What exactly is going on here (between a dog and a cat)

Inter-species erotica?

I don’t know exactly what is going on. One or both of those pets are probably mental.

My cat does this to my dog all the time. He will headbutt her and lick her face and sort of body slam her, but, he does the same thing to me. He’s always in an affectionate mood when he does it, so I just chalk it up to him being lovey.

I’m thinking that it may be dominance, but I could be wrong.

Adult cat, puppy… looks like somebody adopted a big, floppy-eared kitten. Not exactly dominance, not exactly affection, just being a mom.

The cat is rubbing its scent onto the dog – sort of “you are mine” and grooming it. It’s an affectionate thing but a way of marking its territory too. My cat does this to me. I loveee you and you are a member of my cat family. I am wondering if that cat’s coming into heat too.

I can’t say for sure, of course, but my cat is male and fixed and does not go into heat, and he seriously does this exact thing to my dog. He tends to be aggressively affectionate, though. I agree that it looks like the cat is “marking” the dog with the headbutting and rubbing.

My fixed boy does it too. It was just the raised tail thing that made me wonder.

looking for attention, and the dog responded exactly as it wanted when he licked the cat back.
as bellatrix said, it’s also how cats mark their scent, sweat glands are mostly in those baldish patches cats have either side of the forehead.

Lol, she reeaallllyyy likes him! I had a cat once who just loved one of my dogs, and acted this way with her; unfortunately for her, since she didn’t return his affection. She used to look at me as if to say “Get this cat out of my face, PLEASE?”

Affection.

My dog does this thing where she’ll give my cat little tiny nibbles all around his neck when he presents it to her, and he LOVES it. I think I saw the puppy in the video start to do this a few times – maybe the cat has experienced this in the past from the dog and is trying to elicit the behavior. Also, as the others say, affection & scent-marking. This isn’t too different from how a cat would act with another cat.

BFF’s, but the dog doesn’t know it yet.

The dog belongs to the cat and the cat is making sure everyone else knows it, too

This is affection. Cats head butt something/someone when they are happy and excited, and its their way of marking it as their own. Additionally, they do it when they’re being petted and the petting stops temporarily. They will rub their head against your hands to tell you to keep petting. Very adorable video.

Definitely an amazing video. I think it’s part what @bostonbeliever says and part @jerv‘s take on it. Rosie is clearly marking Arlo as hers, and her mothering instincts have been triggered by the puppy’s youth, never mind that he’s already 3 times her size. Really cute. Thanks for posting it, @Mama_Cakes.