Source checked 14 November 2026. PawLine editorial team. Not professionally reviewed.
Educational information, not veterinary or individual behavior advice. Do not force or recreate contact. Ask your vet about new or concerning rubbing. Suspected head pressing can be an emergency: seek immediate veterinary assessment, not a worksheet or app reply.
The greeting this site is about
The headbutt we love is quick and unmistakable: your cat approaches, lowers the top of the head, and bumps it against your chin, your hand, or another cat, then moves on - often purring, sometimes dribbling a little. Cats Protection describes this rubbing and head-butting as a friendly greeting, the cat version of a wave hello, and it is one of the clearest ways a cat chooses contact with you.
What a headbutt carries
A headbutt is also a delivery. Cats have scent glands on their cheeks, chin, and the top of the head, and those glands produce pheromones. When your cat rubs those areas against you, they are transferring that scent onto you, marking you as familiar and trusted - part of their territory and their social group, as Cats Protection explains. The scents fade, which is why the greeting needs regular top-ups. Every bonk is your cat refreshing your membership.
A different behavior with a similar name
Veterinarians use the term head pressing for something else: a cat compulsively pressing its head against a wall or another solid object and holding it there, for no apparent social reason. According to PetMD's veterinary guidance, head pressing is not a behavior quirk or a mood - it is a neurological symptom, and it can point to serious underlying problems such as toxin exposure, trauma, metabolic disease, or other conditions affecting the brain. It can appear in any cat, at any age.
Telling the two apart
The distinction is usually easy once you know it. A headbutt is brief - a bump or a rub, aimed at you or a favorite object, in a relaxed cat who then does something else. Head pressing is sustained: the cat pushes the head into a wall or corner and keeps it there, aimless rather than social, and it may arrive with other changes such as seeming disoriented, pacing, staring, or acting unlike themselves. Quick, aimed, sociable: greeting. Held, aimless, off: phone the vet.
What to do with each
For the headbutt, the correct response is the one you already give - a hello back, a scratch where your cat likes it, or simply being available. For head pressing, the correct response is a prompt veterinary visit, and PetMD's guidance is clear that it should not wait. If you are ever unsure which one you are looking at, film the behavior on your phone; a short video helps a vet far more than a description. The friendly bonk is the common one by far - this post exists so the rare lookalike never gets mistaken for it.