Apostrophe question

[Munley]

Okay, I know the general rule for singular versus plural for possessive situations:

The cat's food is on the kitchen floor. (one cat)
The cats' food is on the kitchen floor. (more than one cat)

Which of the following is correct?

The cats were licking each other's heads?
The cats were licking each others' heads?

Now I'm wondering if "heads" should just be "head" in both of these sentences, given that they each have only one head. Now I'm really in a tangle.

[aishwarl]

https://jakubmarian.com/each-others-vs-each-others-in-english/

Above is a good post and answers your question.

The operative word here is "each," which is singular, hence "other" has to be singular.

So, both of the below are correct:

The cats were licking each other's head.
The cats were licking each other's heads.

I, personally, prefer the first option, as it removes the ambiguity over whether cats had two heads!

[jcwrites]

I think those cats ought'a see a vet.

[007 fan]

Since the link provides answers to both things you wonder about, I'd like to point out something else...

It's impossible that cats could be licking each other's head at the same time. That's how it reads. Do you mean faces? Not sure about that, though, if it's possible. I have seen my cats take turns grooming each other while snuggled.

[Munley]

Thanks, everybody.

I'm de-tangled now.