Our little cats are famous for being independent animals and less affectionate than other pets, such as dogs. However, this is not entirely the case, since there are very dependent and affectionate specimens and others that are not so much. It is true that the nature of the cat is different from that of the dog, because after all they are totally different species, but this does not mean that cats cannot show their affection. In this sense, one of the ways they show us that we are part of their social group is to sleep between our legs or on them. This fact can mean many things, from affection or trust to issues of security, protection and comfort.
Does your cat engage in this behavior? If you want to know exactly why your cat sleeps between your legs, continue reading this article on our site to discover the main reasons.
Look for your heat
Our cats always look for warm places to rest, be it a radiator, their bed full of blankets or a place with sunlight, as they love good weather and good temperatures and do not tolerate heat too well. cold and currents, especially if they are specimens with short and fine hair or that directly lack it. The human body is a place that they see as warm and welcoming, something like a "walking stove", so if that stove is also static and calm on the sofa, in bed or a chair, whether reading, watching TV or with the mobile, some cats will not hesitate to climb on our legs to lie down and receive our warmth.
Although it can be done all year round, your cat will probably sleep on your lap more often in the colder months or when the sun goes downto receive your warmth and better withstand the cold.
Trust yourself
In the cat's nature, suspicion and mistrust abound, especially if when he was little he did not socialize well or has gone through some traumatic episode with humans at any time in his life. For this reason, if your cat sleeps between your legs, it is because he really trusts you and that you would not be capable of doing him any kind of harm. For example, if your cat sleeps with you, either on the bed, near you or on your lap, and also lets you touch his belly or turns on his back close to you, there is no doubt that your little feline trusts you completely
When they are asleep, although they maintain some consciousness, cats are much more exposed to dangers and "predators" because they have less time to react to aggression or danger. The same thing happens when they expose their gut, where their key organs for their he alth are located, and any blow or damage can seriously harm them. They know it and, therefore, when they are calm with a person it is because they have total confidence and certainty that they would be incapable of doing them any kind of harm. In this video we share more signs that your cat trusts you:
You feel protected
Derived from the previous aspect, when a cat trusts its caretaker, it does not hesitate to sleep between his legs. This, in addition to confidence, indicates that your cat thinks that you are going to save him from any adversity You feed him every day, clean his litter box, spend time playing with him, to his hygiene and affection, so he assumes that you will also be willing to defend him against any danger or threat that may occur. It is as if your cat were at home on top of you, feeling totally protected and safe.
This behavior can do it, in addition, it is common when a new animal is introduced at home, there are guests or new people in the home who are not entirely reliable or pleasant for the small feline, since with your caregivers or trusted people feel safe.
It is also common for cats that live with more than one person and consider both to be part of their family, to lie down between the legs of the two people seeking warmth and protection from the group.
He is showing you his affection
Cats show their affection in a unique and special way. Your cat may be very dependent and is constantly looking for you, showing you affection and asking for love, but in many other cases the signs of love are much more subtle. Among them, we can detect that they sleep near us or on our legs. In this way, without being very affective, these acts show great affection on the part of your cat, since they consider that you are a member of their social group, their family and their homeIt is a real demonstration of love from your cat that you should appreciate a lot.
It's comfortable
In addition to being a warm place, our legs are comfortable for them, especially when we don't have them in certain positions that allow them to have more surface to lie down and rest or rest your head. It's not the same as a bed, but sometimes our cats even prefer cardboard boxes to beds, so how can they not prefer to take a nap on our legs from time to time?
It has a preference for elevated areas
Did you know that cats feel much better and more secure when they control their entire space in high or elevated places?This is so because in this way they feel that they dominate, that they control their surroundings and that, in addition, they feel safer as they are more protected against threats. For this reason, it's a good idea to place high, safe places and shelves for cats.
Cats may rest or curl up next to you or at your feet, but they prefer to do so on your legs because they are higher up and have much better control. This is a fact and an explanation as to why your cat sleeps on your lap.
There is more than one cat
Lastly, when more than one cat lives in the home, the following situation may occur: one of your cats sleeps on your lap, the second one comes over and "throws" it out to lie down. For many years this type of behavior has been related to territoriality and dominance, however, feline marking is not usually carried out on other living beings and dominance only exists between animals of the same species. So why does it happen? Depending on the roles of each of the cats in the same group and the context, there may be one more dominant and another more submissive The dominant may claim the place of rest (in this case, your legs) and the submissive, to avoid conflicts, give it up. These roles are not fixed and can vary depending on many factors. We talk about it in this other article: "The dominant cat".
It is important to clarify that cats delimit their territory through olfactory marks that they can leave with urine, their claws or by rubbing parts of their body that emit certain pheromones. The latter is also used as a sign of affection and trust, which is why it is often confused with "territoriality". When a cat sleeps between the legs of its caretaker, it does not do so because of marking or dominance (remember that cats do not carry out this role with humans), but for the reasons mentioned above, that is, trust, the search for warmth, etc.
Now that you know the different causes, tell us, why do you think your cat sleeps on your legs?
