Why does pinching the back of a cat's neck make it feel like it's being acupunctured?

If a human wants to take a baby out on the street, they can just pick it up. But if a cat wants to "move" with a fur ball, how should it do it? Carry it on its back? Hold it in its arms? Hold it in its mouth?

In fact, small animals have a special area for you to hold - right behind their necks! Let's take a look at this animated picture first↓

Clamp the back of the neck! ｜Spion.com

The cat was caught by a binder clip on the back of its neck, and it felt as if it had been "pressed" for an instant; but when the binder clip was removed, the cat was instantly "thawed". What's going on?

Even the “big cat” became quiet when it was picked up...｜travel.aol.co.uk

｜Don't move, my mom is moving me｜

This phenomenon is called "clipnosis", a combination of the words "clip" and "hypnosis".

Why behind the neck? Some people believe that the flesh behind the cat's neck is dead flesh, and it doesn't hurt if bitten or pinched, so old cats always bite kittens at this position. However, the view that "dead flesh doesn't hurt" cannot explain why the cat's neck becomes stiff when it is pinched. Others speculate that there is a "nerve channel" behind the cat's neck, which is blocked by a pinch, so the cat will feel like being acupunctured. However, these speculations are not correct.

The magic tool for acupuncture - loose-leaf folder｜Shanshan DVM

Such an interesting, strange and well-known "myth" certainly cannot escape the eyes of scientists.

Tony Buffington, a professor of clinical veterinary medicine at Ohio State University, conducted research on this. In addition to being curious, he also wanted to explore the feasibility of using this method to stabilize cats and conduct medical diagnosis. The experiment invited 31 cats of different genders ranging from 1 to 5 years old to participate. The 2-inch binder clip in the picture is a magical tool for "acupoint pressing". A cat with its neck clamped will stop moving, arch its back, and tuck its tail between its legs.

Just like this↑｜Shanshan DVM

After testing the cats' physiological indicators, Buffington and his colleagues found that the cats' behavior was not caused by fear or pain. The cats' pupils did not dilate, their heart rate did not increase, and their breathing rate was normal - physiological reactions that frightened animals usually have, but the cats that were trapped did not show any of these reactions.

Buffington's team concluded that this behavior of cats is related to "making it convenient for cat mothers to move kittens."

Sorry, I put it in the wrong place, it's this one:

I can't move...｜wikiHow

Obviously, this simple explanation cannot satisfy the majority of science enthusiasts.

In fact, Buffington's article uses a more appropriate term to describe the behavior of cats: "Pinch-induced behavioral inhibition". This phrase simply describes the phenomenon and does not imply any reason behind it. Buffington's team believes that this is related to "mother cats transporting kittens" and there is some truth to it. In fact, in many species, young animals will show a state of "being pinched" after being picked up by their mothers, including mice, rats, rabbits, dogs, guinea pigs, etc.

Clockwise from top left to bottom left: squirrel, red panda, gray mouse lemur, lion | news.sciencemag.org

｜Human babies also have a similar phenomenon｜

Finally, in 2013, a group of Japanese neurobiologists, after studying a series of physiological reactions of "animals being picked up by their mothers", found that a similar "calming effect" exists not only in mice, but also in human babies. The three most typical physiological reactions that are similar between humans and mice are: stopping crying, obeying, and slowing down the heartbeat.

The significance of this study is that the "consistency of physiological responses between species" allows scientists to study the reasons behind the phenomenon through mice (rather than human babies). The results of the study not only explain the question "a clamp freezes a cat" that this article attempts to answer, but also answer another question that is more relevant to humans: why picking up and shaking a crying baby can calm the baby down.

Be good, take a nap and we'll be home soon~｜Paul Goldstein / Rex Features

In the experiment, they anesthetized the action-receptor nerves (somatosensory neurons) on the back of the neck of the pups, and the sedative effect caused by being "held in the mouth" was weakened. At the same time, surgically removing part of the brain to interfere with the incoming signals of the cerebellar cortex also prolonged the time it took for the mother mice to calm the pups. These two experiments show that if the pups cannot sense that they are being held behind the neck, they will not curl up; if the cerebellum cannot receive the signal, the pups will not obey. The weakening of the heartbeat and the change in body posture are directly achieved by the parasympathetic nerves and the efferent nerves of the cerebellum.

This series of physiological reactions makes the baby mice quiet, obedient, and curled up, making it easier for the mother mouse to take them to a safe place.

Let you run away from home again! | pinterest.com

Therefore, a clamp can freeze a cat not because the meat behind the cat's neck is dead. Instead, it is the sensory nerves behind the neck that allow the kitten to receive the signal "I am being picked up". The subsequent physiological reaction similar to "being acupunctured" is not because the "nerve channel is blocked", but because of the signal from the brain (including the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system), which guides them to produce the physiological phenomenon that facilitates "Number transfer".

Author: Shanshan DVM

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