and touch my face while he is lying next to me when I am in bed. It is an act of deep friendliness and ‘connection’ between two sentient beings of different species. Domestic cats do like to touch and be in contact with their caregivers provided they are good caregivers.
It is an act which has some human characteristics as I often touch and stroke his head as almost all cat caregivers do.
Perhaps my cat is trying to copy my actions. Perhaps him touching my face is a learned action from him being aware of the fact I like to touch his head and cheeks (which is part of the face!).
But the interesting aspect of this behaviour is that my cat reaches out with his paw and rather crudely dumps it on my face – anywhere on my face including sometimes my eyes and mouth. It seems that he doesn’t think that it is necessary to touch areas of my face that are acceptable to me. Anywhere will do which is clearly a bit tricky for a human to accept.
You’d have thought that my cat would be able to work out that he can’t touch my eyes as it might hurt me but he demonstrates no such distinction.
He likes to reach out and touch – with his claws retracted I must add – anywhere on my face including as mentioned the eyes and mouth.
Does this enlighten us as to the mentality of our darling domestic cat companion? Well, ensuring that the claws are ‘in’ when he does this arguably indicates that he is aware of the dangers that they pose when ‘touching’ their human companion. That is an awareness that might not have been noticed.
The fact that he does not avoid touching the mouth indicates that he sees no issues regarding the possibility that I might ingest contaminants on his paw. This is borne out of the fact that cats have much more robust digestive systems it seems to me than humans. Although I wouldn’t expect a domestic cat to be able to rationalise the slight potential danger of transferring a contaminant on their paw to their human caregiver via the person’s mouth! 🙄 No something that would cross their minds I’d suggest.
The domestic cat can eat commercially prepared cat food one minute and a recently killed mouse the next. That is pretty exceptional and far beyond the abilities of humans.
As for the eyes, when he touches them, he expects me to close my eyelids as he does when I touch him on the face and near his eyes.
So there is a logic in his tender, loving action of reaching out and touching me with his paw. A ‘hand’ which carries pretty lethal weapons: claws.
Clearly, too the cat’s paw contains sensitive nerves in the paw pads through which he is able to feel my face.
Domestic cats’ paw pads are highly sensitive and packed with specialized nerve endings that allow them to feel and interpret the world around them—almost like fingertips for humans. Here’s a breakdown of how that works:
🧠 Types of Nerve Endings in Cat Paw Pads
- Mechanoreceptors
These detect mechanical changes like pressure, texture, and vibration. Key types include:- Merkel cells: Respond to sustained pressure and texture.
- Meissner’s corpuscles: Sensitive to light touch and changes in texture.
- Pacinian corpuscles: Detect vibration and deep pressure.
- Ruffini endings: Sense stretch and sustained pressure.
- Thermoreceptors
Detect temperature differences—hot or cold surfaces. - Nociceptors
These are pain receptors that detect harmful stimuli like sharp objects or excessive heat.
🐾 Why Are Their Paw Pads So Sensitive?
- Cats use their paws to explore, hunt, and balance.
- They can detect minute vibrations, like the movement of prey.
- Paw pads give them a tactile readout of surface textures—helpful when silently stalking.
- This sensitivity also helps in climbing, grooming, and even social interactions (e.g. kneading).
🔬 Fun Fact:
Each toe pad has a unique concentration of nerve endings, allowing cats to individually sense pressure or contact with objects—helping them walk stealthily and react with precision.
Want to get into the evolutionary reasons why this developed, or how it compares to other animals like dogs or big cats?
More: cat paws
