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I love this photo! The feline forehead touch. It's a favorite greeting, apparently, for all of the feline tribe. A lowering and touching of foreheads that lasts for at least 20 seconds if not longer. The supreme show of acceptance or is a form of mind melding that we can't understand 
Karen
Dolls N DreamsHow sweet 
Posts: 8AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWwwwwwwwwww :clap:
Bubble Up Bears!LOVE IT!!
PottersHouse BearsThat is a beautiful photo. My cat gets on my chair and greets me like that. Does that mean that I am accepted in the cat world? What an honor.
Woodbury Park BearsGreat photo our tabby Chloe does this to my Beagle Busta and to my husband when he comes home from work on me she just wraps herself around my legs 
Raewyn
PennsylvaniaOkay... Does this mean that those cats aren't smelling each other's scent glands so that they can identify each other?
Us, This kind of greeting is forehead to forehead, head down, it doesn't involve smelling it's a touching thing. There are scent glands at the corner of a cat's mouth and sometimes you'll see them rub the side of their mouth against an inanimate object to mark their territory. THe head touch greeting is a whole different thing and is reserved for other animals and people they love and trust.
P.S. Cat's can identify eachother strictly by sight. They don't use scent for that as with dogs. When they sniff another cat it is to find out where the other cat has been and what they have been up to 
Beautiful picture, Karen, and you are so right about cats!
Posts: 214Bravo ---- great picture----- :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:
Past Time BearsPaul and I have had many generations of cats in our household during 45 years of marriage, as have our two daughters. Most all of the cats have engaged in this behavior and we consider it a loving gesture. Sometimes I even initiate what we call the "head butt". Thanks for sharing the pic and info.
PennsylvaniaI'm not being picky. I'm just being silly. Okay?
But, yes, cats DO have scent glads on their faces. They have the one at the corner of the mouth, just like you say. But they also have scent glands on the side of their faces, part way between the corner of the eye and the base of the ear. That's where the hair is a bit thinner.
Take another look at that male lion. He's got his nose just inches away from that female's scent glands... both the facial and the mouth.
The use of scent glands is a two way communication in cats. The cat puts its scent on things and other cats (people too!) to indicate possession, plus other cats smell those scents to tell what other cats have been in the area and what they've been up to.
Cats DO use anal glands for scent marking and identification in a very similar way as dogs. Cats are just more dignified about it. They don't go sticking their noses up everybody's butts like dogs. They sort of "waft" the smell. That's why cats sometimes stick their tail straight up in the air and wave their butts around. They're broadcasting their butt-smell. ;)
Yes, yes! I agree! Cats who are not familiar with each other do NOT rub heads and do NOT share their scent by rubbing on each other.
It's a cat's way of saying, "Honey! I'm home!" 
Matilda Huggington-bearePeople do it to. Watch parents with babies.
Its a lovely serene photo Karen.
PennsylvaniaNever thought of it that way! Cool! 
Karen, what a lovely picture.
My female cat has always greeted us this way and also does the "head butt" thing, Sue Ann we use that term as well. when she wants attention. Our male has only started doing it recently but he's never been very trusting. I don't think I've ever seen the two cats do this to each other, usually they only touch noses.
Hugs,
Chaska, MinnesotaMy kitty does this to me all the time....
