As you come home after a long day at work, your feline welcoming committee greets you with waving tails, chirps of pleasure, and affectionate rubs. Although you may think your cat is trying to trip you up when she winds against your legs, she’s marking you as part of her family again. inova cats iop
In this post, we’ll explain the reasoning behind why your cat rubs against you.
Why does my cat rub against me?
Cats live in a world that relies largely on scent, using pheromones and scent markers to distinguish between friend and foe. As cats rub along objects or people, they deposit these scent markers to leave communication signals behind, indicating whether the object is part of their territory. Cats do this to mark a human or animal as part of their group.
When your cat rubs against you, she deposits her scent and pheromones on your clothing, making you smell like one of the group again after all the unfamiliar scents you’ve picked up throughout your day. Essentially, your cat is trying to communicate with you and letting you know that she considers you part of her family.
Let’s take a look at the prevailing theories on why cats do this sometimes-perplexing behavior called bunting.
4. They’re staking their claim
Often, cats will rub in between your legs in much the same way that they rub on things like a doorway or a couch. Some animal experts believe this is a way that cats mark objects (or people) with their facial scent — “facial” because feline scent glands are primarily located on the face (chin, cheeks, and forehead). If you have a rather bossy “this is my house!” cat, this rubbing habit could be a way to claim dominance over you… Head over to the next page
