# Do adult wild felines "make biscuits"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 4, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-adult-wild-felines-make-biscuits/559389 "2010-11-04T01:04:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-adult-wild-felines-make-biscuits/559389/1 "2010-11-04T01:04:31Z")
You know, how housecats knead with their paws when they’re happy. I’ve been told it’s one of those neoteny things and that kittens do that to get their mothers to let the milk down. Is that true, or do grown-up tigers make huge tiger paw biscuits when they’re in a good mood? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-adult-wild-felines-make-biscuits/559389/2 "2010-11-04T01:56:38Z")
I don’t know about wild tigers, but I’ve watched captive mountain lions do this. ---
**Author:** ![mil0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mil0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mil0)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-adult-wild-felines-make-biscuits/559389/3 "2010-11-04T01:59:53Z")
A video of just that [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W461djpQl2s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W461djpQl2s) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-adult-wild-felines-make-biscuits/559389/4 "2010-11-04T02:07:30Z")
Oh who’s a good carnivore! Oo is! Oo is! Only, that doesn’t look like a real adult animal to me. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-adult-wild-felines-make-biscuits/559389/5 "2010-11-04T02:25:02Z")
Is it really a sign of happiness? That is news to me. I know that when we got a new puppy our cat was mad as hell about this uncouth beast invading her domain, and went on an orgy of kneading. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-adult-wild-felines-make-biscuits/559389/6 "2010-11-04T02:25:36Z")
Only when they knead to. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-adult-wild-felines-make-biscuits/559389/7 "2010-11-04T17:15:55Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Is it really a sign of happiness? That is news to me. I know that when we got a new puppy our cat was mad as hell about this uncouth beast invading her domain, and went on an orgy of kneading. Sometimes cats will purr and knead as a way to comfort themselves when something’s unpleasant to them. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-adult-wild-felines-make-biscuits/559389/8 "2010-11-04T21:34:09Z")
My ex-feral sometimes puts himself in a biscuit-trance. He’ll hunch over a blanket or something and knead furiously, purring. We think his mom wasn’t around for much of his childhood (he was born under my boyfriend’s porch at the time and we think the mother might have gotten hit by a car or something when the kittens were still fairly young - didn’t see her after a certain point.) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-adult-wild-felines-make-biscuits/559389/9 "2010-11-05T21:34:23Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Oh who’s a good carnivore! Oo is! Oo is! > > Only, that doesn’t look like a real adult animal to me. That’s a cub. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2010, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-adult-wild-felines-make-biscuits/559389/10 "2010-11-05T23:41:54Z")
Yes, they do. I have photos of cheetahs that I took on safari in Africa doing just that. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2010, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-adult-wild-felines-make-biscuits/559389/11 "2010-11-07T01:53:20Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > My ex-feral sometimes puts himself in a biscuit-trance. He’ll hunch over a blanket or something and knead furiously, purring. We think his mom wasn’t around for much of his childhood (he was born under my boyfriend’s porch at the time and we think the mother might have gotten hit by a car or something when the kittens were still fairly young - didn’t see her after a certain point.) My cat also does this, but he also grabs the blanket (or whatever) in his mouth. It’s nursing behavior. If I try to stop him – as I often do, since he usually has my bathrobe or some other object I don’t need covered with cat drool - he gets very upset and cries loudly and angrily. It’s occasionally hilarious when he catches my pug sleeping, pins the disoriented (and sleepy) boy down, and nurses on his neck skin.