So some researchers have determined that sometimes one cat will groom another bust to annoy that cat.
Given that cat grooming is a dominance play, and given the behavior of our cats relative to each other, Destructo will groom Meatball* when he wants her to go away, this has been common knowledge for about 3,000 years.
How about studying something really important, like why cats will suddenly stare intently at nothing for 15 minutes.
Seriously, what the f%$# are they seeing?
Let’s just say cats have a reputation — of being standoffish, manipulative, maybe even jerks. Here’s more corroborating evidence: Scientists are beginning to think that even seemingly innocent cat behavior — grooming another cat — might not always be nice.
The licking can be a method of subtle torment, according to new research published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science.
Mutual grooming, called allogrooming, is widespread in the animal kingdom and found in primates, birds, horses and even insects. The grooming is typically focused on parts of the body that are difficult for an animal to reach on its own, like its back and neck, making the behavior an act of kindness that supports social bonding and wins friends.
Like primates that pick lice from each other’s backs, cats that lick each other have also been considered an indicator of social bonding. “So far, mutual grooming in cats has been categorized as affiliative, or ‘friendly,’ cat behavior,” said Noema Gajdos Kmecova, a cat behavioral scientist at Ghent University and an author of the new study.
Or so we thought.
Morgane Van Belle, another cat behavioral scientist at Ghent University and the study’s lead author, was observing her own cats, Fabio and Giovanni, interacting over a favorite napping spot in the sun and noticed something.
“I saw these weird grooming patterns in my own cats where I thought, This is not super friendly at all,” she said. “Sometimes one cat would lay on the blanket near the window and the other cat would come up and start licking it — but in an annoying way.” The interaction would induce the licked cat to get up and forfeit the sunny spot, she said.
To check whether this behavior was more widespread, Ms. Van Belle and her colleagues looked at 53 households across Europe with two or more cats. After telling the pet owners what to look for, the researchers had them submit videos of their cats’ interactions. The scientists then randomly selected a submission from each participant and used statistical analyses to tease apart the hidden nuance in cat-licking behavior.
I will note that I am a bit jealous. The idea of making a career out of observing cats sounds like paradise to me.
*The names are not my fault. I firmly believe that one does not name a cat, one discovers a cat's name.
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