Cats' Mysterious Grooming Habits

By nature, cats are predatory creatures who are hard-wired to keep themselves impeccably clean.

And even though they may be indoor only cats, somewhere in the recesses of their brains they must feel In order to be successful in grabbing a moving meal, they spend hours self-grooming to prevent an unsuspecting prey animal from catching a trace of their scent.

And while this behavior is purely instinctual, as a passionate kitty devotee, one of the most enjoyable aspects of being owned by a couple of fastidious felines is watching them as they perform their ablutions; in which they thoroughly indulge, several times a day. I find it incredibly relaxing to sit back silently to observe them not only cleaning themselves, but each other.

What is most fascinating to me is studying the individual strategies each one uses to accomplish these tasks. For instance, Hubble, our white Oriental Shorthair, generally starts his "bath" thoroughly cleaning in- between his toes, working slowly and methodically up a leg to his belly. He then proceeds to moisten one paw at a time and carefully wash his face and ears, finishing off his routine with a prudent tail-cleaning.

However, on the other hand, Hush Puppy, our lilac point Oriental has a totally different method of self grooming. He is quite a bit "trimmer" and more muscular than Hubble, his brother, who is just a tad on the pudgy side.

In fact, Hush Puppy is so graceful and agile it inspired my husband Marty to often compare him to that famous Russian ballet dancer, Mikhail Nikolaevich Baryshnikov. I gotta tell you it's like watching feline gymnastics.

Fortunately I was lucky enough to have my camera handy when Hush Puppy was in the middle of grooming himself the other day. Purrhaps he was so deeply involved in his "toilet" activity that he hardly noticed me at all. But come to think of it since he is such a ham, I bet he was just showing off for the camera.

And while it doesn't take rocket science to figure out what motivates cats to groom one another, there is one mysterious technique that Hubble constantly uses in the midst of bathing his brother which, for the life of me I cannot quite understand. I would love to know why Hubble insists on licking and chewing Hush Puppy's ears until they are both completely wet and soggy. But since Hush Puppy doesn't object to this kind of attention, I can only assume it has some purpose. Perhaps someone can shed some insight on this behavior.

What are some of the other feline activities that you particularly enjoy watching unnoticed? Leave a comment to tell us about them.

Image Source: Jo Singer