These side-by-side videos tell the story behind adult domestic cat kneading. PLEASE CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON AT BOTTOM-LEFT OF THE VIDEO TO PLAY THE TWO VIDEOS SIMULTANEOUSLY. Despite the copious amount of information on the internet about this form of feline behaviour some people don’t know the reason. Fair enough. Here is the reason. The newborn kitten kneads their mother’s breast to encourage the production of colostrum when feeding. The video on the left shows this clearly. Clearly, the adult cat is no longer a newborn kitten feeding at their mother’s breast but they think they are kittens because their every need is provided for by their human caregiver who acts as if they are surrogate mothers. This encourages the adult cat to never grow up emotionally and so they drop into the habits they had when they were newborn kittens even if it has nothing to do with feeding on their mother’s colostrum. It is entirely instinctive. The adult cat most often kneads their owners clothes while on their lap or their bedding as it smells strongly of them. Or as seen in the video they knead any part of their owner including their face. Just keep the claws trimmed please!
kitten behavior
5 ‘weird cat behaviors’ in a TikTok video explained
In this TikTok video the cat owner thinks that her cat behaves weirdly. The video shows 5 different types of ‘weird’ feline behaviour. I thought I would try and explain them so that they are no longer weird but normal in the context of a domestic cat’s mentality. The voiceover is male but this …
Why is my adult male cat aggressively licking my new male kitten?
This is a question posed by a social media user accompanying a video of a beautiful ginger tabby cat enthusiastically licking a young kitten who is also a ginger tabby cat. The questioner does not explain if the kitten is the offspring of the male cat. It looks certain that they are. The interesting …
Kitten kills a tired, beat-up sock and brings it into the den
This little ginger tabby fella seems to have started independence early. It seems to me that he is on the way to becoming an adult. He has left the natal den and gone out into the ‘wild undergrowth’ (the bedroom) of the family home to find a prey animal. He kills it – a …
Why does a kitten sometimes throw a toy into the air when playing?
A kitten will sometimes throw a toy into the air when playing as an instinctive fishing action.
Why does my cat stick his rear in the air when I stroke him?
This form of feline behaviour is a reflection on the fact that adult domestic cats relate to their owners as their mothers. They might not relate to their owners as their mothers all the time but in this instance they do. Feline mums lick the rear end of their kittens to stimulate defecation. It …
How do kittens play together?
This is called “social play”. It is the way kittens interact with each other. It is different to how children play. Kitten playtime is based on fights and predation (hunting animals) whereas although children sometimes fight their play together is generally cooperative and not agonistic (genuinely combative). The fact that kittens fight-play and play-hunt …
How do I stop my cat attacking me?
When in play this is a common problem because it is normal cat behaviour. Not all domestic cats do it but it is still normal behaviour. Therefore the first point to make is that punishment is not the way to fix it because we don’t punish for engaging in normal behaviour and as all …