Is a Los Gatos cat’s lack of purring a sign of its upbringing or something else?

DEAR JOAN: I have a 1-year-old male feral cat. He is very affectionate with me, but he is afraid of everyone else and of most everything. He never purrs.

Is that a feral characteristic ?

— Jim Adams, Los Gatos

DEAR JIM: As he is very affectionate with you, I don’t believe you have a true feral cat. There is a difference between a stray cat and a feral one.

A feral cat is one that was born and has lived without meaningful human contact. A stray cat is one that had a home and interactions with people at one time. A stray can become feral if, over time, human contact is greatly diminished.

The reason I bring this up is that a true feral cat is much less likely to ever accept human companionship or be happy living indoors. They were not socialized at an early age to be with people. A rare feral can be tamed and socialized, but it’s not the norm.

To get back to your question, your cat is still a youngster and can, with work and exposure, learn to be more accepting of others and less fearful, although his experiences living on the streets will likely guide his actions and reactions for the rest of his life.

Not all cats purr – some are physically unable to produce the vibrations. If your cat was separated from his mother and siblings while still a young kitten, he might not have heard other cats purring. There’s also a theory that kittens born to a feral mother are discouraged from purring to prevent attracting the attention of predators.

Some cats purr silently. You’d be able to feel the vibrations of a silent purr, but there would be no perceptible sound.

Stress, including a drastic change in environment, can lead some cats to stop purring.

I wouldn’t give up on hearing that delightful trill. As your cat becomes more comfortable in his home and with his new bestie, chances are he’ll discover his purr.

DEAR JOAN: I adopted a 5-year-old cat that was accustomed to dogs. Her owner had died, and I had put down my 13-year-old cat with liver failure. My small dog seemed to be looking for his buddy.

(My new cat) took 9 months to decide I was her new owner. If I pet with a flat hand down her spine, she seems to always need to lick her left front leg. If I split my hand and miss her spine, petting both sides as far as my fingers reach, she does not lick her leg. This happens when my son pets her also.

Is this a reaction like the tickle spot on a dog? If you pet a sensitive dog in a certain area they will scratch at their belly, but I have never seen a cat in 60 years of cat ownership with a twitchy back before. Have you?

— Jane Fisher Urbach, Palo Alto

DEAR JANE: A cat’s spine, as you would imagine, is full of nerves, and so stroking the back along the spine, especially at the base of the tail, can provide a world of pleasurable sensations for the cat.

Cats often show their appreciation by licking, whether that be their paw, your hand or even the air. Based on your cat’s reaction, I think she likes it very much.

Animal Life runs on Mondays. Contact Joan Morris at AskJoanMorris@gmail.com.