Kind of gross...could my cat be into this? (See details)

It’s not the blood. My cat is a male, and so am I, and he does the exact same thing. Now that it’s getting cold, he wants to snuggle up to me at night, and he licks my hands. I just think it’s his way of saying “thanks for keeping me warm!”

My dog does that (as well as chomp on my undies during that time).

I wouldn’t necessarily attribute the behavior to your menstrual fluid, but it’s possible.

@GeorgeGee Aw nice!

My cat’s also a girl if it makes a difference. Misty. 13 years old.

We have dead skin cells on our bodies animals find as a tasty salty snack so she likes the taste on your hands. I suppose cats can like blood, too. Animals are just very curious.

Yes, your cat is a perverted fetishist. No, of course not, some of them just like to lick. I had one cat that used to lick me a lot, a lot! and it drove me crazy, I had to push him away sometimes because he was such a licker, so much that when he got cancer I promised him that if he survived he could lick me as much as he wanted, because that seemed to mean more to him than anything. Yes, I talk to my cats; no I don’t really believe they can understand me. I just want to be clear on that one.

@lillycoyote That’s precious! Did he survive?

Yes, he did. He got his first had fibrosarcoma when he was 8. I used to know more about it when it was a bigger issue in my life, but it’s a cancer that kills, depending who you’re talking to, between 50% and 80% of cats that get it. It’s thought to be related to vaccines but I don’t know what the current science is. My vet told me that the tumor was probably a fibrosarcoma but that a biopsy might make the tumor “more angry.” I decided against the biopsy. I found a great veterinary surgical oncologist and told him to take out “as much cat” as needed to get “clean margins.” That was my understanding of how the tumor works. It will metastasize eventually but sends out “cancerous tentacles” sort of, that invade the rest of the body and kill the cat before it can metastasize. Anyway, I found this great surgeon, cost me an arm and a leg mind you, and he was able to get the tumor out with clean margins and Casper didn’t lose a leg. The guy was a real artist. He actually did have to cut a fairly large “chunk of cat” out to get it all but he did. Casper really had no problems resulting from the surgery though I was very good about following the post-surgical protocol. That involved making sure that he didn’t jump up on anything for at least two weeks. Easier said than done with a cat, as I’m sure you know. We built him a big crate of 2 by 4s and chicken wire that we kept inside the house. He was not at all happy about that but it kept him from jumping. Two weeks of meowing from him and heartache and irritation from me that you wouldn’t believe but he did very well. The fibrosarcomas came back with a vengeance eventually, but not until he was twenty years old. Pretty amazing. At twenty he just wasn’t up to the same fight he was capable of at 8. He died a year and a half ago at the ripe old age of twenty one. Not bad for a cat. He had a pretty good life, I think. And he licked away to his heart’s content after I let him out of the crate. What could I do? I made him a promise.

@lillycoyote That story just made my night. Thank you for sharing. :)

@bobbinhood This is Casper. A Siamese mix. He and his buddy Bugsy were about as good as it gets when you come to cats. I miss them both very, very much.

Well, cats are carnivores, so she probably does like the smell and taste of blood. But I’m a male and my wife is well past menopause. Still, my cat loves to lick my completely blood-free hands. There are two things besides blood that motivate her behavior. One is a true sign of affection. She’s grooming you as she does herself. That means she really likes you. And secondly, she likes the taste of the natural salt in your sweat. The fact that there is a taste there adds to her sense that you need grooming.

I dearly love cats and their personalities, and have become somewhat of the feline counterpart of Cesar Millan, The Dog Whisperer. The fact she will come under the covers with you and trusts you enough to let you snuggle and hold here while you two sleep shows she has an incredible level of cat trust. Cats in a litter love to curl up together to sleep. They love the shared body heat. But they know none of their kitten bed mates are heavy enough to squish them painfully should they roll over. Your cat is confident you won’t do that. That means she knows that her love for you is reciprocated.

The only thing I think you need to worry about is how long your hands can stand up to the action of that raspy feline tongue. :-)

Most cats that are raised by and who are close to their owners are like little kittens still. They haven’t gotten past that infantile stage yet, so they still act like kittens once in awhile. I had a cat for almost 19 years, and she used to like kneading me on the stomach and snuggling up and nudging me——like a little baby. So the licking behavior is probably just a comfort thing.

It’s salt she’s after.