Cat Cleaning Patterns

All felines are maniacs by nature. Even leopards that kill their preys in a ferocious and bloody way, have very much care not to stain themselves with blood.

First washings
The first experience that cats have when born is the cleanliness, even before feeding, for which is not surprising that it constitutes a fundamental behavior in them.

Once and again the mother licks all its kittens as they are born to clean them and stimulate their first breathing. From then to the this week, the mother will clean embellish them at least once a day.

To lick them is also a way of waking them when it's time to feed. In a litter, the mother licks the kittens frequently and caresses them repeatedly with the snout.

When the kittens are three weeks old they start cleaning themselves and between them, and three weeks later, when they are already expects, they still celebrate this mutual cleaning sessions.

If the kittens stay together, this pattern will also be repeated in the adult stage.

Then, it is not odd to observe two adult cats washing themselves.

Most of the cats also lick their human partners to reinforce the affective bond between creatures that share the same territory, as they might do with a familiar and friendly dog. But the real true element key to their personal life is to clean and embellish by themselves.

This non ending source of pleasure brings them remembrances from when they felt protected by the mother, also for being a convenient personal hygienic technique and a nourishing need, due that the fat that the pilous follicles segregate constitute a valuable source of vitamin D.

The art of embellishing
Cats tongue is rough due to the presence of very small harden nodules that serve for scraping the food and for cleaning its coat.

Thanks to the flexibility of its spine, they reach without any difficulty to all the parts of the body.

When cats clean themselves, the first thing they do is to scratch their neck and maybe the head and ears, with one of its hind legs. Then, they clean their flanks, back, tail and genitals. After ins the turn for the claws, front and rear; with help of a saliva humidified front paw, they clean their head and ears. Sometimes they use their teeth and claws to take off bits of mud and other remainders hidden between the hair or fingers. At the end, they always repeat some parts that require special care, as is a difficult and sticky hair stain. There are some dangerous substances, as is the tar or paint, that cats shouldn't lick and that the owner should try to eliminate from its hair.