My cat licks my skin

[wzr12331]

Everytime she can get to my skin, she licks it(carefully, with passion, not like when she is drinking)

She likes to go under my hand after she is done licking and fall asleep in the reach of my hand.

Sometimes she can't even sleep unless i take her to bed with me.

She likes to watch TV, see what i am doing in my computer, etc. I feel like she is taking me as her mother (although i am a teen guy)

Is this normal, and what does it mean

 

[jennyr]

SHe is grooming you because she sees you as her family. Not all cats do it, and some grow out of it eventually. My Ellie used to lick and even suck on any bit of bare skin she could get to - quite embarrassing at times when she left marks on me!

 

[-_aj_-]

Yeah I agree its because she sees you as family sweet isn't it my two do it to me and my better half

 

[otto]

All perfectly normal behavior. I sleep with my three cats every night, one in my arms, one pressed against my neck and one under the covers by my legs or stomach. Jennie is my skin-licker, and And they all follow me around from room to room. Welcome to TCS, I look forward to hearing more about your kitty.

 

[stephanietx]

Both my girls are lickers.  They will lick my hands mainly, but Hannah and Daisy will both lick my hair.  Tumbles will occasionally groom me, but not often.
 

 

[alyce]

I think its very normal and I agree with it being possible that she is grooming you.  It's also not rare for cats to be endearing and to show close companionship like that.  I adopted my cat from a shelter when he was 8 weeks and he will suck/gnaw/lick my hands and I think it might be because he was fed from a bottle at the shelter and he relates human hands with being fed from a bottle when he was a baby kitten.  I'm guessing the first people that fed him (assuming his mother wasn't there to feed him naturally) probably let him gnaw on their hands and that is how he developed the habit from a young age.  I wouldn't worry about your cat doing that.  It's 100 times better than having an "attack" cat looking at the other end of the spectrum.   

 

[dewpuff]

My cat licks everyone in the family - especially if you get close to him when's grooming himself, but even if you're just patting him or you put your hand out to sniff. He licks anywhere - hand, arm, face, hair. I once had a pair of male cats that groomed each other, but not us. I think it is a sign of affection for and/or comfort with you.

 

[denise mackie]

It is my humble (cats do that to you) experience and opinion that your cat is 'grooming' you.  It is a HUGE compliment, believe me, not all do it.  My new little kitty Dotty (watch this space cos I'm trying to get her used to the new name Lady) is 2 years old, I adopted her on Monday, (day before yesterday) and she tonight started just licking my hand and head butting me.  This is definitely a sign of affection (well, tolerance at the very least lol) and I always, always say thank you and pet cats when they do this.  If a cat is overdoing as one of my old cats used to, I just gently picked him up and put him on the floor, if he came back to me and started again I would repeat this until he learned that when I moved him away once that was it and then I would reward him with a treat for learning that. Enjoy it if it is not excessive and be proud that your puddy is showing this kind of love and tolerance of you in it's home............. cos it is the cat's home, s/he just lets you live there!

 

[catspaw66]

I agree. It is a sign of acceptance and affection.  Cats in a colony or family will groom each other.  In fact, right now Julie is washing Sugar on my computer table and I am stretching across both of them to type.

Be glad that you have been given the status of cat by him/her.