As most cat (and dog) owners know, their pets are fond of attention, especially scratches on the chin, at the base of their tail, and behind their ear and, apparently, over the years, I’ve become a master at the last one as it only takes about thirty seconds of attention for me to have my kitten or one of Gr8Kat’s cats writhing on the floor in what I can only describe as ecstasy judging from their quivering paws, half-closed watery eyes, and long shakes of their heads after I finish scratching.
So what exactly is it that I’m doing to them? Am I inadvertently engaging them in feline foreplay by stimulating a nerve or nerve cluster close to the surface of their thin ear skin? If so, what nerve is it? And what function is it supposed to serve other than making them collapse in a contented heap after a quick scratch?
My cat doesn’t mind being scratched behind the ears, but he much prefers being stroked down the forehead or, even better, along both sides of the jawline and under the chin. I presume on the last two that I’m somehow stimulating the scent glands (or whatever they are) that cats have in their facial area and rub against stuff to mark territory. (Weird to think there’s a stripe of catsmell between eight and ten inches off the ground on everything in your house, no?) Could be there’s a similar thing going on behind the ears.
I hadn’t even considered that possibility and although I think that could be a part of the answer, the difference in magnitude of the reactions makes me think that there has to be more to it than just that.
I always thought that the spots cats loved to be rubbed/scratched were those that it had trouble grooming by itself. Under the chin & the base of the tail certainly fit that description.
When I was in the sixth form at school there was a cat, from a house nearby, that often wandered into the common room. We kind of adopted it. One of my (slightly odd) friends discovered that, if stroked at a certain spot on its flanks, this cat would go into a, umm, decidely “receptive” posture :eek: (this was a female cat).
I imagine there’s something in the foreplay theory there, at any rate…
