why does my cat touch my face with its paw

by Chairman Meow estate dictator, reluctant columnist, who reaches out to touch a face only when he has decided it is his

You are asleep, or nearly, and a small soft paw reaches out and pats your cheek, gently, deliberately. It is one of the most disarming things a cat does, and unless there are claws involved, it is almost always affection with a request folded inside it. Here is what the paw is saying.

it is reaching for you on purpose

A paw laid softly on your face is a cat making contact, the feline equivalent of a hand on your arm. Paws are among a cat's most sensitive tools, full of nerve endings, and using one to touch you gently is an intimate, trusting gesture, not a casual one. Many cats do it during a cuddle, or as they drift off beside you, a small anchoring touch to say you are here, I am here, this is good. It goes hand in hand with the wider affection signals I set out in signs your cat loves you.

or it wants something, and you are the vending machine

The other common reason is delightfully blunt: the cat wants your attention and has decided your face is the button to press. You have stopped stroking, or you are asleep when there is a perfectly good breakfast to be served, and a paw to the cheek is a polite but pointed nudge to correct the situation. It works, too, because you always respond, which is precisely why the cat keeps doing it. You have trained each other, and only one of you realises it.

the face-patting party in question

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a soft paw, and the rare hard one

Nearly all of this is warm and welcome, and there is nothing to fix, only to enjoy: a cat touching your face has chosen you as its person. The one exception is the paw that arrives with claws, or the pat that becomes a swat, which is a different message, a play impulse or an overstimulated cat asking you to stop, and that belongs with the wider subject of why does my cat bite me. But the classic gesture, the gentle pat on a sleeping cheek, needs no interpretation beyond the obvious one. Your cat is fond of you, and it would like you to know, or to wake up, or both. Reach up and touch it back. It will pretend not to care.

Related reading from my desk: signs your cat loves you, of which the reaching paw is a small clear one, and why does my cat knead me, the other thing those paws get up to.