Why does my cat lick me?
Life begins with being licked
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| Why does my cat lick me? |
It is one of the first sensory impressions that a freshly born kitten experiences: Lovingly, the mother cat licks it from top to bottom, cleans it with devotion and makes sure that the kitten's breathing is animated. In the next weeks she takes over the fur care for her complete litter, which means daily licking, attention and pleasure for the little ones. For them, this signals that someone is taking care of them and everything is fine. They internalize this and never forget it for the rest of their lives.
Why do cats lick themselves
Some cats spend 3 hours a day grooming. Mainly they lick their own fur with their tongues, but sometimes another cat or the human being also gets the pleasure. Both for themselves and for other animals, this is not always about grooming. Although this takes a great importance, but mutual licking can also simply mean a form of affection. This relieves any tension and strengthens the social bond.
The coat stores information
In addition to fur care and social bonding, mutual licking is primarily about how the other smells. With two apartment cats, there are generally no big surprises, because they smell or taste more or less always very similar. With outdoor cats, this is different: we often have no knowledge of where they hang out all day. For free-range cats, licking each other can provide quite a bit of information. Fine odor particles remain in the fur, which can provide information about where the cat has been. For us this is not comprehensible, but for cats it is.
How do you smell?
A very crucial factor in licking another cat or human can be each other's scent. Outside, cats often mark their territory and inside the house, they like it best when everything smells familiar or best to them. Therefore, many cats find it unbearable when the neighbor's cat sneaks in on them. If they cannot be successfully chased away by your own cat, you should help them. Because this can mean pure stress for your cat. Your cat can also be irritated if you have stroked a strange cat and come home. Immediately it perceives this strange smell, smells you and possibly licks you. Thereby she receives information. But the licking has another reason.
Licking changes the smell
By licking a human or another cat intensively, the cat covers a certain smell and transmits its own. A cat considers this necessary, for example, if the smell of the other person is different than usual. This does not taste to her, why she tries then intensively to transfer her own smell. In doing so, it stops at nothing: whether hands, feet, arms, face or hair - as a cat owner you have to reckon with everything! Maybe it is because of a smell you brought from outside, maybe it is because of a perfume, a soap or a food you held in your hand. Only when you smell yourself or her again, the world is all right again.
What to do if I do not like licking?
Not all cats lick their masters or mistresses. However, if your cat is one of them, it would certainly be a certain disappointment if you completely forbid her to lick you occasionally. After all, she only means well with you, shows you her affection and wants to say that you belong together. But of course it is also understandable that everything has its limits. Face and hair belong to the taboo zone for many cat owners. Considering that there can be tiny parasites or diarrhea germs in the cat's saliva, it makes perfect sense to prohibit this. It is also advisable to wash your hands if they have been intensively mauled by the cat's tongue. If you do not want to be licked by the cat in certain places, it is usually sufficient to move it. Also the command "No" is understood not only by dogs, but also by many cats. This is certainly not so much due to the word itself, but rather to the mood that you transmit. But as I said, always remember that licking is something positive. A strict prohibition could possibly negatively affect the relationship with your cat. Therefore, don't be too strict and return the favor by petting your cat.
Thanks for reading: Why does my cat lick me?, Sorry, my English is bad:)