Why does my cat do that?

OK Svetlana my baby (she is a kitten, i got her at 8 weeks in dec. 03) does this thing to me at night or when ever I LAY DOWN TO SLEEP. she gets up onthe bed and goes stright for my head, once there she starts needing my head like you would with dough and using her claws! (ouch!) she almost burrows her head in my hair! and just purrs. its kinda cute when i am first going to sleep but its been happening everynight and she will wake me up in the middle of the night doing this!! i dont understand it but i can assume that its some sort of bonding thing. i dont want to stop that, but its waking me up and sometimes she digs her claws to deep and it HURTS!!! so what do i do. just deal with the pain becasue i dont want to ruin a bond between me and my kitty or is there a way i can make this process less painful for my head. and most of all WHY DOES MY CAT DO THAT!!!! Thanks for any answers

 

When my cat used to do that I started tying my hair in a ponytail at night which made her stop. Of course that will only work if your hair is long. Another of my cats would come into my room and start scratching under my (open) door in the middle of the night. I kept a water bottle beside my bed and gave it a shake everytime she would do that. I only had to spray her twice before she got the idea. Now as soon as I go to pick the bottle up she stops scratching.

 

kittens knead on their mom's body when they are nursing...I believe it has something to do with milk flow. Your kitten is kneading your head cause he is thinking of you as mom - you are the honored one.

P.S. I have an adult siamese that kneads on my jugular vein :shock:
for this reason only I'm glad her former owner had her declawed...but I'm strongly against declawing - but when she's "sewing" away on my jugular I'm glad she can't penetrate

 

pheobe use to do that whenever i stretched and yawned.

 

Hi. One of my parents cats used to do this too. I suggested to them that they get him a stuffed animal or wool sweater or anything they may be interested in kneading on. They got him a big stuffed soft bunny and he'll just knead away on it. You can try finding various materials/clothing at your home and see if she takes a liking to any of these. Once you find something she likes to knead on, place it on the bed at night that way she may be more inclined to knead on this item instead of your head. It's worth a try.

 

Thanks to all who replied. Last night she actually cured up next to me and started needing on my bedspread next to my body (its a new bed spread, with all my animals in the bed at night i need to replace my spread at least evey 6 months!!) but atleast its not my head! i am still going to try to find something else that she might like to knead on. its to cute thinking she thinks i am her mommy!!

 

It is definitely linked to their action when they were nursing from mother cat. I once had a vet tell me that cats who knead were usually weaned too early, though I have never gotten another professional opinion that confirmed that.

It may be annoying, but it's also very sweet and a way your cat is bonding with you. She's very content when she's doing it, and a content kitty is a healthy kitty.

(Mine usually does it on my lower belly when I really have to pee , or on my thigh in the very same spot where I banged into the dresser!) :shock:

 

How I wish I never broken the kneading bond between one of my cats and me. When I first got Monty Boy, he used to sit on my lap and knead. Then one day he got extremely kneady and scratched my legs real bad. I plucked him off of me and he never sat on my lap again even though he's still very affectionate towards me. I should have placed a thick blanket on my lap and let him knead. I wish I had read this post 7 years ago when I got Monty Boy. Pumpkin, Milo, and Rene are all excellent lap catbies.

 

Hey, glad to know I'm not the only one who calls it kneading . My cat does that, but he rubs up against me and kneads my shouilders, back or tummy. If I leave a notebook on the floor, he'll use that, but then, i have a shreded papermess to clean up. He doesn't see to know how to use his scratching post .

 

Hi SnoopyGirl14. I'm not sure if you'll see this post or not, but here is a link about how to get cats to use their scratching posts.

http://www.hdw-inc.com/treetraining.htm