Why Do Cats Scratch (knead A Roll)?

Cats are fascinating animals, yet as pets they have a bad reputation. However, anyone who has had the opportunity to spend time with these cats has certainly realized how affectionate they can be.

One of the things that pet owners often interpret as a show of affection is the moment when cats scratch – better known as the “crumpy bun”. However, let’s take a closer look at this aspect. Could it be that when cats scratch are they really showing their affection?

We call “scratching” the movement that cats make with their front paws on a variety of surfaces, including furniture, floor, tables, and why not include people as well? In this way, we will analyze this gesture more carefully below.

Memory

You may be surprised to learn that this behavior, so related to affection and intimacy with the owner, is actually a reflection that is preserved by cats from their wild ancestors.

Scratching is common to most felines and our modern cats retain this behavior due to the short domestication process.

However, what motivates this behavior is not due so much to instinct, but to memory. When cats are kittens, just newborns, they learn that pressing their mother’s nipple with their paws facilitates the breastfeeding process.

In this way, they relate this movement to the pleasant sensation of receiving food. Now that this gesture is no longer suitable for eating, the memory of the sensation persists through the memory that relates scratching with the positive perception of tranquility and comfort in the mother’s bed.

This is exactly the same functioning of the training carried out from the positive stimuli, in which the animals relate activities with sensations or with food.

Therefore, faced with states of serenity or relaxation, cats scratch in response to the learned stimulus.

wild heritage

There is an important part of the scientific community that suggests that this attitude was inherited from their most ancient ancestors.

All over the wild,  cats should test the terrain to see if they can handle it, for example, if they need to jump from one rock to another or from one tree branch to another.

brands

Cats mark their territory in very different ways and don’t just pee to do this. In fact, they have glands in their body that release an oil that they use to impregnate everywhere.

Many of the physical contacts made by the cat, whether with objects, people or other animals, are due to territorial marking processes.

When cats scratch the ground by repeatedly passing their paws over the surface, they  are emitting signals to the sense of smell through pheromones and also visual signals through scratches to other cats that may enter their territory.

In the same way that we look for comfort, cats usually scratch the furniture, pillows or clothes they sleep on to make them more comfortable, so that they are softer so that they can lie on them.

show of affection

As discussed above, cats do not scratch as a show of affection. However, when they do this to a person, it means they trust them.

A pussy will normally not have any such contact with a person that it suspects might cause it harm.

Cats are generally very selective about who they are allowed to approach and that includes other animals as well. Instinctively they don’t put themselves in danger and don’t sleep near someone who poses a potential threat to them.

Therefore, you can interpret a cat’s scratching attitude in your proximity (or even scratching you) as a demonstration that your pet does not consider you a threat and knows that you will not harm him. So you can be relaxed by your side.

If he starts scratching while you are petting him, it means the cat is enjoying it, it relaxes him and feels extremely pleasant.

See below a video of a puppy demonstrating what we said in this article: