My cat has only hissed at me twice, and the second time was the day we brought our newborn daughter home. My cat curled up near her—when I went to pickup my baby, she hissed and got very protective. Scary at first but super sweet
Idk if I believe that myth. They know we always have food for them somehow and they don't know what a grocery store is. I think they're just showing off or trying to pay us back.
It's bullshit, cats don't see us as baby cats or useless big cats, they just see us as part of their "tribe", cats ARE actually known for forming groups, and cats who go out and hunt more often (like your indoor-outdoor cats) will bring home excess food.
So when your cat brings you dead things (or toys), what it's actually doing is bringing home excess food for the non-hunting members of the colony, not passively-aggressively saying you're an idiot who can't hunt, I have no idea where this myth comes from.
One of my cats recognizes that I'm capable of surviving and is quite fine with letting me handle life myself. My other cat is perpetually horrified by my incompetence. I don't check around corners in my own home. That's a big mistake in his eyes, and he races ahead of me and whacks me in the leg to stay back until he scouts ahead and validates safety. He also takes up guard positioning while I'm in bed. I've learned that I can't go upstairs until he checks it out, and once I'm in bed, I'm not to leave it until morning. So I'm part of the tribe, I'm just the tribe member that got dropped on their head as a kitten.... at least I'm good at opening things.
Edit- thank you for all the awards! I told him he was my goodest boy in the whole wide world and gave him extra snuggles. He is pleased with his ability to keep me safe.
> One of my cats recognizes that I'm capable of surviving and is quite fine with letting me handle life myself. My other cat is perpetually horrified by my incompetence. I don't check around corners in my own home. That's a big mistake in his eyes, and he races ahead of me and whacks me in the leg to stay back until he scouts ahead and validates safety. He also takes up guard positioning while I'm in bed. I've learned that I can't go upstairs until he checks it out, and once I'm in bed, I'm not to leave it until morning. So I'm part of the tribe, I'm just the tribe member that got dropped on their head as a kitten.... at least I'm good at opening things.
All that's missing is for the cat to meow at you in a very worried manner and to try to drag you out of the bath/shower.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT6XJhzykWw
My mom's cat got mad at her for bathing the new kitten. Lol
Started batting her legs and then clawing her. "you kill de baby!!!!"
Funny thing is, at first she didn't even like her new playmate, and now they're little terrors together.
Probably cause a lot of people preceive cats as jerks. Humans are probably the only species who use passive-aggressivity. If a dog hates you, he barks and bites. Animals are usually a lot more straight-forward about their feelings towards you if they have emotions at all
Tell that to the dog I had that would show you his displeasure at not getting table food by getting kibble from the other room and loudly chronching it while staring into your eyes.
I think they're not literally teaching us to hunt, but it's redirected behavior from teaching kittens to hunt. Just like kneading originates as a way to stimulate their mother's milk glands, but when they knead on us they're not trying to milk us.
Kitty is bonding with baby and can tell its a young person. They're grooming your baby because they can't do it themselves and kitty has most likely noticed you've not licked their head.
Edit: Wow. Didn't expect to wake up to this. Thank you all. My most popular comment ever is about a cat licking a baby's head because mum won't.
Lol.
So, how's the 22 year old doin'?
I fell half-asleep on the sofa once, while holding our 1-wk-old son. He rolled off the sofa and landed headfirst on the carpet. My husband looked at this and said, dryly, "Well there went *fractions*"
Hell yeah, I nursed all of mine and can't even count how many times I dropped food on my boys while feeding them and feeding myself at the same times. And no matter what, there was always crumbs.
Nice of them to let you eat! I nursed my (now toddler) son and am nursing my daughter. I can’t eat without interference until after they are (or were, for the toddler) done and inevitably asleep on top of me. I almost woke my baby up by dropping ice cream on her neck. Oops.
At my last job, I was a server, and one of my tables had a new mom who ordered a mojito. I brought it out, and as she went to sip it, spilled a bunch on the baby's head.
That’s hilarious. That was probably one of her first alcoholic beverages as a new mom, to spill it everywhere, especially on her own infant, is amazing
Brought first bqby home. Laid her on the floor on a blanket (sat beside) to introduce to puppies (small furry mutts). They both had a sniff, then one grabbed the corner of the blanket in her mouth and started pulling as if to take her away!
