What causes a kitty to become a licker?

Ever since my Lynxie was a little tiny itty bitty microscopic ball of
puff, he's had this obsession with licking my hands. Anytime I put my
hands near his muzzle, he'd start licking. He used to do it pretty
obsessively, too. Sometimes he'd play rough and bite, then lick lick
afterwards, almost as if saying "I'm sorry!"

These days he still does it, but he's a lot less obsessive about it. One
or two licks and that's it.

On the other paw, other cats I know don't lick humans at all! They just
turn their heads away from the hand or rub some other part of themselves
against your hand for petting. This leads me to wonder... What causes a
cat to become fascinated with licking its humans? Anyone else have
stories to share in this department?

-Z

in article , Zorin the Lynx at
wrote on 12/22/03 9:56 PM:

Ever since my Lynxie was a little tiny itty bitty microscopic ball of
puff, he's had this obsession with licking my hands. Anytime I put my
hands near his muzzle, he'd start licking. He used to do it pretty
obsessively, too. Sometimes he'd play rough and bite, then lick lick
afterwards, almost as if saying "I'm sorry!"

These days he still does it, but he's a lot less obsessive about it. One
or two licks and that's it.

On the other paw, other cats I know don't lick humans at all! They just
turn their heads away from the hand or rub some other part of themselves
against your hand for petting. This leads me to wonder... What causes a
cat to become fascinated with licking its humans? Anyone else have
stories to share in this department?

-Z

We had a licker. Dimples would lick you until that patch of skin was raw if
you let her. The bite, bite thing is part of grooming. Watch him groom
himself sometime. Getting the knots out. You're his "brother".

Karen

Zorin the Lynx wrote in message ...
Ever since my Lynxie was a little tiny itty bitty microscopic ball of
puff, he's had this obsession with licking my hands. Anytime I put my
hands near his muzzle, he'd start licking. He used to do it pretty
obsessively, too. Sometimes he'd play rough and bite, then lick lick
afterwards, almost as if saying "I'm sorry!"

These days he still does it, but he's a lot less obsessive about it. One
or two licks and that's it.

On the other paw, other cats I know don't lick humans at all! They just
turn their heads away from the hand or rub some other part of themselves
against your hand for petting. This leads me to wonder... What causes a
cat to become fascinated with licking its humans? Anyone else have
stories to share in this department?

-Z


Mike does that too, and has since he was a kitten - he licks like a
d*g, though we call them "kisses" to be polite. I don't know why,
except that Mike tells me it's what all your truly superior cats do,
and you should consider yourself fortunate. ;-)

-----
Krista

LOL wrote:

Mike does that too, and has since he was a kitten - he licks like a
d*g, though we call them "kisses" to be polite. I don't know why,
except that Mike tells me it's what all your truly superior cats do,
and you should consider yourself fortunate. ;-)

Hey, I like that way of looking at it. As you might have recently read,
I just named my black cat "Licorice" and his nickname is "Licky" (or
"Licky Boy"). It's a variation on Licorice, but that's only part of the
story - I also call him that because he likes to lick the tip of my nose
when he's being very cuddly. It's really sweet - although the whiff of
cat food odor from his mouth is less than desirable.

I like being licked by cats. Their tongues might be rough, but it's
never caused me any pain. At least they're not slimy like *some* animal
tongues!!

Joyce

Speaking of "lickers"....one of the nurses I work with has quite a few cats
and loves them all to death; they all have names and she describes their
purrsonalities to me; one of them she says "exfoliates" her face by licking
vigorously...the nurse has poreless, beautifully smooth skin...she says the
cat licks all the dead loose skin cell flakes off, as good as a chemical
peel treatment for the end result!



"LOL" wrote in message
om...
: Zorin the Lynx wrote in message
...
: Ever since my Lynxie was a little tiny itty bitty microscopic ball of
: puff, he's had this obsession with licking my hands. Anytime I put my
: hands near his muzzle, he'd start licking. He used to do it pretty
: obsessively, too. Sometimes he'd play rough and bite, then lick lick
: afterwards, almost as if saying "I'm sorry!"
:
: These days he still does it, but he's a lot less obsessive about it. One
: or two licks and that's it.
:
: On the other paw, other cats I know don't lick humans at all! They just
: turn their heads away from the hand or rub some other part of themselves
: against your hand for petting. This leads me to wonder... What causes a
: cat to become fascinated with licking its humans? Anyone else have
: stories to share in this department?
:
: -Z
:
:
: Mike does that too, and has since he was a kitten - he licks like a
: d*g, though we call them "kisses" to be polite. I don't know why,
: except that Mike tells me it's what all your truly superior cats do,
: and you should consider yourself fortunate. ;-)
:
: -----
: Krista

Hopitus2 wrote:

Speaking of "lickers"....one of the nurses I work with has quite a few cats
and loves them all to death; they all have names and she describes their
purrsonalities to me; one of them she says "exfoliates" her face by licking
vigorously...the nurse has poreless, beautifully smooth skin...she says the
cat licks all the dead loose skin cell flakes off, as good as a chemical
peel treatment for the end result!

There you go! Who needs a loofah when you've got a cat to smooth your skin?

Joyce

On Mon, 22 Dec 2003 22:56:52 -0500, Zorin the Lynx
wrote:

Ever since my Lynxie was a little tiny itty bitty microscopic ball of
puff, he's had this obsession with licking my hands. Anytime I put my
hands near his muzzle, he'd start licking. He used to do it pretty
obsessively, too. Sometimes he'd play rough and bite, then lick lick
afterwards, almost as if saying "I'm sorry!"

These days he still does it, but he's a lot less obsessive about it. One
or two licks and that's it.

On the other paw, other cats I know don't lick humans at all! They just
turn their heads away from the hand or rub some other part of themselves
against your hand for petting. This leads me to wonder... What causes a
cat to become fascinated with licking its humans? Anyone else have
stories to share in this department?

-Z

My Xena is a licker too. She'll lick my face and when I put my hand
up to block her (her tongue is rough!) she'll move over to the other
side of my face and so on and so on. I take it as a sign of affection
that she's grooming me, but I have to try not to think about the fact
that I've also seen her licking Callisto's butt...... ew. Jennie

On 22 Dec 2003 22:34:30 -0800, (LOL)
wrote:

Mike does that too, and has since he was a kitten - he licks like a
d*g, though we call them "kisses" to be polite. I don't know why,
except that Mike tells me it's what all your truly superior cats do,
and you should consider yourself fortunate. ;-)

-----
Krista

I have always heard that, indeed, a lick from a cat is a very high
compliment -- means you are a member of his/her family :-) Our
current major lickers here are Sabra and Merlyn. Merlyn will even
lick my eyelids if I am in bed and my eyes are closed! I think it's
sweet, and just don't think about where else that tongue has been . .
.. .

Ginger-lyn