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I thought it was fully understood that cats begin doing it as kittens in order to stimulate lactation from the mother, and for some cats the habit remains and manifests for their keeper when they feel safe and at ease because some cats form social/emotional relationships with their keepers (surrogates) similar to that of a kitten and its mother.

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I've also understood that the behavior is most pronounced in cats that were removed from their litter and mother too soon.

When I was young, my family rescued two balls of fur from a couple of crows that were playing with their supper, and both of them were kneading our elbows when picked up all throughout their lives. It seemed obvious why they did that as we were feeding them from a bottle until they were old enough to eat solid food.

Every cat I have formed a close bond with likes to do it so I don't believe that much repeated factoid.

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