I like the term “making biscuits” better than “kneading” or “kneading biscuits”. Butter biscuits (and scones) usually require handwork to integrate the butter into the dry ingredients. In my experience, this handwork pretty closely resembles what the cats are doing. There’s a lot of squeezing going on to break up the cold butter and mix it in.

There was a old type of biscuit in Maryland that was not leavened with chemicals but aerated by beating. Kneading would make them too tough of course. I don't understand the technique exactly and someday I'd like to try making a batch, although it would be better to find a place I can try a real one first if that still exists.

https://atasteofhistorywithjoycewhite.blogspot.com/2015/03/m...

https://libapps.salisbury.edu/nabb-online/exhibits/show/baki...

It was only a few years ago that I discovered that "biscuits" in the US sense are scones.

So that made "biscuits and gravy" sound a lot more appealing.

In Italian I've seen a bunch of names for the kneading: pigiare la lana (to tread the wool), fare il pane (to make [knead] bread), and la danza del latte (the milk dance). I think that the first two are references to the movement, just like "making biscuits"; except that bread actually improves as you knead it, unlike biscuits.

As in Portuguese it's just "amassar pãozinho", or roughly "to knead bread", with a [likely affectionate] diminutive.