{"id":10020,"date":"2018-05-02T01:52:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-02T01:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yourdomain.com\/blogs\/news\/why-do-cats-knead\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T18:10:50","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T18:10:50","slug":"why-do-cats-knead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.krisers.com\/blog\/pet-parenting\/why-do-cats-knead\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Cats Knead and What It Means"},"content":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t you just love it when your tabby pops up on your lap and starts to knead? Massaging first with her right paw, then her left, on and on, right on our back or belly or wherever she decides. The question is: is she kneading out of love? Out of instinct? Out of necessity? The answers to these questions are varied, but let\u2019s see what we can come up with.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s in a Name?<\/h3>\n

Some folks call it \u201ckneading dough\u201d or \u201cmaking biscuits,\u201d while others like to think of it as their kitty\u2019s own little mambo dance. Add a little Latin music and off she goes. Some cats do it more than others, which adds to the confusion when determining what\u2019s really going on. While some may hardly ever knead, some pick it up later in life and others are ready for Dancing with the Stars at the drop of a hat.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s All In The Past<\/h3>\n

The most plausible answer is your furry masseuse is reverting back to her childhood when she would knead her mother\u2019s stomach to help get milk. This was obviously a time of comfort for her, and who couldn\u2019t use a little more comfort?<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, most cats get plenty of comfort what with an average of 16-20 hours a day of napping, treats made especially for them, along with all the belly rubs they can stand. Talk about a rough life!<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s That Smell?<\/h3>\n

Some say when your cat is kneading, she is actually scenting the area and claiming it as hers. Now, the claiming an area part we can go with, because all our feline masters feel like any and every part of our home is theirs, but what about this \u201cscenting\u201d thing? As it turns out, cats have scent glands in the pads of their paws. They also have them on their cheeks, on their head, and a one or two other areas we\u2019re just not going to go into right now.<\/span><\/p>\n

When your friend is kneading you, she\u2019s marking you with a scent from her paws. So when another cat tries to swoop in and claim you as theirs: sorry, bud! You\u2019ve been claimed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Wild Life<\/h3>\n

Another theory is that the kneading may bring them back to when they were in the wild and had to pat down foliage to make a bed for sleep or for giving birth. This doesn\u2019t seem as practical an explanation, although many cats do, after kneading someone\u2019s belly or lap, circle a few times before plopping down.<\/span><\/p>\n

This seems to be grasping at straws for a theory though, especially since cats were domesticated around 4,000 years ago. That\u2019s a long time for a behavior to persist, especially when you consider how easily distracted kitties can be. How many times has your tabby been fully engrossed in playing with you when a grasshopper jumps, wait was that an ice cube falling on the floor, whoa, check out that bird, was that a rabbit, oh darn, it\u2019s nap time?<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m So Happy<\/h3>\n

Whatever the reason for the kneading your cat does, it sure seems to be a sign of contentment; the purring is a dead giveaway. For most of us, the theory that they are harking back to nursing with their mother is the most plausible, and heart-warming of them all.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Don\u2019t you just love it when your tabby pops up on your lap and starts to knead? Massaging first with her right paw, then her left, on and on, right on our back or belly or wherever she decides…<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[10],"class_list":["post-10020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pet-parenting","tag-cat"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.krisers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.krisers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.krisers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.krisers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.krisers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10020"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.krisers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10020\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20441,"href":"https:\/\/www.krisers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10020\/revisions\/20441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.krisers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.krisers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.krisers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.krisers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}