Unusual Purring

My cat has a bed at the bottom of the closet in my bedroom. Whenever I go to sleep (and he comes a bit later) I can hear him start purring. This happens almost everyday and I saw him once and he was going up and down with both of his front paws. I think this is called kneading. He does it for about 5 minutes then goes to sleep.

Is this normal? I heard that cats never purr when they're alone (I am about 10 feet from him though).

Thanks.

Hello and welcome to TCS!

My boys will do the same thing, although they're more likely to purr when they're close to me.

My Jack purrs and kneads every night when he's settling down

All three of ours knead and purr before they lay down to go to sleep.

Kneading mimics what kittens do to stimulate milk from their mothers, and the prospect of a meal makes them purr in that instance.

Of all the cats I've owned, a great many had this habit, and it's almost always connected to the kitty finding a soft, comfortable place, (such as a blanket), which sets the kneading process in motion. I'm sure it has something to do with memories of kittenhood, when they did likewise to get a meal from mama.

Pepper purrs if he is kneading his cow (it's a stuffed animal). Petunia will follow me around purring sometimes. They are strange kitties !

Shermie purrs when he sees me get home. It seems that he even purrs in his sleep. LOL He also likes kneading really fuzzy blankets!

Nacho can be all the way across the room, all I have to do is look at him and he starts up.

Yep, Sebastian does this, too. He has his own soft, fluffy pillow on "our" bed. When we go to bed at night he kneads it for about 5 minutes or so then lays down to sleep.