# Why do adult cats knead?



## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

I haven't been able to understand this from what I've googled: in which circumstances or what triggers an adult cat to knead?


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

For MowMow it's whenever he touches something super soft. The moment his paws touch it he starts to knead.

For Shepherd Book it's when he's first being stroked. It only lasts for few seconds and then it's over. I've never seen him knead any other time.


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## jusjim (Jun 30, 2009)

Missy will sometimes knead when she wants me to wake up, but she'll also knead a soft blanket.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

Prince sometimes kneads when he's falling asleep or in his sleep. He immediately stops if I start stroking him. Princess and Hildegaard the stray sometimes knead when I start stroking them. Puzzling...


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## Penny135 (Apr 6, 2011)

I've had Mia since she was 7 weeks old and she has never kneeded me or anything I've seen.


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## yingying (Jul 19, 2011)

There may not be a certain action that triggers the kneading. Some cats knead when they are very relaxed, happy, and comfortable. It doesn't matter what makes them feel so. Just like some people bite their nail when getting nerverous, and there are many things that can make them nerverous.

My Metoo is a frequent kneader. Sometimes she kneads when she sees me waking up in the morning, sometime it's when I hug her, and sometimes when I put her on my laps and brush/stroke her. Meatball only kneads occasionally when she wakes up from a loooong (hours) nap on my laps


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Cleo kneads my arm every night at bedtime, then she curls up next to my head and puts her paws on me, sometimes still kneading very, very slowly until she falls asleep. It's been like this since Day 1.


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## dweamgoil (Feb 3, 2010)

Egypt kneads before falling asleep, too. If you pet her while she's doing it, she starts to drool...lol


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## ndiniz (Jun 29, 2009)

My black cat Newby usually does it when he's very happy. The funny thing is that he has the tendency to do it when he jumps on my lap. He kneads, purrs, licks my face, my hands, and headbutts my face when he sits on my lap. Such a big purr monster!


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## Syrena (Nov 29, 2011)

Ginfis kneads whenever she touches something soft..her favourite blanket for example. She looks so happy and content. I heard somewhere that they knead because it reminds them as when they were little and needed to push the milk from their mother`s nipple. in order to make milk flow they need to stimulate it with their paws and it is similar movement to kneading...but i don't know if it is thruth...


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## NRD (Mar 31, 2010)

Blizzy has always been the least affectionate of my four. Not unfriendly, just more independent. He is also super-sensitive to excess petting, though conflicted--after a few strokes he would look uncomfortable and get up and walk around, then come back for more. It has taken me 1-1/2 years gradually to acclimate him to more petting. Now, he'll come onto my lap, and as soon as he does, he starts kneading vigorously on my chest and purring loudly. He looks so content as he does it. After about five minutes, he'll slow down and then will fall asleep in my lap if I let him. So it is a very soothing action for him. I do have to wear a sweatshirt as he does it, though, since his claws are still sharp!


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## Beckie210789 (May 9, 2011)

Monkeys is not a friendly cat, she doesn't care to be loved on or pet very often, but there's this one blanket that she loves to knead on, which typically turns into a 'humping' session... being that she's a girl cat, it makes NO sense. But eh, so long as she's happy I guess lol.


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## kwarendorf (Oct 12, 2009)

The left sleeves of the t-shirts I wear around the house are all marked by a light discoloration. That's the spot where Franklin buries his face while he kneads my bicep for 10 minutes, twice a day. He purrs, drools and goes to his mental kneading place. When he looks up I can see that his eyes are half rolled back in his pointy little head. It would be tough for me to see his state at these times as anything other than bliss


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

Murphy kneads me all the time, but never my husband. That made me wonder if, since it's something they associate with their mothers, they know the difference between men and woman humans, and would only knead women. I asked that question on here and had a lot of people say their cat kneads the men in their house, so there went that theory.

I think of it as an extremely content, beyond-purring type of thing for them to do. And like someone else said, they stop kneading the minute you pet them. What's that about?


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## Dave_ph (Jul 7, 2009)

The official term for this is "makin' biscuits".


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## kwarendorf (Oct 12, 2009)

Franklin's kneading is not interrupted by petting, in fact he sometimes insists on it


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## Ritzpg (Dec 7, 2010)

I rescued a cat recently and moved "Petey" into my friend's spare room, which converted into a cattery in January 2011.
Petey was abandoned in late October. He is super friendly and affectionate--and a bully to other cats (and available for adoption). But he kneads a fair amount, though not quite as much as he did when we first moved him into the cattery. Seems to do it when he's happy and I'm petting him. And he likes a LOT of petting.


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## NRD (Mar 31, 2010)

Like kwarendorf's Franklin, Blizzy "needs" me to pet him to keep his kneading going. In fact, it intensifies his kneads. And he buries his head into my chest/armpit area and purrs as he is doing it.


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## OctoberinMaine (Sep 12, 2006)

NRD said:


> Like kwarendorf's Franklin, Blizzy "needs" me to pet him to keep his kneading going. In fact, it intensifies his kneads. And he buries his head into my chest/armpit area and purrs as he is doing it.


That's so funny that they're opposites on that. The minute I even raise my hand to pet Murphy while he's kneading, he stops and runs off. It's like he's saying, "Oh whatever."


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## bkitty (Aug 17, 2009)

All but 1 out of our 6 are kneaders, and they all like to grab a mouthful of shirt and suck on it while kneading. 4 out of the 6 were bottle babies so it is a standing joke they come to me cause I'm the Mama. Doesn't explain why Bentley does the knead & sucky - he started that about a year after I got hin & he was about 5 or older then and now he is in his late teens. And Methos, Pixel & Tuffy are mid teens. PuddyWoW is the youngest at 2 & still has to knead, suck & drool on my jammies every nite.


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## Straysmommy (Dec 23, 2010)

bkitty said:


> they all like to grab a mouthful of shirt and suck on it while kneading.


That's not very common, so if they all do it, maybe they copied one another...?


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