Why does a cat roll onto its back for you?

Does your cat do this for you? When you enter a room where your cat is lying asleep, you may see them roll onto their back, stretch out their legs right down to their toes, yawn, utter a small vocal greeting and then stare intently at you - upside down!

Minnie does. But when I take up the obvious invitation to stroke her tummy, her stare turns into a glare, she utters a very disgruntled protest and flips over as fast as she can. No amount of coaxing and cooing will persuade her to return for a bit of affectionate ear scratching. 

A cat’s soft belly is the most vulnerable part of their body and by exposing it to you they are sending a very strong signal of trust.

However, you may see a slight twitching of the tail, even while their belly is exposed. This indicates that your cat is experiencing a fairly strong conflicting emotion - to stay exposed and trusting, or to go with their instinct and protect their vulnerable underside?

Because of this conflict, the act of touching their tummy as you go to stroke it proves too much and instinct drives your cat to flip over - like Minnie - or to lash out and swipe at your hand!

So as you mop up the blood from multiple scratches don’t scold your cat - praise them for the trust they place in you! Spite and malice played no part in their attack - it is simply the irresistible power of their instinct driving them to protect them in their vulnerability.