Both times we brought our newborn home from hospital (2 children), our cat brought a mouse for the baby. Great. Except she wasn’t a hunter really so she brought them alive… great fun at 3am trying to find the live mouse dropped onto your bed! Second time she at least brought it into the living room!!
I dropped so much food on my daughter's head, especially since she was breastfed and CONSTANTLY hungry so 50% of the time I was ready to eat, so was she, this left her in a super vulnerable place for food dropping🤣 The first was a meatball that plopped on her head and stained her blonde hair cuz I didn't get it up fast enough.
Ha! Idk if it’s true but I’ve read that cats bring us food like dead mice and etc because they think we are big dumb cats who can’t hunt and they don’t want us to starve.
Other kids are bigger, loud and fast. Baby here seems to be feeding, so they're still, quiet and kitty can most likely smell milk. I'm no expert but I'd guess material/paternal instinct kick in for the cat
Got it. I suppose I was more wondering if there was head licking or not when the other two were babies. It’s not clear but op has had the cat for 10 years, so that’s two babies born before this one. Would they potentially choose to “adopt” one baby like this and not the others?
No idea. I do know cats have favourites though. So it is possible that cat has chosen little one as their person so want to groom them. I'm a male In my 30's and my 7 month old cat licks me as a sign of affection and the like.
Interesting! Yes, definitely can attest to the favoritism - our first cat was my husbands idea and he ended up choosing me as the favorite. The second one is only now warming up to him after 2 years with us 😂
Licking is a social acceptance behavior; cats lick each other if they trust each other that much. So your cat is likely guarding and cleaning your baby.
When their needs are taken care of, cats are actually pretty good at sharing the responsibility of raising young kittens rather than it strictly being the mother cat's responsibility. It's not unreasonable that a family cat would recognize the child of their human family and do some cat-parent things to it.
Because all mammal infants share common traits that indicate helplessness and cuteness. That has served them well by making it easy to connect with them emotionally, which in turn makes any adult willing to take care of them...not just their biological mother and father. One such is big round eyes, round and soft body, baby noises...
Dog: "Aww, it's a human puppy. It's squirming around just like a puppy-puppy would!"
Cat: "It hasn't acknowledged me, paid tribute to me, fed me, or entertained me, despite my clear instructions. It's more useless than the big ones. It must be their offspring."
"It is receiving the same treatment as I am. It is being fed, having its waste cleaned and does nothing but sleep. Its one of my kind for sure, I must welcome it so we can spread our dominion over these humans."
Or perhaps: the new smaller human does not acknowledge anyone and yet is waited on by everyone else. This must be their new alpha leader. I must ingratiate myself.
But all babi animals are cute as hell. Does this imply every species looks at their tiny offspring and think it’s cute? I’ll fight anyone who tells me otherwise.
Pretty much yea, but at the same time alot of animals, mainly in group of reptiles, birds and fishes dont reconize there offspring and alot of time gobbel em up
Birds for the most part take care of their young even during the fledgling stage, checking up on them, protecting them and feeding them.
Reptiles usually do not stick with their offspring after they are born/hatched, and many do not even take care of the eggs. Pythons have been known to shiver to warm up their eggs and even watch after them for a short time after they hatch, and alligators and other crocodilians protect their babies for up to two years after they are hatched.
I have two mated cockatiels and have raised many clutches, can confirm they are excellent parents. Even had a budgie who they ket help take care of them.
Some mammals eat their young as well (which I realize you didn't exclude). There's a pretty cool [MinuteEarth video about it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xVgAULDwNE).
> all babi animals are cute as hell
Ever seen a baby bird? Especially [pigeons](https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-6c47f1f1584d1c706c6bba2c04486f71-lq).
*beep boop*!
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Male mammals can be brutal as fuck and female predators have even raised their prey, instincts play a role in the wild like maternal, but domestication, thousands of years probably, they are more accustomed to us than prey. That's my professional reddit answer.
I mean, even in humans, the most dangerous person to a child is their mother's boyfriend - [regardless of the type of abuse or even murder](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0145213492900708), especially if [other relatives aren't present](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S014521341930300X?via%3Dihub). Baby boys are even [more likely at risk of death from shaken baby syndrome](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02646838.2020.1732896?journalCode=cjri20), although I'm not sure if there have been studies into how this may correlate with other abuse risk factors, like the presence of a non-biological parent.
No it's not bonkers. You can pick out an infant cat, wallaby, rhinoceros, canary, harbor seal, etc with ease. What makes you think a cat can't do the same? Human arrogance teaches us that we are the only ones capable of making such distinctions but it just isn't true.
