![]() Whatever the case, they can catch your attention by giving you a good ol’ cat lick. Maybe they feel you haven’t been giving them enough affection. Maybe they’re hungry and they want you to know it’s time you fed them. They’re simply saying, “This here rodent is owned by me, so you’d best leave him alone!” Attention seekingĬats seek the attention of family members for various reasons. Is your cat licking your pet gerbil? Don’t worry, they’re not trying to eat Mr. Should another critter smell you, they’ll know you’ve already been claimed by your cat. Therefore, your cat licks you to mark you as theirs. Whether or not this actually helps is another matter! Territorial markingĬats are rather possessive of things that “belong” to them, and that includes the members of their adopted human family. Therefore, when a cat is licking their humans and fellow fur babies, they’re essentially cleaning them. Papillae allow the tongue to remove dirt and other substances from the skin and fur they’re why cats are such effective self-groomers. The cat tongue is covered in strong, tiny spines known as papillae, which transfer huge amounts of saliva to the fur and all the way down to the skin. So if you catch your cat licking your dog, be glad that they get along so well!Īnd if your cat licks a human or pet they aren’t familiar with, it’s likely they’re trying to establish a social bond and make friends! Grooming ![]() Many cats lick their fellow pets for the same reason. Mother cats lick their kittens not only to groom them but also to show them affection when those kittens grow up, they express their love for you by licking you. It’s likely this behavior and its inherent meaning are learned from their mother. This doesn’t mean they lick you to make you miserable, however.Ĭats lick their humans to show affection. So I have no question in my mind that, this cat is susceptible to using compulsive behaviors to cope with stress.If you’ve ever lived with a cat, you know how irritating their sandpaper-rough tongue feels on your skin. Another reason I am certain stress is what triggered it is I thought back to when it is that the obsessive cleaning that we take so much for granted started, and I believe it started when we lost another cat after an illness-a cat that used to be his BFF. I mean, this started just a month ago in a cat that otherwise seemed very happy and "normal". And then today, eureka! And it seems so obvious now: Just like how human beings can respond to anxiety by developing a coping mechanism like pulling hair or eyebrows out when stressed, and sometimes that can become a habit they can't stop even when not stressed that can happen to our felines too! (Now of course if this is a habit in a kitten, it could be anything as simple as having been taken from Momma cat too early, but in my case, this was definitely not the case. Surely, for something that is apparently so common, someone had to have some information. My earlier searches proved futile and I was getting frustrated wondering why it is that so many people are asking about this and no one seems to know the answer. But when it didn't stop, even three weeks later, and only he, not his brother, was doing this, I figured there had to be more to this, so I decided to do a Google search on this. After all, he and his brother groom one another every now and then, so that was not such a far-fetched possibility. Now THIS was a totally new behavior.Īt first we thought that, even though we put the Frontline Advantage at the base of his neck/head in the back where he could not reach, perhaps he somehow got to taste it and it may have a horrible taste he is trying to scrape off his tongue. Nevertheless, even though the scratching stopped and it was clear Frontline did its job as none of the cats were scratching anymore, the cat in question, who BTW obsessively cleans himself, he started licking sheets, pillows, the armchair, you name it.as if his life depended on it. Oh yes, and we washed everything, adding Borax for good measure. And just as it promised, the cats seems seemed fine after 18 hours. I freaked out and immediately got Frontline Advantage and used as directed. Now I should mention that, in spite of our cleaning the room ourselves (Yes, we bought cleaning supplies and swept and mopped the floor and wiped counters in our room in order to have it in a condition we like without the need for Housekeeping to visit our room at all thus keep the "changes" to the kitties' lives to a minimum), my cats got fleas which they have never had since for the 13 years of their lives. ![]() But just as he had become accustomed to the room, our two week trip was over and we were headed back home, which was another stressful experience for our creatures of habit. He was not a happy camper at all but he settled in and soon became at home. One of my cats started doing this after we took him with us on his first trip that was not to the vet and stayed in a pet friendly motel.
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