Why Do Cats Groom Each other ? –Cat Grooming Behavior Explained

As per feline studies and observations, cats perform grooming for nearly half of their lives in some or the other way and this behavior has given rise to many strange questions, ‘why do cats groom each other’ being one of them. It may be too gross for you to imagine grooming another human but cats lick each other vehemently mostly. As you read, you will be fascinated with the various reasons and aspects of the process of cats grooming each other.

There is a huge difference between the self-grooming of cats and when they groom other cats. Read on to know more.

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Allogrooming- Cat behavior of licking or grooming each other

There are so many chapters in the vocabulary of cat behavior and Allogrooming is one very important one of this book. Allogrooming is the scientific name given to the feline behavior which involves the cat licking each other. It can also be understood as social grooming that is performed by a lot of animal species like birds, primates, insects, etc. and each animal does so within its species group.

This practice is exhibited at its best by the cats who reside in free colonies. Allogrooming is one out of the set of three behaviors displayed by cats to signal affinity and bonding among the colony members. However, this behavior isn’t that simple as it seems and is shown by the cats and other animals for various reasons along with the plethora of aspects related to it.

Allogrooming involves one cat of the pair starting to lick the other one and continue doing so until the action starts getting reciprocated by the other cat too or necessarily not and then they both continue doing the licking to each other for some time. Most of the time, cats groom each other on the neck and head portions of the body to give the combing effect. Some of them may follow any specific pattern of starting the grooming at one body part and ending at another while the rest of the cats may just go about grooming randomly on any body part.

Important facts about allogrooming in cats

Having stated that allogrooming is a complex cat behavior, let us also present the myriad of important things about it that must be known to every cat enthusiast:

Allogrooming is carried out by both domestic as well as wild cats alike.
The domestic cats tend to exhibit allogrooming at a higher rate because of the presence of more cats in their proximity.
In cases of reciprocated allogrooming, one of the cats will engage more by grooming the other cat more than it receives back from the other end.
The dominant cats approach for allogrooming more towards the inferior status cats and the opposite of this is a rare case.
Aggressive cats tend to show higher allogrooming tendencies and even carry out some aggressive hits after the grooming session is over.
Neutering and spaying don’t cast any effect on the allogrooming tendency of cats.
Another factor that fails to impact the allogrooming behavior of cats is gender. Male and female cats allogroom each other irrespective of the similarity or difference of their gender.
Studies have also pointed towards the higher frequency of male-male allogrooming as compared to female-female one.
Also in the case of intra-gender allogrooming, males are the ones who mostly initiate allogrooming with the female cats.
Self-grooming tendencies of cats also don’t affect their allogrooming behavior at all.
Even the duration and frequency of cat allogrooming remains unaffected by the relation factor. It solely depends on the will of the engaged cats.
The most interesting co-relations associated with allogrooming that have ever been found are- decreased aggression among cats and the emergence of more number of cat pairs in any particular space.

Reasons why cat lick each other

Coming back to addressing the question ‘why do cats groom each other’, studies have found various reasons for it and they aren’t just about cleaning and expressing affection rather not even related to them somehow.

Asserting social bond

Cats are very specific about their identity and belongingness to a family or colony and they express their consciousness by different behavior like scent marking. Allogrooming is another way that they adopt to express the social bond they share with the other members of their colony. This behavior is exhibited by cats for their colony members strictly and they won’t groom any other cat until they are accepted into the family.

Asserting the hierarchy

As seen above, allogrooming is performed by dominant cats many times and they do so to re-instate their hierarchical position in the colony or a particular household with contender cats. This reason can be affirmed by watching out for the posture of allogrooming cats where the groomers sit more upright and alert while the groomed appear prostate and low. Allogrooming is also believed to be chosen by dominant cats because other ways of displaying aggression and dominance might not be the right choice in every situation.

Out of maternal instincts

Allogrooming is done by the mother cats in most of the instances that are purely because of their motherly nature to ensure protection and care for their kittens. Mother cats groom their kittens to keep their coat clean from smells and dirt as they can’t do it themselves as of yet that also ensures safety from predators. Licking the kittens also marks them with the scent and it's easier for the mother to identify them.

Mimicking petting care

Cats love getting groomed and out of that instinct, they might start licking the other cats without expecting any reciprocation. This may also be a derivative behavior being displayed by the cat due to the petting and grooming it receives from its owners. Thus, if you what does it mean when cats groom each other, it can just be a show of immense trust and close bond between the allogrooming cats because letting someone groom the most vulnerable areas of the body requires much courage for the cats.

Take help for cleaning

From the cooperation that cats display while licking each other, it can be derived that cats allogroom for seeking help in cleaning or grooming the unreachable parts of their body. It is the sheer understanding between the felines that they take the signal when one cat approaches them and exposes their neck or head by flexing their neck. They may also want this help when their owners don’t groom them enough or don’t use good brushing tools.

Common myths about cats licking each other to ignore

If you ask anyone ‘why do cats clean each other’, they may tend to make wild guesses or try to assert self-made theories. We have heard some of them too and here are some of the common observations to remember for refuting the myths:

Hygiene and cleanliness are nowhere close to being a specific cause of allogrooming let alone being the sole one as that denies the proven hierarchical allogrooming theory.
The weaker cats never attempt at allogrooming initiation to the dominant cats for establishing any relation of dependency or co-existence.
Affection is certainly not a promoting factor for allogrooming as an unequal exchange of grooming during the process has been observed.
Just because dominant cats choose allogrooming over aggression, it doesn’t mean that they use it as a means to bust the stress built up.

We see that all the factors that we have refuted above as being the potential causes for allogrooming only point out towards a linear and equal allogrooming frequency among cats which studies have found to be non-existing.

Conclusion

You must have by now understood why do cats groom each other and how this cat's behavior is quite complex to understand. We presented all the must-know aspects of allogrooming tendencies of cats to help you understand your cat closely and be able to catch the signals easily in case of any emergency.

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Luna Tran

My name is Luna and I am a great cat lover and a cat owner of three lovely cats. I have owned many cats till now and have dedicated many years to nurturing and caring cats. Through this blog, I am here to share my knowledge and experience about cats.