Ok. Can any one tell me why 'snuffling' at my cat enrages him?

[NirvannahCrane]

If I have the cat on my lap and I make 'snuffling noises' at him, it sends him completely batshit! I don't do it very often but can anyone tell me why this is?

Is it an aggressive gesture in Cat Language or is my cat just an idiot?

Disclaimer: I know my cat is an idiot...there are many varied and wonderful reasons he is an idiot(he's currently head first in a box with his arse in the air) but is it a 'thing' cats hate??

Can you all have a close up snuffle of your cats and see if they go barmy?

[TheSilveryPussycat]

QuietTiger you might be on the right lines. It might mean 'fancy a bit' to some felines, 'fuck off' to others, and 'humour/ignore that crazy human she's been on MN' to yet others. Perhaps we need a breakdown by gender, age and neutered-status?

On this theory mine is either too old, or knows me too well...

[Rhubarbgarden]

Large one shot me a wild-eyed look and ran away. Small one started purring and went flat.

[NirvannahCrane]

Ah. Many thanks for the results.

I'm actually goint to go with QuietTiger's theory that it is the feline equivalent of Fuck You.

Viva I cannot tell you how I discovered this cat-foible. I can't remember why I first did it or what prompted the inagural snuffle. But I did it and he HATES it. I haven't done it in a while as it's only a matter of time before he gets a luccky paw-strike and I end up in Emergency Opthalmic surgery.

HazeltheMcWitch I am NOT putting it on YouTube, even in the interests of making sure you are all snuffling correctly. I don't mind you lot thinking I'm a Cat-Snuffling loon but I'm not having digital, video, there-for-bloody-ever internet evidence of the fact!

When I do it to Step-Cat, an ancient black female, she eyes me with indifference. The only think that can get a reaction from her is an over-enthusiastic furmination of her tail area...

[NirvannahCrane]

I've remembered why I was snuffling the cat in the first place.....I was trying to do Cat Yodelling. I failed.

[TheSilveryPussycat]

Oh what utter joy :) And now I've seen it, I think DCat might well have it in her to yodel - since I know she can get annoyed

[Stephenie]

OMG!!!!! Best thread ever!!! I used to do this to my cats who I had to leave with my ex husband but my boy cat (Dali) used to go mental when i did it, he would start by running over to me and just rub his face all over mine and then slowly become more and more silly and end up lying on the floor and just rolling over and over and half playfully and half not playfully attack with his paws, my girl cat (Willow) wasn't really bothered by it!!!!

To think I joined this site to talk about the problems of ttc but have now ended my evening giggling and with lovely memories of my gorgeous kitty's is brilliant!! Thank you NirvannahCrane for starting this thread.

[SummerRainIsADistantMemory]

Oh, I'm so going yo try that with grey kitten.... She makes that howling noise every time I pick her up so I won't even have to get her annoyed to try it.

Will report back when I've tried it... Hopefully I'll still have both eyes and ten fingers left

[Fluffycloudland77]

I didn't like that video at all. I thought it looked a bit cruel really.

[SummerRainIsADistantMemory]

Fluffy.... Depends on the personality of the cat.

Two of mine love a bit of rough cuddling, two of the others like it as long as they're not being held, the fifth hates it.

The two that love it will come looking for it and purr like lunatics.

You can tell by the way those cats in the video behave towards the men that they're not scared of them.

Like I said one of mine yowls every time she's picked up.... Doesn't stop her climbing my legs looking for cuddles!

[NirvannahCrane]

Fluffy, I think the three cats in the video were just so daft and laid back that they really didn't mind being yodelled/dressed up/exposed to engineers. Those two guys have made other videos where they do daft things to the cats...if the cats disliked it, they'd make their feelings known.

SummerRain the trick to keeping all your extremities is to gaffer-tape kitchen paper round the cat's paws