Posted on 08/17/2012 12:40:58 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows
When a cat jumps into your lap, settles in, relaxes and shortly thereafter starts licking your face, you have just received the feline version of a huge compliment. Since this behavior is an expression of deep affection and trust, it is truly a moment for cat guardians to treasure.
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[O]ne of the most common questions asked by folks who live with felines is, “What does it mean when my cat licks me?”
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As social beings, cats lick each other for a variety of reasons. As newborn kittens, their very first worldly experience is being licked clean by their mother and as they get older, for grooming. Kittens groom one another, and adult cats who are not related, but get along well who get along often spend considerable time grooming one another.
If you have ever watched cats licking one other, it’s obvious that the cats receive great enjoyment from the tactile sensation of a rough, moist tongue grooming their bodies. It is not only pleasant and calming, while exchanging their scents, mutual licking helps to build and maintain close bonds.
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But even the most passionate cat lovers don’t lick their kitties to return the favor. Instead, we pet them. The sensation cats feel, as we gently stroke their fur, may in fact resemble their mother’s loving touch. Of course there are some of us who do sniff our kitties, since the scent of a healthy cat is delightfully subtle to feline connoisseurs. But don’t knock cat-sniffing until you try it.
(Excerpt) Read more at petside.com ...
Threads like this really make me miss my babies. They have been gone, respectively, 11 and 4 years (Musica lived to 25+). It still feels like it was yesterday.
That isn’t a bad thing — tears for those we love are never wrong.
We haven’t adopted any new kitties because I spend so much time on the road it wouldn’t be fair to leave them alone.
I always enjoy the kitty list threads :)
One of the little sweet things in life. My old lady furball is stingy with her kisses, but her sister (R.I.P.) must’ve been part labrador retriever... I swear, that cat would lick on your arm for an hour!
Heh heh heh ... someone had to say it ...
My tomcat is a kisser - every time I come home, every time I go to sleep, it’s “Break out the sandpaper!”
What am I missing here!? Mrs. RQSR, and myself married almost 35 years, and have had about forty cats (same count for dogs), and currently have three dogs, and sixteen cats.
The only ones in memory that lick us have been the babies. Otherwise they sit on us, and lick themselves incessantly, and gag up hairballs.
Nope the licking is something in our experience is confined to new borns, and up to adolescent. After that they are more layabout, and if they get all lovey they snuggle, rub up against us, and demand we pet them, rub their tummies, and the like.
After as many a cat as have adopted us one might think we’d have been licked thin by now. Not.
THEY lick each other YES. NOT US.
Nom nom nom!
When I was a kid and laying on the floor in front of the TV my cat would lick my scalp. His tongue felt like sandpaper. He put his paws on the side of my head so that I would not move.
LOL
I can barely make it through the door and Hannah is on her back, talking and waiting for a 10 minute tummy rub. Then she lifts her head waiting for kisses on her chin, followed by more talking and alot of sandpaper kissies.
She owns me.
Kitty love :-D
Our kitty has a shoe fetish. When she was really little, she liked to climb in, head first.
Who the hell cares?
Anyone who is fascinated by cats.
Actually mine take about fifteen minutes ambushing each other, then take a nap to rest up for sleep.
You know what they say, “Dogs have owners, Cats have staff.”
That’s cute and looks like our cat too.. :)
One of my girls has a shoe fetish. She’s nearly 12 pounds, but she still tries to dive headfirst into smelly sneakers.
The same cat also likes to lick baby oil off my legs every morning when I get out of the shower. Six years now, every morning, since she was a wee kitten.
There’s an “In Soviet Russia...” joke in that pic, but I haven’t got the guts to make it.
Cats tongues are a reminder that life is not necessarily controlled by humans. :o]
LOL! Maybe our kitties are related! Our kitty likes to lick our lotions, too.
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