Does your kitty like to bump heads with you? Have you ever wandered what it means when it does this? Is it love – or is it anger? After all, a human headbutting a human is definitely not a sign of love!
Technically headbutting is really head bunting. This is a social bonding behaviour that is used by cats. It is often intended to show friendliness and trust.
The reality is that your cat is headbutting you because they want to rub their scent onto you. Their scent on you will only be smelt by other cats.
Scent is used by cats to mark territory as belonging to them but it is also used for them to mark areas and people who are judged to be safe by them.
One of the main reasons that cats headbutt people and inanimate objects are to mark them as being safe.
If your cat tends to tuck its head down or turn to the side after it has headbutted you then it is most likely that attention is its goal.
If your cat has no behavioural issues allowing them to feel a bit of power over you won’t normally result in them. It may help your cat to feel safe.