Why are all cats rolling onto their backs these days?

September 19, 2024 10:42 AM

I'm 63 and all of my life I had never seen a cat roll onto its back - until about 5 years ago when we got a shelter cat - she was 6 years old - and she rolls onto her back constantly - so we would pet her. Now I look on Instagram and I see so many videos of cats rolling onto their backs. What's going on?

My one theory is that a LOT of cats in the last few years have mixed with Ragdoll cats. IDK

posted by memoryindustries to Pets & Animals (38 answers total)

My first cat thirty years ago rolled onto his back and accepted bellyrubs (with eventual bunny-kicking) and most of the cats I've had since do it. I think you might just haven't had that kind of cat.
posted by restless_nomad at 10:49 AM on September 19 [25 favorites]

Maybe your current cat is more comfortable with you than other cats have been. Or maybe the previous cats were raised differently and were more afraid of people. Cats typically only show their belly to people they trust to some extent.
posted by limeonaire at 10:50 AM on September 19 [2 favorites]

As a data point my family has had cats since the 80s and all of them have rolled on their backs to a lesser or greater extent. None of them were ragdoll cats.

My understanding is that they do it primarily for stretching and, if humans are around, to indicate a willingness to/request for chin and belly rubs. And of course occasionally to grab onto your hand and attack because it's play time.

I would go the opposite to you and say I've not known a cat that DOESN'T do this, at least occasionally. Not sure why our experiences would be so different other than maybe your previous cats have been the nervous type?

The fact this cat does it with you is a good sign though, they're clearly comfortable around you.
posted by underclocked at 10:51 AM on September 19 [6 favorites]

I’m 60 and have had cats for most of my life. Almost all of them have regularly rolled onto their backs. In general it’s a sign of trust and an indication that they want to play or want their bellies rubbed.

Fair warning - it’s usually a trap. Only about 20% want peaceful belly rubs. 40% will accept limited belly rubs and then switch to wrestling with claws out. Another 40% are looking to immediately initiate wrestling with claws.

Some cats also like stretching out belly-up in sunbeams for the warmth.
posted by tdismukes at 10:54 AM on September 19 [12 favorites]

In my experience, it's always a trap. A soft, warm, floofy trap. The kitty tummy is a class D&D mimic, just waiting to bite you.
posted by ApathyGirl at 10:57 AM on September 19 [15 favorites]

Response by poster: Now I am wondering if the previous cats I have known didn't have to roll onto their backs because I would pick them up before it got to that and my current cat was in a situation for 6 years where she learned to roll onto her back to get the attention she craved from a less than ideal home - she was given up for adoption because "they couldn't take care of her".

Maybe all the cats I am seeing on Instagram have working parents and I have always worked at home and have been able to give my cats lots of attention 24/7?
posted by memoryindustries at 11:05 AM on September 19

Social roll (see the first embedded video here for a discussion).

As for nature vs nurture vs cats are weird, we have two littermates and one is ALWAYS rushing up to the door when one of us comes home and flopping on the floor in front of us. Usually with dramatic stretching. The other cat never does this (and mostly shows his belly when somersaulting in a lap or a cardboard box). Same household. Same cat mom (and probably cat dad? since they look very similar).
posted by spamandkimchi at 11:12 AM on September 19 [3 favorites]

Five years ago was The Year of Our Dreaded Pandemic, 2020. Maybe you've been home more since then, and around your cat much more, and so you simply have more occasion to see a cat lounging around. Along with more time to be on social media.
posted by cocoagirl at 11:21 AM on September 19 [4 favorites]

Cats communicate through body language. All cats role on their back because exposing the stomach is how all cats signal submission

When male cats fight over territory or access to Females, the fight ends as soon as one of them goes to ground and rolls over

Females cats do it during estrus to let male cats know they're safe to climb aboard. (Female cats are otherwise very aggressive to all comers)

Your cat rolling on its back was new only to you.
posted by BadgerDoctor at 11:47 AM on September 19 [1 favorite]

Every cat I've had (since the early 90s) has enjoyed rolling around on it's back - I don't think it has anything to do with a beg for attention per se. I had one cat who really enjoyed belly rubs, and he'd flip over after catching my eye as a way of indicating I owed him one. But other cats I've had seem to do it more for themselves, and will swat away any approaching hand. And as BadgerDoctor points out, I've had cats that would show their bellies to each other after play-fighting was over.

