Mother cats groom themselves and their kittens to teach them how to stay clean and healthy. When your adult cat grooms itself near you, it might be echoing this instinctual behavior.

"A happy cat will have a normal appetite and thirst," Dr MacMillan confirms. "Cats that are depressed, anxious, or unwell ...

"Excuse me! That's an adorable style. My extra spicy long fur cat gets that exact cut, under sedation, of course!" one user ...

The drive to groom themselves is so strong that, in a 2000 study, if a cat was prohibited from grooming for 72 hours, a 67% increase in oral grooming would take place in the following 12 hours.

Learn about proper cat grooming including brushing your cat's fur, cat baths, and clipping your cat's claws.

Cats can groom themselves, so it may come as a surprise that brushing them is an important part of keeping them clean. Brushing your cat is one of the best ways to bond with them while keeping ...

Cats groom themselves a lot - and sometimes it can become excessive - why ? It has been estimated that cats spend up to 50% of the time that they are awake grooming themselves. So grooming a lot may ...

The drive to groom themselves is so strong that, in a 2000 study, if a cat was prohibited from grooming for 72 hours, a 67% increase in oral grooming would take place in the following 12 hours.

Cats may also groom themselves "as a stress-relieving behavior," Vitale said. "Sometimes this can turn into over-grooming, in which the cat licks itself so much that patches of fur go missing.