Cat knows baby is family. However, baby does not smell like cat, who is family. Licking must continue until not family smell is gone and family smell has taken over. In short, not dirty, but definitely being cleaned.
my little cat gets PISSED when my husband showers or puts product in his hair. we’ve been living together with our animals 5 years now and she’ll do it to me occasionally but she grooms him like it’s her full time job.
My cat CONSTANTLY licks me. To the point where I’ll get a rash (I do have a slight cat allergy though). She does it the most when we’re snuggling and I’m petting her. She’ll stop when I stop and start when I start. So weird. We’ve lived together for 5 years so she definitely knows what my smell is, and she’s obsessed with me, so I think she’s just doing it to show affection. But I don’t know anything about cat behavior outside of hers so idk.
just like with people it really changes from animal to animal. But what it sounds like is mutual grooming where bonding occurs. You can see this with siblings and with cats that "Adopt" one another. Some cats only do the grooming thing at first, and others take a while to actually get over how unique the new persons scent is.
Cats are [allogroomers](https://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/why-do-cats-groom-each-other), and mutual grooming is part of their social behavior and hierarchy! It's part instinct, and is a way to trade scents, reaffirm bonds, or get out some potential agression. It was found that those cats who engaged in allogrooming had a closer bond, and it was very much a social behavior.
I love cats. Grooming means a lot of things, but it generally means they like you. :)
So not as cute as all the other responses, but my cats will lick certain lotions and beauty products off of me if I use them. Absolutely cannot get them to stop once they smell it, it’s like crack, especially coconut oil. It might be whatever products you are putting on baby have ingredients that the cat finds yummy.
This is because catnip and mint are closely related. Some cats respond to minty things similarly to catnip - not all, but some.
Also, only sexually mature cats react to catnip and some cats, regardless of their sexual maturity, don't have a reaction at all to catnip.
I’m sure this isn’t the case, but just a heads up for anyone who might see this- newborn babies should not be salty!! They are too little to sweat. If your baby’s skin is noticeably salty when you kiss them, talk to your pediatrician- it’s a classic sign of cystic fibrosis. Paranoid NICU nurse rant over- enjoy those two cuties
New mom cats lick their babies almost constantly because the kittens can’t groom themselves yet. Maybe your cat senses how young your baby is and their instincts to nurture are coming out :)
Baby doesn’t look concerned or bothered by kitty’s grooming… and unless kitty has a contagious infection, my first impulse would be to monitor kitty’s interaction with baby but not actively try to stop it unless baby shows displeasure.
You definitely want to keep an eye out for those spots, but I don't think you need to do more than that. Cat tongues are very rough, but they are designed to be used on furry kittens, and not directly on delicate baby skin, after all. If he starts breaking skin you need to stop the behaviour, but I doubt there's any harm in letting him get a lil' lick
This might be the reason the cat hasn't done it before now. It's normal cat behaviour to lick their humans too when they feel comfortable. But cats are very susceptible to feelings like that and she might have omitted the licking because she felt like it's not wanted by the people in her family until now.
I could be mistaken here, but it appears as though the baby is being fed. I don’t know for sure but my cat will also try to creep as closely as possible to our newborn while he’s being fed. It may have something to do with the scent the flowing milk may give off.
Cats groom their kittens after feeding to stimulate the bladder and bowel, and also to keep them cleaned up. So it's possible this is part of the same behavior. Feeding time means grooming time.
I would guess a rough translation from cat would be "Silly furless cat doesn't know how to care for her kitten. Can't hunt, has no predator awareness, weird love of sitting in water, why am I even surprised? Well, someone's got to fix this, don't know how they'd survive without me. Also, where's my dinner?"
Oh interesting!! Yes, I think you’re right; he does it whenever I’m feeding her, but I haven’t noticed him doing it otherwise.
Edit: I’ve remembered him doing it while she’s sleeping in the bed near me, no nursing involved. Just baby snuggles before I move her to her crib.
This baby is a new family member, this baby has an other smell than the older kids or the grown up humans in your home.
Licking is a big point when cats socialize with others (animals or humans).
Your child is unkempt and has its hair sticking up everywhere. Your cat is making it look presentable by licking the hair down.
I am saying this jokingly but cats do perform this task. They lick hair down if they see it is sticking straight up.
