Showing bellies...

[nekoha]

For those who don't know, I live in Japan. A week before I left to get my cats in the States, my DH and I went to the vet. While there we picked up a Japanese cat behavior magazine to browse. Well, we just looked at the stuff for sale and put it aside, but my hubby read it last week and now we are in disagreement!

This magazine (written by Japanese vets) claims that when you are petting a cat and it shows its belly, that means "No more, thanks." I say - "Since when?!" When Piccalo and Pounce roll over during a good petting, they want their bellies petted, too!

Obviously, I am a silly human who forgot about that soft, tender part of their anatomy!!
So, which is it?! Are they saying "Stop!" or "Pet this!"???

 

[strange_wings]

It depends on the cat. If it's a cat that likes belly rubs it's an invitation to rub their belly. In a cat that doesn't like belly rubs it's something along the lines of "Look, I'm cute. Acknowledge it and give me your full attention". There may be something in there about the power of the belly, too, who knows.
Between friendly cats in play, one will do that to signal to the other for a time out and it means more of "ok, I'm done. I'm no threat". Between two cats that aren't close it's more of a "I'm harmless. Look, here's my belly, I'm not in a fighting stance".

I'm guessing the magazine article writer confused cat to cat language with cat to human language a bit.

 

[phillygal]

It so depends on the cat. I've read that cats are incredibly sensitive in that area and some really enjoy being touched there and some really dislike it. It would appear that even though they are showing their bellies, they are not necessarily inviting attention!

I pretty much steer clear. All of the cats that have owned me have not been crazy about belly rubs. Since Buddy is sensitive to more than cursory petting anywhere, I think I can pretty much guess how he feels!

 

[strange_wings]

Originally Posted by PhillyGal

It would appear that even though they are showing their bellies, they are not necessarily inviting attention!

If your kitty is rolling around on the floor in front of you or rolling over on their back they do want attention from you. Even the non belly rub cats want attention - just not belly rubs. With those kitties, talk to them or grab a toy and play.

 

[sherry526]

When dear Gracie, my bridge kitty (07/09/10

) rolled on her belly, she wanted me to rub it. She loved it. She'd lay like that all day for rubs if possible. Oh, how I miss her still...

But, when Pirate rolls on his belly, he doesn't like me to rub it at all, he's just saying he loves me to pet him, and he's just snuggling in for me to keep petting his head and back, and like strange_wings said, it's a "give me your full attention" message.

When Pirate is playing with Sarah, and he gets a little too rambunctious with her, she'll go from playing to a hiss, and that's Pirate's cue to roll on his belly to say, 'I'm just playing, Sarah, see? I'm harmless." At that point, the playing resumes, and they're rolling around together again.

I guess it does depend on the cat!

 

[nekoha]

Reading these replies has been great!

I agree that it does depend on the cat, but my experience has always been that it meant "Pet my belly!" As a rule, though, I only touch my cats' bellies, so my experience is pretty limited, though I have had at least one cat my whole life.
My husband reread the article and it was actually claiming that if your cat rolls onto its back during a petting session, that means it wants you to stop. Again, it probably depends on the cat, but I know both my cats are just letting me know that I am missing the softest part!

Thanks for weighing in!

 

[kwren]

in all of ours right now it means rub my belly... but our rb kitteh percy (and my rb kitteh marmalade) would do this as a ploy to get our hands down there so they could grab with both paws and force us to play by any means necessary. usually it involved claws! i'm actually surprised we have so many belly-cats now, in the past most of my cats have not wanted their bellies fiddled with.