# What do you call it when your cat kneads? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 5, 2010, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668 "2010-09-05T05:18:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/21 "2010-09-05T14:46:48Z")
[Making biscuits](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju1yP1efcbg). I have 2 cats, siblings from the same litter. Serafina makes biscuits, Diego does not (although he will rarely do the “paw flip” mentioned above). ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/22 "2010-09-05T14:55:15Z")
I grew up calling it “kitty feets” but my housemate always said “makin’ pizzas” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/23 "2010-09-05T15:01:50Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > As with other members it is called “Stop that or I’ll kick your arse until you top teeth chatter!” Especially at 3 am. QFT. You hear that, Caelan? The 3am “jump on Daddy’s chest and knead for 5 minutes just because he rolled over onto his back” shit has got to stop! Go bother Mommy. Her chest is softer anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/24 "2010-09-05T15:31:27Z")
Making bread. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/25 "2010-09-05T15:44:23Z")
Making biscuits. Kittens do it to their mother when they nurse. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/26 "2010-09-05T15:50:54Z")
Kneading or Happypaws. And if you keep their claws trimmed a little bit, it doesn’t hurt (quite so much) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/27 "2010-09-05T16:00:02Z")
“The Claw-Paw Dance” ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/28 "2010-09-05T16:34:39Z")
Kitty biscuits. Therapy cat. Making paw paw. My mom (the exclusive kneadee) says “It’s nice to feel kneaded.” ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/29 "2010-09-05T21:06:50Z")
> [@](#): > > On a related topic, does anyone else have a name for when your cats stick one leg WAY up in the air to lick their butts? We used to refer to it as ‘doing his laundry’ but a good friend of mine calls it ‘playing the cello,’ so that’s our new phrase. Silly human. Cats can’t play cellos. Pianos, yes, but not cellos. They’re contacting the mother ship when they do that. ---
**Author:** ![mittu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@mittu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mittu)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/30 "2010-09-05T21:53:45Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Kittens do it to their mother when they nurse. Why? Does it stimulate milk production or something? ---
**Author:** ![rayman5321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@rayman5321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayman5321)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/31 "2010-09-05T22:05:39Z")
I call it paw-pawing. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/32 "2010-09-05T22:06:12Z")
Kneading stimulates the release of milk, and human babies do it as well. Though obviously without the claws. I don’t think that it stimulates production at all. There’s a reason why mammals usually don’t leak milk when lactating, it’s because there’s a reflex, or response, or something that happens when a baby whatever is placed at the nipple. New mothers, at least new human mothers, sometimes have problems “letting down” the milk, even when the breast is full of milk. I breastfed my daughter for a little over a year (she was allergic to cow and goat’s milk), and I had to learn to relax when I put her to my breast. Oh, and paper towels should NOT be used as nipple pads, to absorb any milk leakage that does occur. They’re much to rough. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/33 "2010-09-05T22:28:58Z")
Little fucker stop that shit. But that’s because he only does it to the carpet. ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/34 "2010-09-05T22:49:51Z")
Booby massage, because she does it to my right tit nearly exclusively. ---
**Author:** ![ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/35 "2010-09-05T22:51:33Z")
> [@Elysium](#): > > Making biscuits, most of the time. However Eliot likes to lay on the side of the couch and knead the air with his legs dangling off. It looks like he’s casting spells at us so we go ‘magic! magic!’ at him. > > On a related topic, does anyone else have a name for when your cats stick one leg WAY up in the air to lick their butts? We used to refer to it as ‘doing his laundry’ but a good friend of mine calls it ‘playing the cello,’ so that’s our new phrase. I use ‘playing the cello’ too, and the earliest I saw it in use was in a [HotHead Paisan : Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist comic strip](http://www.hotheadpaisan.com/Pages9.07/chicken.html). ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/36 "2010-09-05T23:02:57Z")
Time to clip kitty’s claws. ---
**Author:** ![Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/41988e/32.png) [@Tequila\_Mockingbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tequila_Mockingbird)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/37 "2010-09-06T00:21:20Z")
Making bread, or making fists. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/38 "2010-09-06T00:22:27Z")
“Regressing.” ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/39 "2010-09-06T00:28:21Z")
makin’ biscuits (Must be the Southern interpretation of everyone else’s sayings…) ---
**Author:** ![jellyblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e480ec/32.png) [@jellyblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jellyblue)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668/40 "2010-09-06T00:34:11Z")
> [@ComeToTheDarkSideWeHaveCookies](#): > > > [@Elysium](#): > > > > Making biscuits, most of the time. However Eliot likes to lay on the side of the couch and knead the air with his legs dangling off. It looks like he’s casting spells at us so we go ‘magic! magic!’ at him. > > > > On a related topic, does anyone else have a name for when your cats stick one leg WAY up in the air to lick their butts? We used to refer to it as ‘doing his laundry’ but a good friend of mine calls it ‘playing the cello,’ so that’s our new phrase. > > I use ‘playing the cello’ too, and the earliest I saw it in use was in a [HotHead Paisan : Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist comic strip](http://www.hotheadpaisan.com/Pages9.07/chicken.html). We say she’s in 3rd gear. I loved Hothead Paisan! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-it-when-your-cat-kneads/552668.md?page=3)