What Does It Mean When A Cat Kneads You

Kneading for possible mates.

In adulthood a cat supposedly will knead when it s feeling happy or content because it associates the motion with the comforts of nursing and its mother. Cat paws have scent glands that secrete your cat s unique scent. Animal behaviorists speculate that an adult cat kneads to show contentment to calm herself when she s feeling anxious or to mark a person or object with her scent from the sweat glands in her paws. Cat s paw contains some scent glands.

Kneading your sofa or your lap can be your cat s way of marking their territory. Kneading to mark what s theirs cats are territorial creatures and one of the ways they safeguard their turf is to scent mark their belongings. By kneading their paws on the surface of something yes including you they re activating the scent glands in their soft paw pads thereby marking that item as theirs. You may be wondering why they do this and want to discover the reasoning behind the behaviour which is why we ve put together this handy guide to tell you everything you need to know.

So in a subtle way she is trying to signal that you are her human and other cats should avoid kneading you at all costs. Adding further weight to the explanation. Kneading a person or a comfy place is sometimes a discreet way your cat is telling other kitties to back off.