Why does my cat knead my legs?

 This question has been asked 1 million times on the Internet and there are 2 million answers! Therefore, I will not go into this at length. When the cat kneads your legs he or she is doing what she did when she was a kitten at her mother's nipple drinking her mother's milk. In order to make sure the milk flowed the kitten would knead the area around the nipple.

So this behaviour is the behaviour of a kitten in relation to her mother. We conclude therefore that a person's adult cat has a relationship with her human caretaker that is of a kitten to a mother cat. And when the adult cat kneads the person it is a reflex action that takes place automatically because at that particular moment the kitten is physically in a very similar position in relation to the person that she was in when she was suckling at her mother's breast.

You could say that the cat is confused or you could just say that it is something akin to what we do as humans when we seek comfort in the actions that we make such as lining up a cigarette when talking to somebody or grabbing a glass and sipping wine when we are at a party or biting our nails or doing any other of the things that make us feel more comfortable.

I think the important thing is this that the person at the receiving end must and I stress must totally accepted it because to reject it may damage the bond between cat and person as it would seem to be a rejection by the mother cat of her kitten.

Why does my cat roll over onto her back exposing her belly?

When a cat rolls over onto her back to expose her belly it looks as if she wants her belly rubbed. It may be true that she does want her belly rubbed for awhile, but it should not be overdone, but the more likely reason for this is that your cat is presenting to you a submissive position which is linked to a greeting.

I believe it is a sort of combination action: both a greeting, a submission, and a possible request for her tummy rub which in effect will be an exchange of scent from you to her and vice versa. Scent exchange is also part of a friendly greeting and it makes the place, the home, more friendly for the cat.

However, underpinning this particular behaviour is this submissive position which is indicative of the fact that the cat sees us as the dominant partner.

As mentioned, stroking cats really should be done gently and the amount of it should be limited. The cat might like it but after awhile she may change her mind because it is a position of great vulnerability for a cat which can make her feel slightly anxious and the anxiety clicks in after a while overcoming the pleasure she receives from the stroking.

Injections to calm down your allergic reaction to cats

Yes, injections to calm down your allergic reaction to cats! This is the holy grail of the cat world. An injection which allows you to live with your cat when you are allergic without sniffling, sneezing and scratching.

But does it work? Well, it is too early to know. And how healthy is it? There are lots of unknowns. At the moment we know that for this new product four injections are required compared to the usual 40 which is obviously a huge advancement.

The product is called CATPAD. It is not yet approved by the FDA. However, it has been studied before and at the moment more work is being carried out on the product to make it more effective and safer.

At the moment the researchers into this product are looking for people who have a cat allergy to participate in this new study.

Apparently, about 10% of the population are allergic to cats. It is a terrible twist of nature that many people who love cats are unable to live with their cats without some discomfort.

The best known method of tackling an allergy to cats is to buy a cat that does not produce the cat allergen. That cat is meant to be an Allerca cat.

There was at one time a lot of discussion about that cat. I think we can say that the business was discredited. Their top branded cat (Ashera GD) was in fact a Savannah cat, first generation. As it happens, there is some anecdotal evidence to suggest that first generation Savannah cats are to a certain extent hypo-allergenic.

Anyway, if you are allergic to cats and you want to take part in the study I would suggest that you Google CATPAD STUDY and take it from there. Click on this link to get started:

http://www.breatheamerica.com/albuquerque

Good luck.

This video explains how the cat allergy happens. I expect Catpad works in the way described in the video:

Why does my cat scratch my chair?

It is probably fair to say that by now the whole world knows the answer to this question. A cat does not scratch a person's chair out of spite or simply to be destructive. A cat scratches a chair to (A) slough off the outer layout of keratin that makes up the dead part of the claws and (B) to stretch his or her back and (C) to deposit some scent on the chair as a way of marking territory and making her home more friendly.

You will see wildcat species marking territory by scratching the ground and scratching tree trunks etc.. It is vital that domestic cats are allowed to scratch. The best object to scratch is a large and heavy cat scratching post.

It is important that the post is solid and immovable as this provides a natural substitute for a tree. It feels better for a cat and therefore a cat will be more likely to use it.

Why does my cat bring in live mice?

Why does my cat bring in live mice? This behaviour mimics the behaviour of a wild cat mother who brings her prey back to the den for her cubs to interact with, perhaps kill, perhaps play with but in any event the prey is brought back to the den to introduce the cubs to the hunting process.

It is part of the training process. Perhaps sometime in the near future after this event the mother will take her cubs out of the den on a hunting trip and that would be the next stage in her training of her cubs to hunt prey. Some people say that a domestic cat sees a human companion as one of her kittens when they bring home prey. I don't think this is the case. Domestic cats see us as other domestic cats albeit much larger.

It is not always the case that the mother leaves the prey for her cubs to play with and kill. Perhaps she will kill the prey herself and this sometimes happens with domestic cats when they bring mice and other prey home. They may kill and eat a mouse once brought back to the home.

Also, it is not always the case that a cat brings home live mice. A cat that is preying on wildlife outside in the garden or in the vicinity may well kill the prey where it has been attacked. Indeed the cat may eat or partially prey at the site of the attack.