# Kitty loves being rubbed... on eyes?



## 0ozma (Sep 22, 2012)

Kind of a silly question, but I was wondering if anyone knows the reason reason why I can rub my kitty all over his face and he'll move around, sometimes fight it, sometimes rub back etc., but when I rub from the side of his nose directly across his eyes over and over he loves it. He'll lay down for it and won't 'argue' at all. I guess it feels good for him, but I've never had a cat that was so comfortable with it.

Also sometimes I can rub him behind the ears and he'll give me little kicks (quite painful, those razor back claws) like a dog often does. :cat3


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## NebraskaCat (Jan 15, 2013)

Penny loves eye rubs with my knuckle. I always thought because her feline herpes sometimes exhibits symptoms of eye boogers or eye drainage, that it was like rubbing the itchy eyes of a person who has allergies.

And the hind leg kicking response is common. You're scratching an area around their ears they normally scratch with the hind leg so the leg just automatically thinks it's involved. Interestingly, we had a three-legged cat at the shelter who didn't have his left hind leg. When you scratched his left ear, you could see the muscles in his hip moving as if he was scratching it himself with his missing leg.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

I do the same as Nebraska. I use the pad of my finger or my knuckle to gentle rub back and forth over their eyes. They both love it and it starts their purr motor instantly. Both have 'special' spots on their heads/faces that start the back leg.

Whenever I see MowMow scratching I always move his foot out of the way and do it myself. He always seems to harsh with it and really digs in with his back claws. He's scratched his face before so I intervene and do it for him. LOL. He always leans into the scratch and rarely feels the need to continue when I'm done. After 5 years of saying "Let me do that for you" now he just moves his foot out of the way when I say it and leans towards my hand. LOL


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## Zac & Max (Jul 12, 2013)

Mine love it too. they also like it when i use a finger and move up the bridge of their noses gently repeatedly - makes them go to sleep. try it!


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## tezster (Jun 4, 2013)

Newton, being both adventurous and curious, gets into a lot of dirty/dusty spots around the house. I often find myself having to clean off his face from the various debris left from his escapades. Instead of turning away when I start rubbing part of his face, he instinctively closes his eyes and seems to rather enjoy it. Of course, they have scent glands around their cheekbones near their whiskers, so they seem to automatically love having that spot rubbed, but mine seems to quite like it anywhere around his face i.e. over and around his eyes, top of his head, his neck/chin, around his ears, and even his nose.


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## wallycat (Nov 10, 2012)

The forehead/front of the face is where the mom-cat licks her newborn. I think it is a secure feeling.
What I have read is that our petting them is akin to a lick from the mother....makes sense.


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## 0ozma (Sep 22, 2012)

^ nice info, thanks! Good replies


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

I only recently discovered stroking the bridge of their noses and eyes. They love it, especially when sleepy. I've also realized that when their eyes are closed, they don't have fragile eyelids like we do, so they really like their closed eyes stroked (unlike us).

Apart from that, "SCRATCH MY JOWLS ANOTHER 5 HOURS!" is all I get.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

Oh and I sometimes stroke the top of their heads with my lips, a bit like a cat mother's lick, but they don't seem to especially like it. It counts as attention like any other way I pet them, not as a nicer kind of petting.


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## 0ozma (Sep 22, 2012)

I do that a lot until I get hair sticking to my lips lol


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## Hinterlander (Jul 19, 2013)

Mr. Wilson adores to rub himself to my knuckles, any moment my hand is closed around something he'll try to push himself onto them, I don't even need to move or push back, he does it all himself xD


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