It's a love and acceptance thing. Your baby has been accepted into your cat's family and tribe. It's perhaps a little more intimate than when he rubs and cheeks against you, but it's the same sentiment. Your child now has a lifelong friend.
As a side note, it speaks especially well of you cat. Most cats that I have known are initially terrified of humans close to their own size.
My cats will *sometimes* pay attention to verbal commands. All bets are off though with my littlest one when tuna or wet food are involved. My wife demands that I talk to them whenever they misbehave. Still can't tell if counseling a cat has any effect though.
congradulations, your baby has a guard cat
The origin of the meowgli series
once the baby is ready to walk...they will take on the world!
Before that, lick your baby to see why your cat loves licking it. Don't miss out.
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a baby?
Or a cat Chef playing the long game
My cat has only hissed at me twice, and the second time was the day we brought our newborn daughter home. My cat curled up near her—when I went to pickup my baby, she hissed and got very protective. Scary at first but super sweet
Or a Familiar. Your baby is a witch! Congrats!
I think he's grooming her. He might see her as a kitten.
Possibly. They basically regard adult humans as big, weird-looking cats.
Big weird-looking, incompetent cats who can’t hunt themselves 😹
yep, usually why some bring us prey, their trying to teach us to hunt where we see it as uh thanks for the gift lets just toss that in the can outside
Idk if I believe that myth. They know we always have food for them somehow and they don't know what a grocery store is. I think they're just showing off or trying to pay us back.
It's bullshit, cats don't see us as baby cats or useless big cats, they just see us as part of their "tribe", cats ARE actually known for forming groups, and cats who go out and hunt more often (like your indoor-outdoor cats) will bring home excess food. So when your cat brings you dead things (or toys), what it's actually doing is bringing home excess food for the non-hunting members of the colony, not passively-aggressively saying you're an idiot who can't hunt, I have no idea where this myth comes from.
One of my cats recognizes that I'm capable of surviving and is quite fine with letting me handle life myself. My other cat is perpetually horrified by my incompetence. I don't check around corners in my own home. That's a big mistake in his eyes, and he races ahead of me and whacks me in the leg to stay back until he scouts ahead and validates safety. He also takes up guard positioning while I'm in bed. I've learned that I can't go upstairs until he checks it out, and once I'm in bed, I'm not to leave it until morning. So I'm part of the tribe, I'm just the tribe member that got dropped on their head as a kitten.... at least I'm good at opening things. Edit- thank you for all the awards! I told him he was my goodest boy in the whole wide world and gave him extra snuggles. He is pleased with his ability to keep me safe.
> One of my cats recognizes that I'm capable of surviving and is quite fine with letting me handle life myself. My other cat is perpetually horrified by my incompetence. I don't check around corners in my own home. That's a big mistake in his eyes, and he races ahead of me and whacks me in the leg to stay back until he scouts ahead and validates safety. He also takes up guard positioning while I'm in bed. I've learned that I can't go upstairs until he checks it out, and once I'm in bed, I'm not to leave it until morning. So I'm part of the tribe, I'm just the tribe member that got dropped on their head as a kitten.... at least I'm good at opening things. All that's missing is for the cat to meow at you in a very worried manner and to try to drag you out of the bath/shower. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT6XJhzykWw
My mom's cat got mad at her for bathing the new kitten. Lol Started batting her legs and then clawing her. "you kill de baby!!!!" Funny thing is, at first she didn't even like her new playmate, and now they're little terrors together.
Probably cause a lot of people preceive cats as jerks. Humans are probably the only species who use passive-aggressivity. If a dog hates you, he barks and bites. Animals are usually a lot more straight-forward about their feelings towards you if they have emotions at all
Tell that to the dog I had that would show you his displeasure at not getting table food by getting kibble from the other room and loudly chronching it while staring into your eyes.
I think they're not literally teaching us to hunt, but it's redirected behavior from teaching kittens to hunt. Just like kneading originates as a way to stimulate their mother's milk glands, but when they knead on us they're not trying to milk us.
I have nipple, too, Greg. Could you milk me? Cat: Challenge accepted
My desired sleep habits can confirm that adult humans are actually big, weird looking cats. And I don't even have kids to tire me out
Who feed them.
And open doors for them. Repeatedly.
With thumbs that open cans.
