I have a cat named Orion who loves to have his back scratched. He loves it so much, he licks stuff insanely when you scratch. He’ll lick or gnaw on things that are close to him, like your arm, the couch, whatever. If there’s nothing convenient, he’ll lick the air or himself. I’ve had cats in the past that exhibited similar behavior and never thought anything of it. I just figured it’s the cat equivalent of the dog kicking his leg when you scratch his back or belly.
Master Control, however, is convinced that this is abnormal and that Orion must be suffering from some terrible skin condition if his back is so itchy that he responds so violently. There are no scabs on his back, though, no fleas that I can see, and no bald or scaly patches. He gets a little dandruffy, but he’s a black cat so any dandruff he has really shows. I mean, I don’t know that he’s any more dandruffy than my lighter colored cat Squeaky, i just think it shows up better against his darker fur.
So the cat seems otherwise healthy and happy, he just licks stuff like crazy when you scratch him. Do you think this is weird? Have you ever had a cat that did the same thing? Am I a bad mommy because I don’t want to take him to the vet for licking aggressively?
Seriously, if Orion has a problem that caused itching or other symptoms that scratching alleviates, it’s likely he’d find a way to do it himself, by rubbing against things or rolling on the ground, If you haven’t observed him doing any of these things, then chances are he’s just a kitty who likes having his back scratched.
My cat does this. He’s really overweight and can’t really groom himself at the base of his tail very well. I’m also kinda bad about keeping up with the flea stuff. I’ve noticed that when I’m caught up on the flea medication, he responds much less violently so I’ve concluded that he really is itchy back there. Just my experience…
QED: good point! So far as I’ve ever seen, Orion doesn’t make an effort to scratch his back on other objects, or roll around excessively.
tremorviolet: also a good point! Orion is rather obese (so maybe I exaggerated the healthy part above, but he’s on a vet-monitored diet right now), so maybe he does have trouble grooming his back. The base of his tail seems to be the spot he reacts strongest to.
Thank you very much for the opinions! I’ll be sharing this with MC
Our cat is neither obese nor exposed to fleas (he lives aboard the boat), and he does this too. Cracks us up!! I figure it’s his way of going: “Oh yes, yessssss, yes, there, yessss, ooooooh, yessssssss!”
This is normal. I have 2 cats, one who is slightly obese, and one who is thin and very flexible, and both do this if you scratch the correct spot on their back. I know of other cats that do it as well. You don’t even need to scratch the spot, a light tapping at the precise spot will elicit the reaction for one of the cats.
It’s pretty funny actually, my cat gets this ‘spaced out’ expression on her face- it looks like she is about to have an orgasm or something. Much hilarity was to be found the day I accidentally discovered this.
Our cat, Zippo, loves to be scratched all over, up and down his back, everywhere. He’s got this one spot behind his right shoulder that’s sort of like his “itchy G-spot”. When I scratch there, he’ll lick and chew on my hand, while having paroxysms of ecstasy, and he’ll head-butt my arm and purr up a storm. I just figure it’s in a place he can’t reach, and he’s very happy when I can scratch it for him.
I love that spaced out look. Our cats really enjoy a good scratch right between the shoulder blades, and will space out when we scratch there. The male also has the orgasm face when we rub the base of his ear just right.
The male enjoys sucking and chewing on things when he’s happy as well. Sometimes we’ll find him sucking on a blanket or a T shirt (a couple of times while the shirt is being worn!), kneading the cloth, and purring happily with his eyes half-closed. He was an orphaned kitten, and my daughter bottle fed him for a while. We always figured that maybe she weaned him a bit too early.
Cats are weird. That’s one of the reasons I love them so much, they each have their own personality and quirks.
