is there truth in the myth...?

Question

where putting butter on cats paws will help them find their way home?if so how do you go about it?

Answer 1

It works for us. Smear some butter on a piece of kitchen roll, and wipe it on the paws.

Answer 2

Hi hun,

No, I think that the truth has become confused over the years. Putting butter on the paws can be effective when the cat or kitten moves into a *new* home because they will spend time licking it off, therefore it helps to calm them down a little as they are distracted by the butter and don't have time to panic.

I think that somewhere along the line the "butter in new house" trick got confused with "butter will help kitty find his way home"! ;-) There is no logical way that butter would help a cat find his way home - it is only useful to help a cat settle into the new home.

I hope this helps!

xx Emmie

Answer 3

It's basically an old wives tale. But sometimes there is truth in some old wives tales. Apparently cats will lick the butter from their paws and associate the good feelings that they get with the location of those feelings, and therefore will always come back in order to feel good again. I don't think it helps the cat find home, i think it just helps so that they don't try find the old home. Buttering a cats paws is what people usually do when they move to a new house.

Answer 4

Getting butter on the paws of some cats is no easy task. And they'd probably just lick it off anyway. But if you keep your cat indoors long enough when you get it, (or if you move house) it should return no bother. They are very intelligent animals. In fact, I do believe they are the least reliant domestic animals about. They don't need as much time as dogs because they generally take care of themselves.

So all in all, I wouldn't really worry about the myth. It might just be an old wives' tale to put one's conscience at ease after all.

Answer 5

Never heard of it. If they are not at home, how could it help them find their way home?

If you have a cat, feed it well, love it well, clean it's litter box twice a day, protect it from danger and it will never want to leave! A pat of butter or cube of cheese are OK treats but not all the time. Human food really just isn't healthy for either cats or dogs.

I just took in a stray that was starved and abused by a yellow broom. Butter wouldn't have helped it want to go home......A month later and this cat is just starting to look outdoors.

Answer 6

This usually only applies if you move house. When you get to your new abode, put butter on the paws, and they will be that busy licking it off, they won't be worrying about where they are. This isn't a rumour, it's been happening since the year dot. After reading some of the answers, tell me, how can a cat find it's way home, if you have just moved house???It won't even know where it is to start with, and will try to find it's way back to the place it knows, hence the butter to keep it busy.

Answer 7

What??? I never heard of this. This is truly a myth! Don't believe everything you hear. Some people have nothing better to do than start crazy rumors or myths.
Some cats find their way home ( depends upon the distance and if the cat is familiar with the area) and others don't. If you live a city, don't let your cat roam outside, it's very dangerous, the cat can get hit by a car, get into fights with other cats or dogs, find poisons to either drink or eat, there are a host of other dangers for your cat so keep him indoors. If you live in a rural area or a farm, people usually let their cats roam, however, get your cat neutered to help keep the over population of unwanted kittens down.

Answer 8

No, there isn't. To the people who believe it works, I think they'll find the cat will come home even if they DON'T put butter on the paws!!

How could this possibly work anyway? If you try to explain it to yourself, you'll realise what a load of nonsense it is. I read on a different question someone claiming that the butter 'washes off the smell of their old house from the paws'. What a load of horse hooey - of course, the smell of their old house couldn't possibly be anywhere else on their body could it?!

Cats come home if they want to come home. Butter makes no difference. They use their eyes and nose to come home, butter does not have any magical assisting properties. Furthermore, the fact that they lick butter off their paws does not mean they like it - it means they're annoyed that their paws are messy and they're trying to clean them! Cats are clean animals, they'd wash engine oil off their paws.

Trust me on this. This myth is quite annoying to me, probably because my nan used to do it to her cat (my cat's brother). She also used to feed him evaporated milk. He was hideously obese, very grumpy, and died age 12. So it's a sore spot.

Chalice

Answer 9

Cats usually find their way home regardless, i doubt putting butter on would make a lot of difference.

Answer 10

The only use is that cats will spend maybe 5 minutes licking it off; some people think that in the time they will become used to their surroundings. It's probably more that moggy will think you're very nice to give him a treat and want to come back for more. Cats have their own minds, they decide where they want to be and they are very good at remembering their surroundings. Hopefully this will be your house, where they have staff to look after their wants.