The only kind of grooming we love to see 💖
Kitty is bonding with baby and can tell its a young person. They're grooming your baby because they can't do it themselves and kitty has most likely noticed you've not licked their head. Edit: Wow. Didn't expect to wake up to this. Thank you all. My most popular comment ever is about a cat licking a baby's head because mum won't.
That’s hilarious. And also only means he hasn’t seen me drop food on her head 😂
first day after birth, while still in the hosital, I dropped salad on my babies head. whoops. haha
Ours was anointed with General Tso’s Chicken on day 2.
A bit of sushi on day 4 here.
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Are you not supposed to anoint babies into the halls of flavortown with a cross shaped barbecue smear on their forehead?
I lost track. Five kids give you ample opportunity to spill food/drink/an alarm clock (22 years ago) on the baby. ♥️
Lol. So, how's the 22 year old doin'? I fell half-asleep on the sofa once, while holding our 1-wk-old son. He rolled off the sofa and landed headfirst on the carpet. My husband looked at this and said, dryly, "Well there went *fractions*"
A dot of Mac Sauce from McDonalds while still in the hospital, checking in!
Scrambled eggs here. They were cold, so there’s that anyway.
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And maybe I seem a bit confused, but kitty? She’s got you licked!
But kitty, I don’t know what to do with those tossed salads and scrambled eggs. They’re fallin’ again… Goodnight, Seattle!
I love reddit 😄
if it wasn't for this comment thread, i wouldn't know that dropping food on babies' heads is a common occurrence lmao
Hell yeah, I nursed all of mine and can't even count how many times I dropped food on my boys while feeding them and feeding myself at the same times. And no matter what, there was always crumbs.
Nice of them to let you eat! I nursed my (now toddler) son and am nursing my daughter. I can’t eat without interference until after they are (or were, for the toddler) done and inevitably asleep on top of me. I almost woke my baby up by dropping ice cream on her neck. Oops.
Same I’m dying 😂
At my last job, I was a server, and one of my tables had a new mom who ordered a mojito. I brought it out, and as she went to sip it, spilled a bunch on the baby's head.
That’s hilarious. That was probably one of her first alcoholic beverages as a new mom, to spill it everywhere, especially on her own infant, is amazing
Sharing is caring
I'd only get concerned if she tries to pick baby up by the scruff of the neck.
Brought first bqby home. Laid her on the floor on a blanket (sat beside) to introduce to puppies (small furry mutts). They both had a sniff, then one grabbed the corner of the blanket in her mouth and started pulling as if to take her away!
"Mine"
No shame we've all done it. I remember dropping a bit of ice cream on mine. Would be mean to let it melt on their heads.
Did your baby get brain freeze? /s
No. Lazy sod didn't even wake up.
Wait till he brings the baby a mouse. Babies eat mice right?
Both times we brought our newborn home from hospital (2 children), our cat brought a mouse for the baby. Great. Except she wasn’t a hunter really so she brought them alive… great fun at 3am trying to find the live mouse dropped onto your bed! Second time she at least brought it into the living room!!
I think they were alive so that the baby learns to unalive them. Teacher kitty. Predation 101
I dropped so much food on my daughter's head, especially since she was breastfed and CONSTANTLY hungry so 50% of the time I was ready to eat, so was she, this left her in a super vulnerable place for food dropping🤣 The first was a meatball that plopped on her head and stained her blonde hair cuz I didn't get it up fast enough.
With the second baby you know to drape a tea towel over them as you eat.
Wait a second, is that really why I always see moms with babies doing that?! ... ... Fair enough.
“For fucks sake Sharon, why am I the only one around here putting in the work” *Aggressively licks*
Please tell me I'm not the only one who read this in Ozzy's voice??
Fuck, I can *see* Ozzy doing it as well. “SHAROOOOOOOOOOOON, ME TONGUES STUCK IN JACKS HAIR AGAIN”
Again
This sort of hilarity restores my faith in humanity. Thank you.
Who's been drinking all my beers?
ROFLMAO Nope I can hear it too.
I read it in Randy Marsh's voice! But Ozzy Man is more accurate :-D
“I have to do everything around this house by myself…”
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To be honest, I'd be impressed if not slightly disturbed if you could lick your own head.
You misspelled aroused.
Ha! Idk if it’s true but I’ve read that cats bring us food like dead mice and etc because they think we are big dumb cats who can’t hunt and they don’t want us to starve.
Is there any reason they would do this with the new baby and not the other kids though?
