Why do cats knead you before curling up in your lap?

Question

My cat insists on kneading my stomach or my chest for 5 to 10 mins, before curling up in my lap and going to sleep. Why does this happen every single time. He has did this since he was a kitten, now he is 12.

Answer 1

It's called 'milk treading.' It's left over from behavior they had as a kitten, where they'd do that to their mothers before feeding from her (and during, actually). It's an expression of love.

Answer 2

When kittens are nursing from their mothers, the kittens will "milk tread," using their paws to coax the milk down into their mother's nipples. The mother will purr to her kittens while they are nursing, which creates an atmosphere of peace, love, and trust. This atmosphere reinforces the instinct to be near the mother. When kittens are born, they're quite helpless, so being near their mother is the only way they can survive. This instinct is so strongly reinforced that when an adult cat experiences a feeling of peace, love, and trust, it will sort of remember its kittenhood and start to knead, or milk tread. When a cat kneads a person, it means that the cat thinks of that person as someone who makes the cat feel safe and loved, just like its mother once did. It's quite a compliment, because it means that the cat feels safe and loved around you.

Answer 3

when a kitten is a little baby, they knead on there mother to get milk out. As a baby kitten they love there mother and felt comforted by her. So now that he is older, he still likes to feel comforted so thats why he kneads on you. Let him and dont push him away when he does it! Good luck and have fun with your cat!

Answer 4

They do that when they're kittens and breat feeding from the mother. The "kneading" action is to increase the flow of milk to the nipple.

Some people believe they still do it later in life to "increase the quality" of the bed they're about to lay on.



















Now that was a good answer! I made it up, but dang! It really sounded good!

Answer 5

They do it to show affection and get comfy. It's an instinct left over from when they were kittens - they knead like that when they nurse from their moms.

Answer 6

i have consistently heard, and that's smart to me, that the kneading grow to be a thanks to stimulate milk production even as they were kittens. As adults, it truly is merely some thing they discover comforting, probable from the memory of feeling convenience and contentment even as they were with their moms. you'll be conscious they type of zone out even as doing it. They be at liberty cats. :) As for the bellies, i have also believed it truly is the most suitable demonstration of believe with assistance from exposing the comfortable spots. So in no way take advantage of it with assistance from tickling, teasing, or scaring them even as they are on their backs. you're violating the believe

Answer 7

It's a comfort thing. Many believe it is a throw back to when they were nursing, especially if they were taken from their mother a little early. It's just a way of saying that he really likes sitting in you lap to sleep.

Answer 8

It is a comfort thing ~ kind of like a security blanket. If they always do it, it calms them down before sleeping.

My cat use to do it all the time. Not so much anymore, but once and awhile, especially during thunderstorms.

Answer 9

It's a maternal instinct developed when they were nursing kittens. They knead the mother when nursing. I guess it just sticks with em' for life. Kinda like how some 12 year old humans still suck their thumb.

Answer 10

Its called milk treading.
Kittens do this to their mother before nursing.
It makes them feel secure.
It is a leftover trait from your cat's kittenhood.
Cats do this to show love and affection and to show that they feel secure and comfortable sort of like purring.
So your cat must feel very secure with you and love you very much.
You should feel very valued if a cat puts this much trust in you.