Cat purring with flat ears?

adering

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As I sit here at home going stir crazy, I have more time than usual to spend with the cats. And I have more time to observe them. What is going on when my cat has his ears flat against his head while I stroke him, purring audibly (him, not me). Is my cat broken? Have I been patting and stroking cats wrong all this time?
 

Furballsmom

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Hi!
My boy will flatten his ears when he anticipates that I'm going to pet his head, to get them out of the way so to speak.

On the other side of things, do you have a lot of static and maybe you're sparking him?
 
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adering

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Nope. Once in a while, I'll go to boop him on the nose and there'll be a static zap, but for the ear thing, this is over a five-minute period (at which point, I'm kind of petted out).
 

Furballsmom

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It could be static buildup that's making him a bit uncomfortable over time - try having a damp cloth nearby and dampening your hand inbetween a few strokes, and see if that doesn't make a difference.

If not, maybe he's just keeping his ears out of the way :)
 
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adering

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I'd like to think that he is holding his ears back to make the stroking more efficient. Like how I put on my sweat pants before sitting down to eat a huge order of Chinese food.
 

Jem

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One of my current cats flattens her ears as I'm petting or scratching her head. But she loves getting attention and I know it's just her "giving me better access", for lack of a better explanation. Just like when I scratch her butt she lifts it and sticks her tail up, or when I scratch in her "armpit", she'll stretch her leg right up so I can get under there. And also when I scratch her chin/neck, she stretches her head/neck as far back as she can. The whole time she purrs, eyes closed, kneads and sometimes even starts to drool, so I know she's loving it all.
 
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