Cats are unpredictable creatures, sometimes too cold, but sometimes sweet and lovely, and will even lick you with their barbed tongues, so why do cats lick people? It is not simply because they like you!

I. The reason why cats lick people:

Marking scent

The cat's sense of smell is very sensitive, and balloons are like our ID cards for cats. If your cat often licks you and rubs up against you, this is actually a way for the cat to mark its scent on you and warn other cats that they are not allowed to steal their master.

Feeling anxious

When cats feel stressed and anxious, they will involuntarily lick their fur, just like some people break their nails when they are nervous, and sometimes cats may lick themselves bald because they are too anxious.

Help you "bathe"

When a cat first comes out of the mother's womb as a baby, the mother will lick her kittens with her own tongue to keep them clean. Cats learn to lick their owners with their tongues from their mothers, so when your cat licks you, it may be "bathing" you to keep you clean.
There is another situation in life where a cat will lick its owner, and most pooper scoopers have encountered it before, and that is when a cat is lying down to lick its fur and the owner suddenly reaches over and interrupts the licking behavior.

Most cats will stop licking, smell the owner's fingers, and then start licking the owner's hand, can this situation show that the cat loves the owner? In fact, it does not.

The primary purpose of the cat licking the owner's hand is to wipe away the owner's original scent and then leave its own scent, this is to mark the owner, because the cat relies on scent to distinguish between the enemy and me, so it only shows that the cat treats you as its own, it does not mean that the cat loves you.
So all the pooper scoopers should understand that no matter when and where the cat is, active or not, once it licks the owner, it is not the meaning of loving the owner.

Cats: "Do what you can't, make a fool of yourself first".

Expressing love

In addition to learning to bathe themselves with their tongues from their mother cats, kittens also know that giving each other licks is an act of showing love. So when your cat is licking you, he or she may really think of you as his or her "real mom"! It's a way of showing affection.

Looking for memories

Prematurely weaned kittens will love to lick soft things and purr when they grow up. This is probably because they miss the comfort of suckling at their mother's place when they were young.

Missing you

Cats are cold pets on the outside and hot on the inside, as I'm sure you all know. But sometimes, cats will also express their own way to miss their masters, for example, when it licks you, in fact, it is saying: master, I miss you, you quickly come to play with me! If you can play with your cat for a while, it will be very happy. Later, when you are not around it, it will especially miss you.

Cleaning

Most people who have cats can see this scene, the cat keeps licking itself with its tongue! Of course, this is because the cat is cleaning itself, it wants to keep its body clean! That's right when it licks you, it actually means that it wants to make you clean too. This side also means that you are a person who does not like to be clean and a little dirty! So dirty that your cat can't stand to see it and clean your body himself! But then again, the cat will personally help a person to clean the body, but also shows that the cat especially likes this person.

Too nervous

Dogs will keep licking their lips when they are nervous. And cats in this point are very similar to dogs. If cats are nervous, they will also keep licking things, except that they lick not their own lips, but the owner. This means that when you take your cat out to play and it is always licking you, then it is especially nervous and needs to be soothed by you.

II. The licking action of cats

Because cats have a lot of barbs on their tongues, they use licking to help clean up their own fur. Studies have proven that a cat spends one-third of its life licking its own fur.

In addition to cats licking themselves the most, usually in multi-cat households, there is also the behavior of cat A helping cat B to lick their fur. Once two cats have licked, the owner will think that the two cats have a very harmonious relationship and get along amicably.

But in terms of cat behavior, the opposite is true!

Cat licking the owner loves the owner? Don't flatter yourself, understand the real meaning
Suppose a multi-cat family keeps two cats, A and B. Usually, it is cat A that licks cat B's hair, which does not mean that cat A likes cat B. It can only mean that cat A's social status is higher than cat B. Cat B is completely submissive to cat A, and cat A is in an absolute leadership position.

Because in feline behavior, only the boss is qualified to lick the hair of the little brother.
So if your cat suddenly comes over to lick your hair that day, sorry, it does not love you but treats you as a little brother.

Of course, if this happens, there are ways to fight back as the owner. In a multi-cat household, if AB's two cats lick each other's hair, it means that they have an equal relationship.

If your cat will lick your hair and you want to fight back, then lick it back and tell the cat that I am the master!
How can I tell if my cat loves its owner?

If you want to know if your cat loves you, I suggest you start observing from the following aspects, first of all, to see if your cat will sleep in the same bed with you, once the cat sleeps in the same bed with you, then it means it loves you.

Because cats are naturally wary, they will not easily expose their weaknesses to outsiders, but cats are most vulnerable when they sleep, if the cat can sleep with the owner, then it means that it loves you.

The second thing you can observe is whether your cat will blink at you when you look at it. In cat behavior, a cat blinking at its owner means "I love you" to the owner.

Three, cat feeding precautions:

If you don't want to be licked by your cat, you can use some methods to gently stop it, such as using some cat toys or snacks to distract your cat's attention.

Why do cats love to lick people? Not just like you!
Usually, the owner should also take the time to spend more time with the cat, not let the cat have too lonely anxiety, and reduce the cat's excessive licking behavior.

Why do cats love to lick people? Not just like you
In addition to paying attention to the habits of cats, owners should also pay more attention to the dietary health of cats, usually can not give cats to eat too salty, excessive salt intake of cats will cause tear marks problem, it is recommended to give cats to choose some light low salt cat food as the main food.