I have a cat who appears to be ticklish. The cat doesn’t laugh or giggle or anything, but physically reacts similarly to the way a person would react. If I tickle my cat’s tummy, often he’ll kind of ball up and gently kick at my hands. He doesn’t seem to dislike it, because if it were uncomfortable he’d move away or vocally object (he’s part siamese and can be VERY noisy/chatty in a meowy kind of way).
However, I’m not sure if he’s ticklish, or he’s simply interpreting what I’m doing as “I want to play” and he’s simply going along with it.
Is animal ticklishness what happens when you rub or scratch a dog’s belly & its back leg(s) twitch wildly? Or as I fear, is the dog getting extremely turned on? (I’ve never seen a boy dog’s thingy pop up during such scratching episodes so I happily live in denial that it’s getting horny.)
I had a dog (sadly deceased now) who was definitely ticklish; if I rubbed her paw pads (or the hair between them) lightly, she’d pull her paw away quickly, the same way a child (or ticklish adult) does when you lightly stroke the bottom of his/her foot.
I’m not sure about ticklish in the same way, but there are definately places you can “tickle” cats and get some odd reactions. Find the right place behind the ear and scratch it pretty hard and they’ll start twitching one foot just like a dog. Another thing some will do is start licking their chests almost hypnotically when you scratch the right spot. I could tickle my cat’s rear feet between the foot pad and the toes and she’d splay out her toes like a person trying to palm a basketball.
That’s playful disemboweling. I think it’s instinctive, since all the cats I’ve played with will always do this. Supposedly the cats hug their prey, then lift up their hind legs and shred it.
CREEP YOUR CAT OUT
This probably counts as “ticklish.” My cat lays on the couch with one back foot sticking out. If I tickle his foot he yanks it in.
One time I started moving my finger closer and closer to his foot while making tickling motions. He was staring intently at my approaching finger. Closer, closer, but never touching. Suddenly he leaped up and walked away, then lifted his back foot and shook it as if he’d stepped in something wet. Ha! If this was a human being, it would be strong evidence that the creepy feeling of ALMOST being tickled was too much to bear!
Poetgrrl - I have a very fluffy, very spoiled cat who is most definitely ticklish. He does not enjoy his belly being rubbed, and while he of course cannot laugh or threaten me with death to signal his displeasure, he will exhibit the behaviour you described in your cat. Another thing he does is, when his tummy is first touched, jerk away, as if in a surprised manner - kind of like when someone comes up behind you when you aren’t expecting them.