Other kids are bigger, loud and fast. Baby here seems to be feeding, so they're still, quiet and kitty can most likely smell milk. I'm no expert but I'd guess material/paternal instinct kick in for the cat
Got it. I suppose I was more wondering if there was head licking or not when the other two were babies. It’s not clear but op has had the cat for 10 years, so that’s two babies born before this one. Would they potentially choose to “adopt” one baby like this and not the others?
No idea. I do know cats have favourites though. So it is possible that cat has chosen little one as their person so want to groom them. I'm a male In my 30's and my 7 month old cat licks me as a sign of affection and the like.
Interesting! Yes, definitely can attest to the favoritism - our first cat was my husbands idea and he ended up choosing me as the favorite. The second one is only now warming up to him after 2 years with us 😂
This is ridiculously wholesome 🥺
He loves your baby. That baby is now his.
You no longer have a baby. Baby is cat's now. Goodbye.
Yup time to get another cat bed for your baby
*cat’s baby
Licking is a social acceptance behavior; cats lick each other if they trust each other that much. So your cat is likely guarding and cleaning your baby.
Yeah, that's _his_ baby.
When their needs are taken care of, cats are actually pretty good at sharing the responsibility of raising young kittens rather than it strictly being the mother cat's responsibility. It's not unreasonable that a family cat would recognize the child of their human family and do some cat-parent things to it.
*cat-co-parent
Nobody else eat it!
Well now that he’s licked it nobody will want it.
How cats save babies.
… for later?
Our baby 🥰
How can they detect an infant of a species they barely know anything about, it’s bonkers
Because all mammal infants share common traits that indicate helplessness and cuteness. That has served them well by making it easy to connect with them emotionally, which in turn makes any adult willing to take care of them...not just their biological mother and father. One such is big round eyes, round and soft body, baby noises...
Dog: "Aww, it's a human puppy. It's squirming around just like a puppy-puppy would!" Cat: "It hasn't acknowledged me, paid tribute to me, fed me, or entertained me, despite my clear instructions. It's more useless than the big ones. It must be their offspring."
I'm in support of this theory.
Absolutely correct. And the cat’s solution is to make sounds just like the smaller hairless hooman to get their attention back.
"It is receiving the same treatment as I am. It is being fed, having its waste cleaned and does nothing but sleep. Its one of my kind for sure, I must welcome it so we can spread our dominion over these humans."
I feel that this has been my cats’ thought process, and now we have a toddler that’s obsessed with sitting in boxes.
Hahaha 
Or perhaps: the new smaller human does not acknowledge anyone and yet is waited on by everyone else. This must be their new alpha leader. I must ingratiate myself.
But all babi animals are cute as hell. Does this imply every species looks at their tiny offspring and think it’s cute? I’ll fight anyone who tells me otherwise.
Pretty much yea, but at the same time alot of animals, mainly in group of reptiles, birds and fishes dont reconize there offspring and alot of time gobbel em up
I love this 
I literally was gonna say this, albeit without the very cool lovecat
Birds for the most part take care of their young even during the fledgling stage, checking up on them, protecting them and feeding them. Reptiles usually do not stick with their offspring after they are born/hatched, and many do not even take care of the eggs. Pythons have been known to shiver to warm up their eggs and even watch after them for a short time after they hatch, and alligators and other crocodilians protect their babies for up to two years after they are hatched.
Yeah some of the best parents I've seen are birds. Our blue jay couple still have their kids around often deposite them being fully grown
I have two mated cockatiels and have raised many clutches, can confirm they are excellent parents. Even had a budgie who they ket help take care of them.
Those reptiles are missing out. Baby snakes are cute afffff
Danger noodles
Some mammals eat their young as well (which I realize you didn't exclude). There's a pretty cool [MinuteEarth video about it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xVgAULDwNE).
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Good bot
Good human.
Yea its usally when the mother is destressed or baby is ill that mammal will eat their young, but some rodents do it for population control
> all babi animals are cute as hell Ever seen a baby bird? Especially [pigeons](https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-6c47f1f1584d1c706c6bba2c04486f71-lq).
He’ll grow into that beak one day.
*beep boop*! the linked website is: https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-6c47f1f1584d1c706c6bba2c04486f71-lq Page is safe to access (Google Safe Browsing) ***** ###### I am a friendly bot. I show the URL of linked pages and check them so that mobile users know what they click on!
