The answer: despite what you may have heard, scientists aren\u2019t completely sure at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cKneading is a really interesting behaviour in that it hasn\u2019t been researched in-depth scientifically,\u201d says Dr Lauren Finka<\/a>, cat behavioural expert from Cats Protection. \u201cThere could be a lot we don\u2019t know regarding its function.\u201d<\/p>\n However, despite this, there are several key theories to why cats knead. Firstly, it\u2019s thought the behaviour could simply be another way for them to spread their scent, creating comforting familiarity.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are quite a lot of scent glands around cat\u2019s paws, so it may be that they knead us to deposit their scent,\u201d says Finka.<\/p>\n Read more about the science of cats<\/strong><\/p>\n There is another commonly cited (and downright intriguing) theory about why your moggy claws your lap. It\u2019s thought that kneading mirrors the movement kittens use to stimulate the flow of milk from their mother\u2019s mammary glands. This happy habit may be mimicked in later life in the form of kneading.<\/p>\n However, this appears only to be the case for domestic cats. It turns out that by placing them in human care, feline behaviour is drastically altered.<\/p>\n \u201cKneading. Meowing. Purring. They\u2019re all things that humans unknowingly encourage cats to maintain in their repertoire,\u201d explains Finka.<\/p>\n \u201cFree-living domestic cats that aren\u2019t socialised towards humans don\u2019t tend to perform these behaviours when they leave the nest. To them, those behaviours are something that they mostly only do when they\u2019re around their littermates and their mother \u2013 not as independent adult cats.\u201d<\/p>\n Domestic cats, however, are very different. \u201cThey take these social behaviours into adulthood because they\u2019re in these very social situations throughout their whole lifetime,\u201d adds Finka.<\/p>\n \u201cAs humans, we\u2019ve actually maintained these kitten-like features in our cats. This extended kittenhood even has a name: neoteny.\u201d<\/p>\n Neoteny \u2013 essentially adult animals retaining behaviours and features they had when juveniles \u2013 isn\u2019t just common in cats: domesticated dogs have been selectively bred to have juvenile physical traits (think the short snouts and wide eyes).<\/p>\n Although all this sounds like humans are forcibly infantilising our cats, feline neoteny (also known as juvenilisation) isn\u2019t necessarily harmful to them \u2013 particularly when it comes to kneading.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, we\u2019re expecting cats to be a lot more social than they\u2019re necessarily equipped to be. But behaviours like kneading are likely beneficial for the cat to perform \u2013 it might be soothing for them and could help them to indicate contentment during human interactions. So, this isn\u2019t necessarily a bad thing at all,\u201d says Finka.<\/p>\n Rest assured: if your cat doesn\u2019t knead you, it\u2019s not because they hate you. Well, not necessarily, anyway.<\/p>\n According to Finka, there are simply a lot of differences between individual cats \u2013 the need to knead (or absence of) doesn\u2019t necessarily indicate how they feel about you, although cats with early positive experiences with humans may be more likely to do this.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there\u2019s just a lot of variability between cats, and how they choose to express themselves,\u201d says Finka. \u201cFor instance, some friendly cats will be very vocal and meow a lot while others may hardly meow at all.<\/p>\n \u201cIn most cases, kneading could be a good indicator that the cat is probably relaxed and comfortable. But it\u2019s not necessarily a cause for concern if you don\u2019t see that.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more about the science of cats<\/strong><\/p>\n Spoiler: it’s all your fault. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":27480,"template":"","categories":[30],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"4"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/the-very-cute-science-of-why-cats-knead.jpg",940,530,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/the-very-cute-science-of-why-cats-knead-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/the-very-cute-science-of-why-cats-knead-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/the-very-cute-science-of-why-cats-knead-768x433.jpg",768,433,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/the-very-cute-science-of-why-cats-knead.jpg",800,451,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/the-very-cute-science-of-why-cats-knead.jpg",940,530,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2023\/05\/the-very-cute-science-of-why-cats-knead.jpg",940,530,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Spoiler: it's all your fault.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/27479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""A\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/4\/2021\/01\/cat-kneading2-8d7e956.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C396"\" "\\"\"Why\\"")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Is it bad if a cat doesn\u2019t knead?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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