Can you pull cats by their neck?

Answer 1

You do not hold a cat by its neck. This will end you being bitten and scratched. What you may be referring to is the response young cats have to being scruffed. Were the loose skin on the back of the neck is gathered up and the cat relaxes. this is a natural responce to when they were kittens and the mother cat needed to pick them up and move them. If a kitten wiggles around its harder to transport.

Answer 2

You can, but it really hurts them to do so.

Pulling or lifting by the neck could easily kill the cat. Lifting by the skin at the back of the neck (the scruff) without grabbing the neck or head will let you lift the cat.

It will cause pain, and you will likely upset the cat, but you are unlikely to injure the cat. One should NEVER pick a cat up by the scruff; an adult cat is too heavy to lift by some skin alone and needs to be held elsewhere (ie. holding the cat's back-end).

Answer 3

That is the natural behaviour of a cats mother to me held like that, so it helps your trust bond, though I wouldn't recommend trying if your cat isn't fond of you!

It is harmless for the cat when they are a very small kitten. When they are older they get too heavy for it and picking them up this way without any support for their lower body could cause the cat pain and harm.

Answer 4

It depends on the age of the cat. It will not hurt a very young kitten if it is picked up by its neck since when they were little thats how their mother carried them around. However, older kittens and adult cats should never be picked up by the scruff of the neck, as a bit of loose skin will not be able to support the weight, and will at the very least will be very painful to the cat. It may even damage the cat's neck.

The best way to pick up kittens and cats is to always support the back-end of the cat with a hand. This distributes the weight of the cat evenly and allows the cat to be comfortable.

Another Answer

That's true, but remember that is only true if you hold it by the skin on the neck. If you hold it around the neck, that could choke him/her. And it with put all its weight on its neck and that would not be comfortable for the cat.