For Throwback Thursday here is Frankie with his blankie in January 2015. He still does this to this day and is a hoot to see.
Frankie has this very cute habit of holding a blanket in his mouth and kneading. He especially likes our fleece blankets. We have one on the bed in the back bedroom that always seems to be messed up when we get home in the evening. One night we even found the blanket in the living room.
While I was up late on New Year’s Eve, I noticed Frankie was making biscuits on the bed. I don’t know how long he was doing it before I saw him but I recorded him for over ten minutes after I noticed him. Here is a shortened version of that video.
We call it “marching” in our house but most people call it “making biscuits,” “kneading,” “treading” or some variation. What do you call it?
Related posts:
Meet Frankie, Our Newest Addition
The Woobie
Photo Friday: Making Biscuits
Bad Cat Chris 
Catster and Wikipedia have some theories of what “making biscuits” is all about. I’ve heard most of them before but I think the answer is there are a VARIETY of things that it may all be about. Anyway, Sammy did that when he was very tiny – he was only 4-5 weeks old when we adopted him. Teddy isn’t a biscuit maker but he is a “dancer”. He did that when we first saw him at the shelter – prancing in place – but just for a couple of minutes – usually when he WANTS something like a treat! LOL The video is absolutely riveting though – talk about being “into” it, Chris is a champion marcher/biscuit maker indeed!!!!
Hugs, Pam
I think I read that they do that as kittens when they are drinking mom’s milk. Perhaps the kneading helps the milk flow. I don’t remember.
Exactly – I read that as well. Sometimes if they’re taken away from their Mom too early this behavior continues – they keep trying!
True. Tigger used to suck on his brother Flash’s belly when they were kittens.
Pumpkin (my youngest) makes biscuits on my stomach before she will sit in my lap. She does it forever, too! If I interrupt her and ask her to please just sit down, the ‘kneading’ process starts all over again. Cats–gotta love ’em!
My Abbey used to do that on my lap. We call it marching. Abbey would “march” on my stomach while lookin in my eyes. My wife would always joke that she was in love with me.
“Making biscuits” is what we always called it. Frankie has real dedication!
Sometimes that goes on for ten minutes or more.
That was some serious biscuit making, in four paw drive no less!
Frankie is an Olypic level biscuit maker. 🙂
dood….kneadin iz what we callz it heer in de land oh trout…N we canna see yur moovee…. ???
may bee itz thiz pea sea ~~~~~~~~~
Oh, that’s too bad.
Frankie brother Rumpy has his own Pot Holder to make biscuits on as otherwise he will dig into Dad. Yeah he likes to do them on Dads tummy. You do the Full Body Biscuit! Cool!
Chris likes to knead on bare skin, which hurts.
Aw, it’s like he’s still showing his kitten side.
It is cool that they retain some of their kittenness through adulthood.
Our angel Spooky used to do that, the rest just make muffins with 2 paws and nothing in their mouth.
I think the basic two paw method is most common.
All of my cats have “kneaded” something, including my lap but, your video was…different. I’m embarrassed to say what it looked like to me.
Yes, some have suggested it is sexual in nature but little kittens knead while sucking on a nipple for milk so mayby he is just reinacting his kitten days.
I wouldn’t argue that point. The actual kneading is a kitten memory, bringing forth milk. Then there is the flexing of the paws and claws (cute how they rhyme), similar to the need to scratch and shed nails. But, what struck me was his body posture and the blanket in his mouth. The biting is kitten-like in suckling but, biting is also done during copulation. Males bite females necks as, from what I understand, the deed isn’t all that much fun for girl kitties with “the spines” and all (much like wild boar males). Did you get Frankie as a kitten?
We adopted Frankie when he was three. I don’t know his back story. He didn’t even have a name. Just a number.
I can’t prove it but, my guess is, he wasn’t neutered as a kitten (six weeks? ten weeks?). I suspect he mated at least once and was neutered later. He likes to take off which indicates to me that he was a stray but, cared for by someone as an outside cat (human socialized). He wasn’t captured as feral and fixed because his ear isn’t clipped.
Just my three cents worth…
Actually, he has a notch in his ear. It is very subtle and could be from a fight but I think he might have been fixed as a stray and the vet put a notch in his ear.
Ah, well, there you go.
I don’t think we really have a name for it, but my friend calls it the Dinky Paw Stomp. 🤣
🙂
That is a particularly cute version of what I call kneading
Thanks. I think kneading is the standard term