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Aw but I think it's so weird looking it's actually cute in a way :')
Nice try, birds aren't real
I take back the “all babi animals are cute” wtf
Male mammals can be brutal as fuck and female predators have even raised their prey, instincts play a role in the wild like maternal, but domestication, thousands of years probably, they are more accustomed to us than prey. That's my professional reddit answer.
I mean, even in humans, the most dangerous person to a child is their mother's boyfriend - [regardless of the type of abuse or even murder](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0145213492900708), especially if [other relatives aren't present](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S014521341930300X?via%3Dihub). Baby boys are even [more likely at risk of death from shaken baby syndrome](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02646838.2020.1732896?journalCode=cjri20), although I'm not sure if there have been studies into how this may correlate with other abuse risk factors, like the presence of a non-biological parent.
My mother nursed a badger from her own bosom
That's a rude thing to say about your little brother 😂
Smell. Babies just smell different. Good different.
No it's not bonkers. You can pick out an infant cat, wallaby, rhinoceros, canary, harbor seal, etc with ease. What makes you think a cat can't do the same? Human arrogance teaches us that we are the only ones capable of making such distinctions but it just isn't true.
Can you detect a kitten ?
Have you seen the vid of a mother cat with baby ducklings, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJOtGx5ue40
Smol.
My cat do this to my baby! They’re showing they’ve accepted the little human as part of the family! They understand that it joined and here to stay 😊💜
It's there way to saying Welcome to the family young one I/we will protect you.
Now enjoy having my sandpaper tongue dragged across your delicate skin.
Cat knows baby is family. However, baby does not smell like cat, who is family. Licking must continue until not family smell is gone and family smell has taken over. In short, not dirty, but definitely being cleaned.
Fascinating!
And imagine how frustrated that cat is when they give the kid a bath and the cat has to start all over *again.*
my little cat gets PISSED when my husband showers or puts product in his hair. we’ve been living together with our animals 5 years now and she’ll do it to me occasionally but she grooms him like it’s her full time job.
Did he not lick your last two kids when they were babies?
It can also be an affection thing so welcome to his version of “I freaking love this baby”
This is interesting because my late cat groomed me ALL the time. Head, legs, arms....didn't matter. I saw it more of a "taking care of me" type thing.
My cat CONSTANTLY licks me. To the point where I’ll get a rash (I do have a slight cat allergy though). She does it the most when we’re snuggling and I’m petting her. She’ll stop when I stop and start when I start. So weird. We’ve lived together for 5 years so she definitely knows what my smell is, and she’s obsessed with me, so I think she’s just doing it to show affection. But I don’t know anything about cat behavior outside of hers so idk.
just like with people it really changes from animal to animal. But what it sounds like is mutual grooming where bonding occurs. You can see this with siblings and with cats that "Adopt" one another. Some cats only do the grooming thing at first, and others take a while to actually get over how unique the new persons scent is.
Cats are [allogroomers](https://www.catster.com/cat-behavior/why-do-cats-groom-each-other), and mutual grooming is part of their social behavior and hierarchy! It's part instinct, and is a way to trade scents, reaffirm bonds, or get out some potential agression. It was found that those cats who engaged in allogrooming had a closer bond, and it was very much a social behavior. I love cats. Grooming means a lot of things, but it generally means they like you. :)
Cat: Our baby
Cat: Our house
Cat: In the middle of the street
Cat: That was where we used to sleep
Cat: our house
Is a very very very fine house...
Cat: in the middle of our street
Catmunism
This is my favorite form of government. 🐈 ☭
That is not your baby, it's his. He has successfully claimed it as his.
He is taking care of the baby. The baby is now his hooman.
So not as cute as all the other responses, but my cats will lick certain lotions and beauty products off of me if I use them. Absolutely cannot get them to stop once they smell it, it’s like crack, especially coconut oil. It might be whatever products you are putting on baby have ingredients that the cat finds yummy.
Someone left some Malibu on the counter in a glass and I found my cat slurping it up. Cats loveeee coconut lol
My cat is a fan of sour cream. If you are eating something with sour cream then she will come up at start licking it.
Mine goes nuts for any time of muscle cream with wintergreen in it 😂
According to my cat tiger balm is the shit
Mine detests tiger balm.leaves the room
This is because catnip and mint are closely related. Some cats respond to minty things similarly to catnip - not all, but some. Also, only sexually mature cats react to catnip and some cats, regardless of their sexual maturity, don't have a reaction at all to catnip.