As for why you're seeing this on Instagram - well, it's cute. I myself have many photos of my cats stretched out with their bellies up.
posted by coffeecat at 11:52 AM on September 19 [3 favorites]

I'm 51, my first word when I was little was "kitty." I have never not seen this behavior from cats and I have always had cats. It's probably just one of those things you didn't personally take note of when you did see it.

You're seeing it on ig because it's adorable and sometimes the algo does provide.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 11:57 AM on September 19 [4 favorites]

Recency illusion? Cats are such quirky little creatures that I wouldn't be surprised at all if you'd previously encountered a whole series of cats that just weren't that into rolling onto their backs much. (My cats 30 years ago definitely did, though!) Whether it's kitty-loafing, sitting in boxes, purring, meowing, liking catnip, playing with string, loving tinned fish, or whatever, you can find cats that don't do it, and it wouldn't be that statistically improbable to run into more than one of them. I think it's a case where the behavior is genuinely standard/normal and you genuinely haven't encountered it much. (But I don't think it's a change.)
posted by wintersweet at 12:09 PM on September 19 [2 favorites]

Adorable selection bias.
posted by mullacc at 12:12 PM on September 19 [3 favorites]

I will say that my childhood cat never rolled over for belly rubs. She was declawed and my family insisted that she had to stay in our (finished) basement overnight when she was a kitten, so I think that even though we all loved her and were as nice to her as possible, we didn't develop that kind of relationship with her.

My current cat rolls over more when her arthritis isn't bad.

Honestly, I think contemporary cat behavior is probably moderated by contemporary pet-raising norms. There have definitely always been people who were super affectionate with their cats, did not declaw, etc, but when I was a child in an old-fashioned household in the eighties, it was also very normal to declaw and to be less thoughtful about what the cat might like out of life, so it would not surprise me if there was a lot more cats raised in a more distant way than there are now.
posted by Frowner at 12:13 PM on September 19 [7 favorites]

it can be a sign of trust, or it can be an invitation to blood donation.

I have had 3 cats, all domestic shorthair brown tabbies.

Cassidy: definitely an invitation to blood loss

Bellatrix & Herbert: why are you not giving me belly rubs 24-7-365???? I am an insatiable belly rub monster. (no blood shed or bunny kicks ever)

lots of it probably has to do with early kittenhood exposure to humans and safe gently tummy lovin'.
posted by supermedusa at 12:55 PM on September 19 [1 favorite]

It's also possible that a cat rolling onto its back is dang cute, and so it's more likely that those are the videos that are making it onto Instagram in the first place. In other words, you're not seeing an uptick in cat-belly-rolling videos because cats are suddenly doing it more often, you're seeing an uptick in cat-belly-rolling videos because the algorithm is screening out the cat-hairball-horking videos.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:06 PM on September 19 [4 favorites]

I really hope evolution is selecting for cats who like belly rubs!
posted by brookeb at 1:23 PM on September 19 [5 favorites]

If pictures of cats on their backs are actually more common, and I'm not convinced they are, I think it has more to do with how easy it is to take pictures of your cat now.

It used to be that if I wanted to take a picture of my cat, I'd have to get up and get a camera. That movement could cause them to shift into a more alert pose unless they were deeply asleep. I have a lot more pictures of my childhood cats looking at the camera than I do of them in more candid moments. But most of them did roll onto their backs too.

Also, if people like these photos more than they like photos of cats lying down in other positions, the algorithm is going to promote more of these photos.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 2:10 PM on September 19 [2 favorites]

I never saw cats doing this till recently. But I grew up in a semi-rural working class area where a lot of people had outdoor cats and treated them kind of like farm animals. I think this might have influenced how the cats interacted. The ones I see now seem to be super floof.
posted by Chaussette and the Pussy Cats at 2:32 PM on September 19 [2 favorites]

Point of clarification: are we talking about cats flopping into their side, rolling over to the other side, possibly a slow roll-over, but belly-up is in passing? Or just straight up lying there on their back with all four paws sticking up?

