Many of us have seen a Mama cat carrying her babies around in her mouth by picking them up by the back of the neck, so it may seem natural for us to pick up our cats in a similar way by the back of their necks, especially when you are trying to get them to do something they might not want to, like get in a cat carrier. This is called scruffing, but it has fallen out of favor and in fact vets say you should never do it! Let's learn more the potentially harmful consquences of cat scruffing! First off, what is the scruff of a cat? According to MarthaStewart.com, cat's are born with loose skin at the...
Has this ever happened to you? Your cat is lying on their back and you just can't resist how soft and cute their belly looks. You go in for some pets, and suddenly you are getting kicked, scratched and bitten! So, what's up with cat belly rubs? Do cats like belly rubs...or not?! The short answer is, most cats don't like belly rubs. Cat-world.com explains some reasons why rubbing a cat's belly can be a riksy proposition. One reason is that housecats in the wild can be prey for larger predators, and their bellies are vulnerable areas. A lot of internal organs are housed inside the belly, and cats can feel threatened when that area is touched. Another reason is...
I'm sure you have heard of palmistry, which is the art of reading the palm of a person's hand to tell their fortune. Did you know there is also a theory of pawmistry which says you can tell the personality of a cat based on their paw shape? Lets learn more about cat paws personality! TheCatConnection.org explains that a Japanese author named Akatsuki developed a way to determine cat characteristics based on the shape of their toe beans. In Japan it is called 'Nekteso', but I'll just call it paw reading (like of palm reading!). There are 5 or 6 major categories of cat personalities based on paw shape, dpending on who you ask, and according to petguide.com, 13 sub-types...
I've always called it head butting, but some people might call it head bumps and while researching this article I have seen that it is more properly called head bunting. Anyway, whichever term you use, cat head butts are when a cat softly rubs their head against yours, or even bonks their skull against yours a little more strongly. A cat might also head butt against your leg or arm. But, why is my cat head butting me? As you might guess, by the title of this article, cats head butt to show affection! In fact, PetMD says that if your cat thinks you are worth head butting, you should consider it the highest of compliments! Vet-Organics.com says that cats have...
A few weeks ago when I was looking into whether cats like baby talk I started to wonder if cats recognize their names. I know when I say Sophie's name at dinner time, she usually comes running, but sometimes I have to add the sound of a spoon clinking against a plate to get her attention, so is she just responding to me calling because it's dinner time, or does she actually know I'm calling her? So I dug a little deeper to find out - can cats recognize their name? Do cats understand their names? The quick answer is that cats do know their names, but may or not respond based on the personality of your cat, when their...
