They call is cat massage but we know it is one cat kneading another. They are very close friends living in China – perhaps mother and offspring. We normally see young kittens kneading their mothers while being nursed to bring on the flow of colostrum. It is unusual to see one young adult (the dark tabby) kneading what appears to be her best friend the Turkish Van type cat on the back.
It is conceivable that the Turkish Van type cat (ginger tabby markings in the style of a Turkish Van) is the tabby cat’s mother. Is it that impossible? I don’t think so because we see this in cats sometimes: stark differences in the coat type from mother to offspring.
If this is the case the young tabby, who looks like she is barely into adulthood, is still treating the larger cat as her mother and kneading her as if she is drinking her mother’s colostrum. It seems to be a mother-daughter relationship which has developed into one of lifelong friendship but I am open to alternative suggestions.
Perhaps the tabby refuses to become an adult and be independent. The mother accepts it. If they are unrelated and friends the relationship is similar to that between human and cat.
Pet cats often knead their human caretakers. What we see in the video is very similar to what happens between cat and human in millions of households every day in any country.
