You may think caressing your cat is a good way to show him or her you care, but your kitty may not agree.
A new study suggests that some cats don't like it when their owners pet them. In fact, it may actually stress them out, according to research published in the journal Physiology & Behavior.
Researchers from the UK, Brazil and Austria examined the levels of stress hormones in cats that lived alone, in pairs or in small groups in the same house.
They found that the number of felines living under one roof doesn't predict their anxiety levels.
"It seems even if they are not best friends, cats may be able to organize themselves to avoid each other without getting stressed," Daniel Mills, a professor of Veterinary Behavioral Medicine at the University of Lincoln, said in a release.
Researchers also discovered that kittens under the age of 2 who lived on their own experienced more stress than those that were surrounded by other cats.