Is Your Cat Trying to Tell You Something? Cat Behavior Explained

Why does my cat knead?

Photo by Kristin Brown on Unsplash

You may call it kneading or “making biscuits” but it’s the motion a cat makes when they push their paws forward into a surface, alternating paws. The reason a cat may do this is not straight forward, in fact there’s several theories behind this cute habit. The simplest one is that the cat is trying to make an area more comfortable for sleeping. The other theory is that they are marking their territory. As mentioned earlier in this article, cats have scent glands in their pads, so by kneading they are marking that territory as belonging to them. So if a cat is kneading on you, they are showing how much they love you! The other theory stems to a cat’s life as a kitten. Newborn kittens would knead on their moms to help them to produce milk to drink. Essentially it would be a motion they would make to show a sign of comfort and security.

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