Cat behavior is full of peculiarities and curiosities. If you have a cat at home, you have probably wondered more than once why cats rub against us and other objects in the house. Is this synonymous with affection or does it have to do with the animal's instincts? What motivates this feline behavior? To answer these questions, the Paws of the House went after answers: the time has come to understand once and for all what it means when the cat rubs up against you. See below!

Why do cats rub against us?

Many believe that this type of behavior is a demonstration of affection and affection, but that is not quite what happens. In fact, this is a way that cats use to mark territory: when these animals "rub" against objects or people, there is an exchange of odors that is not noticeable to us, but that works a lot among felines. Just like the territory marking of dogs,this is a way of declaring that that place already "has an owner".

This exchange of odors is possible because cats have sebaceous glands located between the eye and the ear, around the mouth and at the base of their tail. These glands are responsible for the production of pheromones, substances that can indicate different situations according to the message that the cat wants to pass on to other animals. That is, it can be either a sexual pheromone, which serves toto attract the attention of the opposite sex for mating, but it can also be a territory marking pheromone, which helps to make that environment more familiar to the kitty.

So the reason cats rub against people is precisely that: to recognize that environment as their own, leaving it with their little scent spread on humans and also on objects in the house as part of a cat identification.

Cat rubbing: spiritual meaning of the behavior is related to astral cleansing and protection

Several cultures praise felines as mystical and sacred creatures, and there is also a lot of superstition surrounding kitties. Who has never heard that "black cat is bad luck", for example? Of course this is not true, but when it comes to myths and legends involving felines, many people are at a loss as to what to believe.

One of the beliefs surrounding this part of spirituality seeks to explain why cats rub against things and people. The theory believes that cats are sensitive and work like a "sponge", filtering all the negative energy from a place and transforming it into something positive. Therefore, when a cat rubs against someone it is because he realized that that person was rubbing against him.in need of an "energetic cleansing" and in this way it provides the astral protection that the human needs.

Body language of cats

The cat rubbing against people and objects is part of the feline language, but the signs to understand these animals do not stop there. Cat love, for example, manifests itself in different ways: purring is a noise that usually indicates that the animal feels comfortable and happy when it receives your affection. On the other hand, understanding the meaning of the movements and positions of the tail and head.ears will help humans decipher the cat's mood.