In my cat experience the first is a solid majority of cats; the second is a minority of cats.
posted by away for regrooving at 4:18 PM on September 19

Communicating submission is 100% the root of this behavior and my cat absolutely uses this to signal that she wants a rubdown. Like, any time she is not sleeping or eating, she is probably meowing at me, then marching to the particular spot on the carpet where rubdown must occur, and then *FLOP*.

Also, what Chaussette and the Pussy Cats said is on the money.
posted by polecat at 5:41 PM on September 19 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: This is what my current cat does - when I walk into the house after being gone, she greets me near the door and immediately flops onto her back and stays there, not moving, wanting me to pet her. Sometimes I don't because it would hurt my back to bend over and she is cool with that. She doesn't complain. And eventually will get up.

None of my other cats or friend's cats have done this and it is possible that, like Chaussette and the Pussy Cats, it is because I have spent most of my life living rural, my parents both grew up on farms with barn cats.

So I was thinking this might be behavior of fancy city cats. But IDK, I'm still reading comments and thinking about this.

No one I have ever known has had a purebred cat. Except my MIL who had a succession of childless (spayed) Siamese cats. I never saw any of them roll over onto their back. My MIL grew up among mining people in Deadwood Gulch, Idaho.
posted by memoryindustries at 5:44 PM on September 19

You can't compare cats you've seen all your life with cats on IG and draw a conclusion about generalized cat behavior changing on a large scale.
Cats rolling on their backs is cute and funny, so when it happens, people put it on IG.

There is also the fact that people didn't used to sit around filming their cats, and therefore didn't so closely observe them constantly waiting for an IG hit.
posted by ponie at 5:44 PM on September 19 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: ponie, no, but you can ponder it.
posted by memoryindustries at 5:46 PM on September 19 [2 favorites]

Is it possible that you're keeping your home at a warmer temperature now than in the past?

How stretched out vs. curled up a cat gets while relaxed or sleeping is a pretty reliable indicator of ambient temperature.

I've always had cats that rolled onto their backs since childhood, but I also prefer a warmer home.
posted by Jacqueline at 6:25 PM on September 19 [2 favorites]

I agree that "all cats are rolling onto their backs these days" as the title puts it is, if anything, an illusion of social media. But I will say that our cat who does this was socialized from kittenhood by a dog.
posted by ojocaliente at 6:35 PM on September 19

If anything, I think this might be more of a distinction between pampered, probably indoor only cats vs cats that are more independent. My current cat (adopted as a stray at 3 years old, not sure of his earlier history), loves belly rubs.

I was hesitant at first, because I had a cat growing up (20 years ago) who would roll over for belly rubs, and it was 50/50 if it was a trap. (With my cat now, it's not a trap.) However, this cat I had growing up was adopted by us as a kitten, and she was always indoor only. She definitely got fussed over and had more exposure to us compared to the 2 stray cats we picked up prior to her - those two strays were always more independent indoor/outdoor cats. (I would only ever have indoor cats now.)

So yes, I think there is some element possibly where cats who are treated more as a hands off, independent animal vs fussed over, indoor only cats who are treated just like you would treat any beloved pet may be more inclined to do the belly rub thing.
posted by litera scripta manet at 6:45 PM on September 19 [2 favorites]

All the cats I’ve had in the last 35 years or so have done this, though some more often or enthusiastically than others. I only really have photo evidence of it with my most recent cats, because now I have a camera in my pocket at all times and can take a million cat photos easily and for free.

The cats have all been shelter mixes, and mostly indoor cars, though a couple of them were former indoor-outdoor cats. Some of them have liked being picked up and others did not. Some of them wanted long periods of belly rubbing and some would let you get about ten seconds in before the belly rub turned sharp.
posted by Stacey at 9:12 PM on September 19

More anecdata. I had one cat who used to sleep next to me and would lie on her back with all legs splayed, but this was not an invitation to rub the exposed belly.

Current cat loves belly rubs when she's super relaxed. She likes all parts of her belly rubbed especially her foreleg pits. She's spayed though, so won't be passing down that genetic trait, if in fact this is nature vs. nurture
posted by brookeb at 9:15 PM on September 19

Another vote. I’m 46, had cats all my life, have been obsessed with cats all my life, have never seen a cat that didn’t do this.
posted by dmd at 4:32 AM on September 20

Farm cats do roll. I once knew four who all would. Not on wet or muddy surfaces, but they would roll as an expression of happiness.

