Recently, Mr. Horseshoe pointed out that neither of our cats* knead their paws. At all. They purr when happy, but they don’t do anything with their paws.
One has her claws intact, one is de-clawed. Pls. save your RO, he came to us that way, having been originally taken in by Mr. Shoe’s mom when he showed up, skinny and clearly lost, in their neighborhood. In fact, she found the other one, too - as a tiny kitten, mewling and starving under some bushes while out on a walk.
She just has a way of … finding cats.
Also, have you heard any other good colorful phrases for describing this behavior? I’d never heard of pressing tacos or making biscuits before meeting Mr. Shoe’s family!
Yes, I’m aware of the rule. Tell me the easiest way to post photos to the Dope and I’ll do it. I don’t have an acct with photobucket or flickr or any of the other photosharing sites and don’t really feel like setting one up, though. Is there another way?
All of our cats do this at various times. The main one that does is thankfully declawed. Any time the one-eyed half-bear cat tries we’ll try to immediately put a stop to it, because there could be permanent damage.
I always just called it “fluffing up” when I called it anything at all, but the better half has always called it making biscuits.
I generally refer to it as “stop digging those claws into my arm”. Only one of my cats is a lap cat, but whenever he lays on me he can’t settle in unless he can rest his front paws on my left arm. The problem is not so much kneading as that he can’t seem to grasp the concept of fully retracting his claws, so they’re constantly digging into my arm.
None of the five cats currently living with me is declawed, and they all knead. I call it making biscuits (I’ve never heard “pressing tacos,” but that sounds gross). It doesn’t hurt, but I do clip their claws regularly. I say, “Thanks for the yummy biscuits, Waverly. They look soooo delicious!” A couple of the foster kittens I’ve had suck on my shirt while kneading my tummy. I’ve heard that’s a sign that they were separated from their mother too early.
My declawed cat does this on a semi-regular basis. He’s a big lover, and come up next to my face rubbing on me for attention at least few times every day. If he he’s happy, he’ll knead or drool or try to (softly) chew on my fingers or try to lick my face. Frankly, I wish he’d just knead.
So … it’s pretty unusual that 100% of our 2-cat household does NOT engage in this behavior, right?
I don’t think I’ve ever known a cat that *doesn’t *do this, and I thought it was so strange that neither of our kitties seems to even know the behavior. The little kitten (Nikki) was clearly separated early from momma + siblings (she was maybe 5-6 wks old when Mr. Horseshoe’s mom found her) but I figured kneading was a deeply instinctive behavior, and I found it strange that she never showed it.
The declawed cat (Al) is maybe 9 or 10, we’ve had him for almost 5 years, and he’s never once done it either.
All three of our boys do that. They’re declawed, so we don’t have scars to prove it, but they’ll knead when they’re happy and purring. We call it “kitty fists”. Only one of them does it with any sort of pressure like actual kneading. The bigger two cats just sort of curl and uncurl their paws repeatedly.
My daughter has a cat that she got when he was too young to be separated from his mother. His mother had died when he was about 4 to 6 weeks old, he was the only surviving kitten, and she bottlefed him until he learned, reluctantly, to lap from a saucer. This 9 year old cat will still suck on her shirt or on a blanket occasionally, while he kneads.
One of my cats doesn’t really knead. He’ll lift his paws, if he’s standing or sitting, and if he’s lying on his back he’ll flip his front paws up and down. He’s a rather odd cat…he can’t stand to be hugged or picked up and held. He MIGHT occasionally sit next to a human, if the human is sitting down and looks like he won’t move for a while. And he’ll come up to a human, strop the human’s legs, and demand to be petted. But if someone picks him up he wants to be let down RIGHT NOW and has a panic attack.
I’ve never known a cat that didn’t. My current girl, Sapphire, came to me declawed, which means I don’t mind when she does it. Please note I wouldn’t have declawed her, but since it hasn’t seemed to cause her any problems I don’t mind at all that she came to me that way.
Not that I had a choice anyway when she picked me that day at the shelter. You know cats. Especially Siamese.
Tikva does this quite often, especially in bed. I’ve learned to just clip her claws regularly and deal with it- nothing stops her, not even somnambulant violence.
Mystery, too, will slowly stab you to death with love. You have to have a towel on your lap before the cat comes up there. And if she’s on your shoulders, you’d better be wearing a coat or heavy sweater. She’s an outdoor kitty, so clipping her claws isn’t feasable.
Only #4 “makes dough”. She was a rescued by a local agency, and she had had a litter of kittens at less than a year old. No trace was ever found of the kittens. The only annoying part is that she puts her heinie in your face and/or rubs on the edge of the laptop.
#1 will flex his feet, but not knead on you. He also has pica, but it’s all part of being part Meezer. #2 (male) only kneads fuzzy blankets. #3 (female) does not knead.
Our cat Poe does this when he’s particularly pleased with himself. Usually it’s when he’s belly-up and getting a rub-down. We call it “happy feets”. He likes to have his paw pads massaged (which I feel I should add I originally started doing in hopes that it would kinda annoy him and drive him to seek greener laps, but it backfired terrifically and five years later I’m still massaging his toes). Sometimes when he really gets going with the happy feets, I’ll catch his curled toes with a finger and pull gently, then press back against the big pad when he flexes them open. This generally will crank his purr motor (and smug factor) up to 11.
Poe will knead (with a very smug expression on his face) if he’s settling down for a nap on my chest while we’re in bed. He doesn’t usually knead inanimate objects. Grendel on the other hand kneads while doing this rather inexplicable thing we refer to as “grooving”. At first we thought he was “nursing” his bedding, but he’s not actually suckling anything, he just sort of hovers his chin/front part of his closed mouth right up against the blanket, just so the fur touches, then trances out while kneading.
All my cats do it, some more than others (all neutered shelter cats with claws). One in particular who I know was very young when he was brought to the shelter does it a lot - we call it ‘playing the piano’, as he kind of rocks as he does it like an old-fashioned pianola player.
The family cat we had growing up never ever kneaded. He also never licked us. He was declawed.
My three current cats all knead and lick, one will even chew your fingers if you are not paying enough attention to her. They are two girls and one boy, none declawed.
We had a cat who’d not only knead occasionally when she was especially content, but she would also “sharpen her paws” (she was declawed) on couches, cardboard box edges, and the like. She’d just pluck away with her claw-less paws as though she was clawing up the object. For the regular kneading, we usually just called it “kneading” or “padding”.
One of my cats does it to me, but also to the dog The dog gets a little huffy about it. I like when they drool, that’s when you know it’s really good. All my cats do it, but only the one does it to the dog.
I’d never heard of pressing tacos or making biscuits before meeting Mr. Shoe’s family!
The dog gets a little huffy about it. I like when they drool, that’s when you know it’s really good. All my cats do it, but only the one does it to the dog.