Why do cats lick their owner?

[golondrina]

My cat Cucumella licks my face when I wake up in the morning and also my hands sometime during the day. It is something new she never did before. She has been with us almost 4 years but she was already adult when she arrived. I didn't know cats licked a person like dogs do. Is this a common habit? 

 

[2bcat]

She's grooming you. ;-) Or something. I don't really know how prevalent it is, but some cats do this to varying degrees. Only one of my two current cats has done this that I recall, and it's typically because she is sitting by my leg or hand and grooming and then "misses" so to speak. One of my earlier cats would lick my fingers, though, after I ate something salty and fatty like french fries. And I met a cat once who was pretty nonstop at licking if you let her be, to the point of being mildly annoying.

 

[daishain]

Grooming each other via liberal tonguing is a common show of affection among cats. I suspect that it isn't all that commonly done with humans due to a lack of actual fur.

Another possibility is liking the salty taste of your skin. I can tell you from personal experience that some animals will lick you half to death if they figure out just how much salt is in human sweat.

 

[tangerinemango]

I'm actually under the weather and while I was laying in bed, Butterscotch I think was trying to clean herself, but got my arm instead,

 

[michellerust63]

One of my cats lick me as well. But i heard somewhere that when you are sick cats tend to stick close to you as they can sense you are sick apparentely they tend to purr a little louder as well. "trying to heal you"

 

[golondrina]

Thank you for your replies. No, in my case it is not a question of missing when she is cleaning herself.  Her intention of licking ME is quite clear. Licking my face in the morning is a regular thing she is doing recently.  Licking my hands could be the scent present after cooking or washing my hands with a perfumed soap.  It is a new thing that started a couple of weeks ago. She never did this before and yet she has been with us for almost 4 years.