Why do kittens bathe themselves with their tongues?
Cat owners often see their cats licking their paws with their little tongues, and then rubbing them on their faces or bodies after licking them wet. Don't be surprised, the cat is just giving itself a bath.
Cats often use their saliva to bathe themselves, and you shouldn't think it's dirty. On the contrary, for cats, this is a very clean habit. This is because cat saliva contains lysozyme bacteria, which can effectively kill bacteria, so when cats lick their bodies, it has a sterilizing and cleaning effect.
Besides indicating that cats are clean, bathing also has an interesting meaning: seeing a cat washing its face is said to indicate it will rain. This is because the increased humidity during rain makes fleas more active on the cat. However, cats are generally very clean and will often bathe even when it's not raining.
