What Your Cat May Be Telling You

PAGE 2

When a cat presses its head or cheeks against you, it may be doing more than simply asking for attention.

Cats have scent glands around their face.

When they rub their cheeks or forehead against you, they can transfer their scent.

This behavior is sometimes called bunting when a cat gently presses or bumps its head against a person or another animal.

For many cats, this is a social behavior.

It can happen between cats that know and trust one another.

And when your cat does it to you, it can be a sign that it considers you familiar and safe.

Think about how your cat behaves around strangers.

A nervous cat may hide under furniture.

It may keep its distance.

It may watch a new person carefully before getting close.

But if your cat walks directly toward you, rubs against your legs, raises its tail, or gently bumps its head against you, that can be a very different message.

Your cat may be comfortable enough to approach you on its own terms.

And that’s important because cats generally like having control over their interactions.

Your cat may also combine rubbing with other behaviors.

For example, it might:

🐾 Purr while rubbing against you.

🐾 Hold its tail upright.

🐾 Blink slowly at you.

🐾 Follow you around the house.

🐾 Sit beside you.

🐾 Knead with its paws.

🐾 Lie down near you.

When several of these behaviors happen together, they can indicate that your cat feels relaxed and comfortable around you.

But there’s something important to remember.

Not every rub means exactly the same thing.

Sometimes your cat wants affection.

Sometimes it wants food.

Sometimes it wants attention.

Sometimes it is simply greeting you.

And sometimes your cat may have learned that rubbing against you gets a reaction.

That’s part of what makes living with cats so interesting.

They develop their own personalities and their own ways of communicating with the people around them.

So the next time your cat walks over and rubs against your leg, don’t automatically assume it’s just begging for dinner.

Take a second to notice what happens next.

Is the tail up?

Is your cat purring?

Does it stay beside you?

Does it look relaxed?

Those little details can tell you a lot.

Your cat may not be able to say:

“I missed you.”

But sometimes a gentle rub against your leg may be one of the ways it communicates that you’re familiar, trusted, and important to it.

And honestly…

for something that weighs only a few kilograms, cats have a pretty big way of making us feel loved. ❤️🐱

Does your cat rub against your legs when you come home?

Tell us what your cat does in the comments! 🐾