Are cats ticklish under their arms and on their belly?

Are cats ticklish!! We don't know. Image: MikeB.

The truth is that we don't really know why humans tend to be ticklish. If we don't know why humans are ticklish, we are not going to be able to answer the question in the title!!

There is another obstacle to discussing the ticklishness of domestic cats. Cats don't laugh. When a person is tickled, they laugh. It's a kind of social bonding if you agree with what is stated below.

And thirdly, it is impossible to tickle a cat's skin. Genuine tickling, as I understand it, is about touching the skin directly often under the foot of a human. But there has to be direct contact between hand and the skin of the person being tickled.

We can't do that with a cat. There's too much fur in the way.

I conclude, therefore, that cats are not ticklish because you can't tickle them in the first place and they don't laugh in the second place. And we wouldn't know if they were ticklish or not anyway because we don't understand it.

Some more in answering the question: Why do humans laugh when tickled?

The phenomenon of laughter in response to tickling is still not completely understood, but there are a few theories that attempt to explain why humans and some other animals laugh when tickled. Here are a couple of the prominent theories:

Reflex Theory: According to this theory, tickling triggers an involuntary reflex response that causes laughter. When someone is tickled, the body experiences a tactile sensation that can be interpreted as a potential threat. The laughter is thought to be a way for the body to signal to others that it is experiencing a non-threatening interaction, thus helping to maintain social bonds.


Social Bonding Theory: This theory suggests that laughter resulting from tickling is primarily a social behavior. Tickling is often associated with playfulness and is commonly performed among family members or friends. The laughter that arises during tickling serves as a form of communication and bonding between individuals, reinforcing positive social interactions.

It's worth noting that not everyone finds tickling enjoyable, and different people have different tickle sensitivity thresholds. Additionally, tickling oneself is generally not as effective at inducing laughter because the brain can predict and suppress the tickling sensation when it's self-induced.