There was a particular gravel path that they liked to roll on on warm days; I think they liked how it scratched their back.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:54 AM on September 20

So I was thinking this might be behavior of fancy city cats. But IDK, I'm still reading comments and thinking about this.

Just as a datapoint, I've never had a purebred cat. Barn cats, shelter rescues, cats born on acquaintances' property, cats from four regions of the US (Chicago, Texas, California, and Massachusetts), but none that I could point to and claim anything remotely resembling a "breed".
posted by restless_nomad at 5:11 AM on September 20

I like the notion that cats may be seeing this behaviour after seeing it demonstrated by feline influencers on instagram , and I very much suspect this may be the case.
posted by rongorongo at 5:30 AM on September 20 [1 favorite]

Our two cats are littermates we adopted as kittens, a male and a female. The male cat never rolls on his back, but when he wants attention he will find me and just flop against me. He does not flop if I'm not there to participate. The female cat will roll on her back and kind of wiggle, but she doesn't actually want us to pet her belly. She engages with us and acts like she wants us to pet her in one of her few allowed petting zones, but when we do touch her she'll shrink away. It's a complicated dance where I basically have to present my hand near her and let her come to it, but if I pet her too much after that she'll run away.

In conclusion, cats are a land of contrasts.
posted by fedward at 9:45 AM on September 20

Have had cats for more than 50 years and they have all rolled on their backs for belly rubs. No purebreds. With some it was indeed a trap but mostly it was a demand for some loving. My current pair - brother + sister will both lie on their backs for extended periods of time. I do think that non-working cats are more likely to be relaxed enough and indoors enough to do that compared to barn cats.
posted by leslies at 4:54 PM on September 20

Response by poster: To clarify - it isn't about cats rolling around - it is a specific behavior that my current new (to me) shelter cat does. She was 6 years old when I got her. WHat she does is, when I come home she flops onto her back on the floor, blocking my path, and she holds perfectly still. SHe doesn't roll around. I've never seen another cat do this. I have lived mostly rural. In the Pacific Northwest.

I thought maybe this is Ragdoll behavior. I have never met a Ragdoll cat. But I have heard they do this - how they got their name - because when you pick them up they flop on their back and go limp like a Ragdoll. SHe does this on the floor, but still.

I thought I don't think anyone can afford a Ragdoll where I live but maybe someone moved here with one and they started to mix in the population?

ANd to extrapolate - maybe I am seeing so many back flipping cats on social media because Ragdolls are mixing with populations all over?

Or maybe it is just the algorithm.

But back to my cat - just having some fun here pondering the possibilities of why she does this
posted by memoryindustries at 5:14 PM on September 20

But back to my cat - just having some fun here pondering the possibilities of why she does this.

Oh hang on - so it's really just your cat that is puzzling you? In that case - well, the best answer for "why does my cat do this" that we've ever been able to come up with, on this site or any other, is "cats are just weird, yo."
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:36 AM on September 21

My one theory is that a LOT of cats in the last few years have mixed with Ragdoll cats. IDK
"Owner" of two posh ragdolls here:
The (great) book "The World Without Us" talks about talks about what would happen over time if humans were simply to vanish one day. The author presents a well reasoned argument that our dogs would not do well: too fragile and pampered to out-compete more lethal, cunning and hardy predators. Cats on the other hand - would be arguably fine: being a little closer to their wild cousins, adept at staying out of trouble and at finding food in cases where there a no humans to nag. But ragdoll cats...I'm not so sure.. ours are super trusting of dogs, cats, humans. Their original breeder, Anne Baker, said that Ragdolls would go "limp in your arms like a child’s rag doll" - hence the name but that any scientific evidence to support this was "being surpressed by the government" -also that their long tails were derived from cross breeding with skunks and that there were evidence of a link between evidence and extra-terrestrials....

Our ragdolls are happy to roll on their back for games and attention, they are generally fine about being picked up but will let you know very clearly when they no longer are. I think maybe human's do value the traits of docility in ragdolls and other breeds, despite this not being great for the general welfare of the animals in the long term - and this may indeed lead to more cats that show this kind of very friendly trusting behaviour. So - I don't think your theory is inplausible at all.
posted by rongorongo at 3:42 AM on September 28