{"id":2857,"date":"2022-09-02T10:31:21","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T10:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/?p=2857"},"modified":"2022-09-02T10:31:22","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T10:31:22","slug":"why-do-cats-knead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do cats knead?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Read time: 2 mins<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kneading &#8211; or as it\u2019s known in Latin \u2018making biscuits\u2019 &#8211; is one of the most adorable (and spiky) behaviours displayed by our favourite felines.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When an episode begins, they really get to work digging those claws into your favourite throw (or more often than not, your bare flesh), nailing the fine precipice between super cute and extremely painful at the same time. Why do those little bakers feel the need to knead with such determined intent?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What happens when cats knead?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>To break it down, all that our fur potatoes require to get going is a soft surface before they alternate their paws back and forth in a rhythmic motion, often accompanied by purrs and the occasional dribble &#8211; delightful. It\u2019s not uncommon for them to go into a sort of trance-like state, sort of like a kitty meditation. This behaviour starts in their kitten days when they\u2019re still around their mum. When they\u2019re teeny tots, it\u2019s mum who provides the food. The youngsters will start kneading on their patient parent\u2019s tum to stimulate the flow of milk, their natural kneading instincts kicking in to let mum know they\u2019re hungry for a nutritious meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Is kneading a sign of affection?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This curiously cute behaviour will often continue well into adulthood, but the object of their affections switches from their cat parent to their human counterpart.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s momentarily heartwarming to imagine that our kitties sense a similar offering of security from us that they had from their birth mum, and replicate it by digging those claws deep into our legs &#8211; how sweet\u2026 Regardless, be sure to take it as a compliment &#8211; cats will only knead when they are super happy, and can\u2019t help but let those instincts take over and get to biscuit making on your lap. Find comfort through the pain knowing your cat is very content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Top tip<\/strong> &#8211; invest in some heavy duty blankets to protect your thighs from the clawy guys!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why do they do it? Are they telling me they love me?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,44,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-behaviour-and-training","category-cat-ownership","category-lifeguides"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why do cats knead? - The Lick<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why do cats knead? - The Lick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Why do they do it? Are they telling me they love me?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Lick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/republicofcatsdotcom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-02T10:31:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-09-02T10:31:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Republic-of-Cats-The-Lick-images-19.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editorial Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@repofcatsfood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@repofcatsfood\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Editorial Team\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/why-do-cats-knead\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/why-do-cats-knead\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Editorial Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e477852153e50683df3d6a85056e3ad5\"},\"headline\":\"Why do cats knead?\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-02T10:31:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-02T10:31:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/why-do-cats-knead\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":345,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/why-do-cats-knead\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/Republic-of-Cats-The-Lick-images-19.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Behaviour and training\",\"Cat ownership\",\"Life Guides\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/why-do-cats-knead\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/why-do-cats-knead\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/why-do-cats-knead\\\/\",\"name\":\"Why do cats knead? - The Lick\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/why-do-cats-knead\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/why-do-cats-knead\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/Republic-of-Cats-The-Lick-images-19.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-02T10:31:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-09-02T10:31:22+00:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/why-do-cats-knead\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/why-do-cats-knead\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/Republic-of-Cats-The-Lick-images-19.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/08\\\/Republic-of-Cats-The-Lick-images-19.jpg\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Lick\",\"description\":\"Republic of Cats\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Lick\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/logo.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"The Lick\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/republicofcatsdotcom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/repofcatsfood\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/republicofcats\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e477852153e50683df3d6a85056e3ad5\",\"name\":\"Editorial Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6c2a621386d84556ccec44631eaad8502a1a6ac81fd29be7a92e18df68c4d073?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6c2a621386d84556ccec44631eaad8502a1a6ac81fd29be7a92e18df68c4d073?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6c2a621386d84556ccec44631eaad8502a1a6ac81fd29be7a92e18df68c4d073?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Editorial Team\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.republicofcats.com\\\/thelick\\\/author\\\/india\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Why do cats knead? - The Lick","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Why do cats knead? - The Lick","og_description":"Why do they do it? Are they telling me they love me?","og_url":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/","og_site_name":"The Lick","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/republicofcatsdotcom\/","article_published_time":"2022-09-02T10:31:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-09-02T10:31:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Republic-of-Cats-The-Lick-images-19.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Editorial Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@repofcatsfood","twitter_site":"@repofcatsfood","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Editorial Team"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/"},"author":{"name":"Editorial Team","@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/#\/schema\/person\/e477852153e50683df3d6a85056e3ad5"},"headline":"Why do cats knead?","datePublished":"2022-09-02T10:31:21+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-02T10:31:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/"},"wordCount":345,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Republic-of-Cats-The-Lick-images-19.jpg","articleSection":["Behaviour and training","Cat ownership","Life Guides"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/","url":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/","name":"Why do cats knead? - The Lick","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Republic-of-Cats-The-Lick-images-19.jpg","datePublished":"2022-09-02T10:31:21+00:00","dateModified":"2022-09-02T10:31:22+00:00","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/why-do-cats-knead\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Republic-of-Cats-The-Lick-images-19.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Republic-of-Cats-The-Lick-images-19.jpg","width":1080,"height":1080},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/","name":"The Lick","description":"Republic of Cats","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/#organization","name":"The Lick","url":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/logo.jpg","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"The Lick"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/republicofcatsdotcom\/","https:\/\/x.com\/repofcatsfood","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/republicofcats\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/#\/schema\/person\/e477852153e50683df3d6a85056e3ad5","name":"Editorial Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c2a621386d84556ccec44631eaad8502a1a6ac81fd29be7a92e18df68c4d073?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c2a621386d84556ccec44631eaad8502a1a6ac81fd29be7a92e18df68c4d073?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c2a621386d84556ccec44631eaad8502a1a6ac81fd29be7a92e18df68c4d073?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Editorial Team"},"url":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/author\/india\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2888,"href":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2857\/revisions\/2888"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.republicofcats.com\/thelick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}