Cats don't always lick each other out of affection.

Sometimes when a cat grooms another cat, it's nice. A cat helping another cat out, scratching those hard-to-get spots on the back of the neck. Other times? It's more like, "Hey, I want that nice nap spot, and I'm going to annoy you until you get out of here."

Cats don't always lick each other out of affection. Sometimes they're just being jerks Mutual grooming can be a passive-aggressive way for cats to get what they want, study finds Sometimes when a cat grooms another cat, it's nice. A cat helping another cat out, cleaning those hard-to-get spots on the back of the neck with a friendly lick.

Other times? It's more like, "Hey, I want that nice nap spot, and I'm going to annoy you until you give it to me." That's according to new research into how cats use allogrooming — or mutual grooming — out of Ghent University in Belgium, published in the

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journal Applied Animal Behavior Science. "Sometimes allogrooming is used as this, we say, passive-aggressive sign," lead author Morgane Van Belle told As It Happens host Nil Köksal. "So cats using this grooming to subtly convey a message, like, 'I don't like you here,' or 'I want your blanket.'" Good licks vs. bad licks Van Belle, a cat behavioral scientist at Belgium's Ghent University, says the research was actually inspired by her own two cats, Fabio and Giovanni. She witnessed them licking each other, but noticed it didn't always appear affectionate. "One of them would lay on a soft blanket by a window and the other would come and he would lick a bit in the neck. But then this licking would proceed into biting and, in the end, the cat lying on the blanket would move away. And the blanket would go to the other cat," Van Belle said. "It kind of looked to me a bit like competition."...

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