Don't stroke your cat.

Somebody got paid to come up with that?

A large quantity of aged testicular matter, IMO.

I'm not surprised the poor pussies got stressed, having a bunch of blokes measuring your stress hormones and pretending to be friendly.

I think Soop should send Rory to give them a short sharp shock.

What a load of twaddle. Cats adore being pampered. Well, ours does.

That contradicts everything we have been told about stroking pets. I think a good stroke is soothing for both pet and owner. This is just a load of rubbish (I am being polite.)

I'm with phoenix on this!

Can we have the Wimbledon emoticon back please?

I wonder where they found their sample of cats? I can imagine some 'wired' cats sending out hostile vibes as soon as they cottoned on that some twits in lab coats were scrutinising them!

Piffle.

When my late cat, Sam, sat on my lap being stroked, he sometimes seemed to get so blissful that his purring sounded like singing (Mozart's cat duet?) and he became so ecstatic that he had to go and sit on another chair to calm down. Was that stress? I don't think so. He certainly seemed happy. In fact, he was the most laid back cat I ever met.

Male cows droppings

All the cats I have known have positively asked for strokes. And if purring is a sign of stress, I want to be that stressed!

Do you need to be stroked then, Greatnan?

That's as good as saying dogs wag their tails because they're NOT pleased to see you as they're fed up with being given STUPID treats!

And the next time my cat jumps on the bed and headbutts me because she wants to be stroked I'll tell her to b****r off because I don't want to increase her anxiety levels.

Greatnan I was being polite too, in my own way.......

Actually, in all seriousness, cats do sometimes purr when under stress, Maurice purrs at the vets but the tell tale sweaty paw prints on the examination table give him away.

This does not of course mean that purring is a sign of stress per se. Maurice will often present his tummy to be stroked (really handy when you are trying to get on with preparing supper) and if stroked sufficiently he gets so ecstati-cat he dribbles.

Digby has his own funny little ways. He will suddenly decide that he must have a pick-up cuddle, and will continually get under your feet or between you and where you are trying to get to until you give in.

He seems to be particularly in need of this when he has just come in from the rain

Do your cats jump on your computers to stop you ignoring them? Mine did and my daughter's does.
Yes, Anno, I do need a bit of a stroke, but I will get plenty in December - plus some purring from the cats and tail-wagging from the dogs. The chooks are always glad to see me as I feed them - I haven't met the horse yet. Oh, and the family are quite nice to me too.

Yes, often find myself trying to type over/under a mog who had decided to ponce about on the desk!

Cats in the wild, unlike dogs, are solitary creatures except when they have cubs or are looking for a mate. Whereas dogs use physical behaviour as a way of bonding within their social group. I would imagine that the desire to be stroked goes back to when it's a kitten and they look on the owner as a surrogate parent [?]. They certainly purr when ill or under stress so I'd imagine stroking [ie licking] is seen by them as a reassuring gesture when they're under stress [??]. Just thinking out loud here by the way [obviously]. If you want a cat to come to you, you ignore it [that's why people who go into cat homes and don't like cats end up with them all sat on their lap; if you look at them it's a sign of aggression]. Complicated creatures, cats. I'd imagine that they also bond more with their home [ie territory] than their owners. Saw a programe about that recently but blow me if I can remember what I heard .

Tara my cat loves being stroked. Cats can purr when they are in pain or stressed but most love the personal attention from their owners. Tara loves to lie across the keyboard, me stroking her with one hand and typing with another. She is another head butter asking for attention.

I had a ginger who purred when he was puzzled about something.

And when they do something which makes them look silly, they look around to see if anyone has noticed and then lick their bottoms [I think Mog the Cat does that in one of her books ].

My cats love to be stroked. What they don't like is strangers in their home, let alone touching them. They would probably also dislike a gadget that measured their hormone levels. This piece of research sounds to me as if it's coming up with the feline equivalent of white coat syndrome when people have their blood pressure measured.