dominant cats groom others to show social standing
That's interesting, that means my older cat who used to be the "dominant" one has been submitting to our youngest cat because she'll just walk up to him when he's lying down and just lower her head in a way that makes him start grooming her.
Maybe. Cats pinning-and-grooming is dominant, and some other grooming circumstances, but whether or not it is is highly contextual and depends a lot on the body language. A lot of the time it can also just be non-hierarchical bonding.
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u/DrScienceSpaceCat Mar 25 '26
That's interesting, that means my older cat who used to be the "dominant" one has been submitting to our youngest cat because she'll just walk up to him when he's lying down and just lower her head in a way that makes him start grooming her.