Feline Friend Finds Comfort in Unique Blanket-Twisting Trick

Quick Smiles:

• A puzzled cat owner seeks advice from the internet after their 7-year-old feline friend develops a unique habit of twisting a blanket into a spiral and holding it in his mouth.
• Amanda Campion, a clinical animal behaviorist, indicates this behavior is a self-soothing mechanism and could have been triggered by a change in the cat’s life, such as the owner going on vacation or the cat experiencing mouth pain.
• The online post about the cat’s unusual habit has attracted over 17,000 votes and 678 comments, with many users sharing photos of their own cats engaging in similar behaviors.

My cat makes blanket spirals. Why?
byu/bigmamjimjam incats

When a cat develops a strange new habit, it can leave their owners puzzled. This was the case for an online user, bigmamjimjam, who noticed their 7-year-old cat had started holding a twisted blanket in his mouth. This peculiar behavior only began six months ago, leading the owner to ask the internet community if anyone else’s feline friend had exhibited the same behavior.

Amanda Campion, a clinical animal behaviorist, provided some insight on the situation. “The cat might have done it one day and realized it felt good, soothed him, or gave him a dopamine hit,” she explained.

The cat’s owner seemed to agree with this assessment, sharing via online messaging: “We think he does it as a way to comfort himself, he makes it into a little spiral then uses it as a pillow. Very cute!”

Campion reassured that this behavior is not harmful to the cat, and owners should not disrupt this self-soothing behavior. However, she did caution that if the cat starts to eat the fabric, that would be cause for concern.

She further explained that the act of holding the blanket in his mouth could be a comforting throwback to the cat’s kittenhood.

As a behaviorist, Campion would work with the owner to determine why this behavior started six months ago. “Maybe there was a change in the cat’s daily life then,” she speculated.

The blanket-twisting behavior is similar to when cats knead or “make biscuits,” as some people like to call it. Both behaviors are self-soothing mechanisms that cats use to cope with stress, anxiety, pain, or boredom.

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