My kitty loves to lick

I don't know if my kitty is like the one I saw in the previous post that licks photos, but my 3 1/2 month old kitten, Milo, loves to lick both my boyfriend and I, me more so than my boyfriend.

Whenever we start to settle down at night, or even when he's being relaxed and petted during the day, he will often lick my hand, arms, and even face. He doesn't really compulsively lick anything else but that. He will often forgo being petted in his favorite area [his chin and chest] to lick my hand.

I don't have any residue on my hands. I thought he may smell food residue on my hands, but even when I wash them he still licks. Not just hands, but even my arms sometimes. And when he's on the pillow he will lick my chin and cheeks.


Is this just a sign of affection or mutual grooming behavior? Or is it that licking condition that was listed in another thread? It doesn't bother me, I've just never had any cats do this before.

My kitten is a licker too! Maybe it is a kitten thing?

I guess so. It's cute, but I was a tad curious about it since I've been around kittens and cats a lot, and none have ever done this before. Perhaps I should take into consideration that I never truly owned those cats I've been around [cats of friends, patients of the vet I work for, ferals I feed, etc...], so maybe it's a "lovey-dovey" action? Hehehe.

Also, there is a thread on this board about a condition called "Pica," which is compulsive licking. Normally the cat licks an inanimate object though...

I have several that lick, ranging from young to almost senior cats. Probably Da Lip is the worst as he has had 8 years to perfect his craft and he often sits beside me and licks my elbow (ICK - can take hand licking but elbow licking just feels weird). Da Magpie licks too, mostly hands and sometimes takes a swipe at my face. The tamer barn cats also do this, and they are all adult cats, so it isn't a kitten thing. What I have noticed, though is they go after freshly washed skin most often, probably to re-establish the coating of cat spit.....er to re-establish their scent.

Haha, I understand. Sometimes Milo loves to be lightly petted by a person's bare foot. The bottoms of my feet are EXTREMELY ticklish and thus if he decides to lick them I have to restrain my reflexes of kicking out and withdraw my foot, lol.

My two like to lick my hands but they only do this when my hands are slightly dirty, never freshly washed. They like the taste of salty sweat apparently.... It seems to be perfectly normal - many of my friends who have cats report that their cats lick them too

I am a first time cat owner and have found my little guy licks alot as well almost like a dog. But like someone above mentioned it is usually when he is settling down to sleep.
Had no idea cats licked as much as he does. But it is very cute.
Usually though licking can lead to nibbling and biting so try not to let him do it too much.