The sinister motivation behind cats licking each other

Cat owners may enjoy the sweet sight of their pets grooming each other, but a recent study has revealed that it may not be as friendly as first thought.

Morgane Van Belle, a researcher who studies animal behavior at Ghent University in Belgium, conducted a study by analyzing videos of 106 cats, looking at four groups of behaviors including communication and interaction, postures and movements, ear positions and tail movements.

The results found that 20 percent of grooming among cats occurred on their ears, causing cats to turn their ears backwards, which can be a sign of irritation or fear.

It was also found that the purging served to groom the cats rather than acting as a social bonding exercise, with 87 percent occurring on the head and neck, a difficult place for cats to groom themselves.

Ms Van Belle said: “Cat research is nearly 20 years behind dog research, there are still many questions to be answered.

“They have very sophisticated ways of resolving conflicts. To me, this shows that they are smart and flexible in their behavior rather than stupid.”

In the video footage taken from 53 households, which included 64 male and 42 female cats, it was seen that the cats leaned over each other, turned the ears of the cat being cared for, shook their heads, and even bit them in some cases. This recommended grooming can be used to bully other cats.

Cats that received mutual attention without reciprocating showed unwanted physical contact through their body language.

However, Ms. Van Belle said: “From my perspective it shows that they are quite elegant in the way they resolve conflict.

“They might walk up to another cat’s face and smack it to get the blanket it’s lying on. Instead, they’ll lick it a little and wander around.”

To conduct this study, the researcher was inspired by two of her own cats competing for a sunny spot, with one cat choosing to lick the other rather than using aggressive tactics.

The study also showed signs of social bonding and commitment, along with signs of collaborative interaction that can lead to a strong social bond. However, this was seen in only 13 of 53 pairs of cats.

The research, which contradicts previous studies suggesting there is malicious intent behind grooming, was published in The Guardian. Journal of Applied Animal Behavior Science.