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My wife fosters kittens. Often, she'll have a litter of kittens and the mom cat. The kittens often knead, but the mom often will too. Thanks to evolution, mom

My wife fosters kittens. Often, she'll have a litter of kittens and the mom cat. The kittens often knead, but the mom often will too. Thanks to evolution, mom cats are hormonally rewarded for taking care of their kittens. When the kittens are nursing on mom, she often looks totally blissed out like a raver in an ecstasy puddle, eyes half-lidded, staring off into space, paws kneading away at nothing. I assume that kittens evolved to knead because it stimulates milking and then cats just make that association with the act and feeling good, so they retain it later in life.

dokem 3y ago
Only tangentially related: when I was a kid we let a couple stray female dogs sleep in our garage during the winter. One of them was pregnant and ended up delivering like 11 puppies in our garage. Both the mother and the other stray dog began lactating and both dogs would breast-feed the puppies. We gave away all the puppies around the neighborhood. We took one, so did our aunt and a family friend. It was an interesting experience to get to see how different dogs from the same litter and different environments grew up. When they would get together you could tell they remembered/knew each other. I still miss that dog - literally experienced his entire life :(
tiffanyg 3y ago
... are nursing on mom, she often looks totally blissed out like a raver in an ecstasy puddle ... I KNEW IT! Females are nothing but addicts, looking to get their next fix of baby giggles, cuddles, kneading, ... and babies are nothing but the other part in this codependence travesty! Oh wait... ...that's literally everyone (/ everything). Paging Dr. Maslow...
- imbnwa 3y ago
  Or all mammals