Why do cats nest

According to the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station division of Rutgers University, feline gestation typically lasts for a little over two months -- 63 days or so.

Throughout a healthy cat pregnancy, you may observe some key signs of the indication, from vomiting and drastically increased appetite to especially loving and clingy behavior.

You may also notice during the pregnancy that your cat's nipples are suddenly pinker in color and "fuller" in appearance due to the presence of milk. When a queen cat senses that labor is impending, she may start behaving in a much more restless and nervous manner than usual.

Beginning one or two days before the big event, a cat may start panting excessively and even circling your home with no apparent destination. All of these are preparatory actions. Your sweet cat knows exactly what's about to happen. Nesting also happens around the same time frame as the pacing and panting.

Declawing is a painful and potentially dangerous process. Learn more about declawing your cat. When all is said in done, kneading is a behavior we may never fully understand. Close Main Navigation Menu. Sign Up Log In. Hide Saved searches. By Jennifer Sellers, Petfinder contributor Cats are mysterious, fascinating animals, and one of the more curious things they do is knead. There are, however, a few theories: Kneading to show contentment or alleviate stress. Kneading to create a soft place to sleep.

Cats do, after all, tend to knead before sleeping. This, by the way, is similar to the theory that dogs turn around in circles before lying down because their wolf ancestors would do so to flatten grass in their resting places. Cats often perform this motion — sometimes called "kneading dough" or "making biscuits" — on soft surfaces, including pillows, blankets, other animals and even people. It's unclear why cats knead, but a number of hypotheses exist.

The most oft-repeated explanation states that kneading is a leftover behavior from kittenhood. During nursing, a kitten will knead the area around its mother's teat to promote the flow of milk.