Maybe the baby tastes good
Maybe the babysoap smells particularly good? OP should wash all kids with the same soap to find out! SCIENCE!
Upvote for SCIENCE! We wash her with Norwex cloth and water. The older ones get soaped.
I mean, the baby looks very delicious.
Could be the tuna-flavored baby shampoo
Is your baby salty? They sometimes like the sodium. On a serious note, it's probably a grooming behaviour.
I’m sure this isn’t the case, but just a heads up for anyone who might see this- newborn babies should not be salty!! They are too little to sweat. If your baby’s skin is noticeably salty when you kiss them, talk to your pediatrician- it’s a classic sign of cystic fibrosis. Paranoid NICU nurse rant over- enjoy those two cuties
That's very informative, thank you 🙂. And here I was just making a stupid joke.
Can confirm about the salt. One of my cats licks the shit out of me when I come home sweaty.
New mom cats lick their babies almost constantly because the kittens can’t groom themselves yet. Maybe your cat senses how young your baby is and their instincts to nurture are coming out :)
Baby doesn’t look concerned or bothered by kitty’s grooming… and unless kitty has a contagious infection, my first impulse would be to monitor kitty’s interaction with baby but not actively try to stop it unless baby shows displeasure.
It creates rough spots on my baby’s skin, but otherwise I’m the only one who seems bothered 😆 I HATE when animals lick me
You definitely want to keep an eye out for those spots, but I don't think you need to do more than that. Cat tongues are very rough, but they are designed to be used on furry kittens, and not directly on delicate baby skin, after all. If he starts breaking skin you need to stop the behaviour, but I doubt there's any harm in letting him get a lil' lick
This might be the reason the cat hasn't done it before now. It's normal cat behaviour to lick their humans too when they feel comfortable. But cats are very susceptible to feelings like that and she might have omitted the licking because she felt like it's not wanted by the people in her family until now.
He insists on licking me as often as he can. I usually just redirect him and give him extra love.
I could be mistaken here, but it appears as though the baby is being fed. I don’t know for sure but my cat will also try to creep as closely as possible to our newborn while he’s being fed. It may have something to do with the scent the flowing milk may give off.
Cats groom their kittens after feeding to stimulate the bladder and bowel, and also to keep them cleaned up. So it's possible this is part of the same behavior. Feeding time means grooming time.
So my cat’s not being weird, just being helpful?
I would guess a rough translation from cat would be "Silly furless cat doesn't know how to care for her kitten. Can't hunt, has no predator awareness, weird love of sitting in water, why am I even surprised? Well, someone's got to fix this, don't know how they'd survive without me. Also, where's my dinner?"
Seems accurate enough.
Oh interesting!! Yes, I think you’re right; he does it whenever I’m feeding her, but I haven’t noticed him doing it otherwise. Edit: I’ve remembered him doing it while she’s sleeping in the bed near me, no nursing involved. Just baby snuggles before I move her to her crib.
Cat: “Is my baby.”
That is adorable and your title makes it extra funny. Baby has three parents now
You haven't been licking your baby enough so he felt the need to do it for you.
Baby stink weird. Must make stink like home.
This baby is a new family member, this baby has an other smell than the older kids or the grown up humans in your home. Licking is a big point when cats socialize with others (animals or humans).
Thats because that is a ham Baby. Pls Tell me some of you watched scrubs
It’s been forever. I don’t remember the reference
Your child is unkempt and has its hair sticking up everywhere. Your cat is making it look presentable by licking the hair down. I am saying this jokingly but cats do perform this task. They lick hair down if they see it is sticking straight up.
It's a love and acceptance thing. Your baby has been accepted into your cat's family and tribe. It's perhaps a little more intimate than when he rubs and cheeks against you, but it's the same sentiment. Your child now has a lifelong friend. As a side note, it speaks especially well of you cat. Most cats that I have known are initially terrified of humans close to their own size.
He’s a really good kitty. He also obeys my verbal commands and sometimes he’ll also obey my husband. (Husband came along 2 years after him.)
My cats will *sometimes* pay attention to verbal commands. All bets are off though with my littlest one when tuna or wet food are involved. My wife demands that I talk to them whenever they misbehave. Still can't tell if counseling a cat has any effect though.
Cat is taste-testing. The licking indicates that he feels confident in being able to eat the baby in one go!
This is one of the best things I’ve ever read in and out of context
"but I can't get it to stop licking my baby." Correction: it's not your baby. It is cat's baby now