Why cats love to be stroked. Cats look upon humans as "mother cats." Kittens are repeated licked by their mothers and the action of human stroking has much the same feel on the fur as feline licking. To the kitten the mother cat is "the one who feeds, cleans and protects." Because humans their ketten days are behind them, domesticated animals never fuly grow up. They become full-sized and sexually mature, but in thrir minds they remain kettens in relation to their human owners. For this reason cats - even eiderly cats - keep on begging for maternal attention from their owners, pushing up to them and gazing at them longingly, waiting for the "maternal" hand to start acting like a giant tongue.