HOW TO UNDERSTAND A CAT?
I’m sure that those who have ever been with a cat will understand how independent and complicated creatures they are. That’s why it’s hard to understand and communicate with cats. But after reading this, it’ll be much easier for you to do so.
As we all know cats can’t use words to tell us what they want or how they feel. Thus, they express themselves by their body language. You can understand a cat’s emotions by observing its facial expressions and tail. If you understand these coded messages correctly you can understand a cat.
But in the first place, there is something we should do . “We should take off our dog-colored glasses and put on our cat-colored glasses and always remember cats are not dogs.” As Jackson Galaxy, a cat behaviorist, says.
We look at cats through dog-colored glasses and this is the biggest obstacle we have between us and a cat’s mind.
THE TAIL
When a cat thrashes its tail it means it’s annoyed. When the tip of their tail is twitching, it means they’re intrigued and if they hold it straight up they’re pretty happy and confident. But if a cat tucks its tail between its legs, it’s scared and when its tail’s fluffed up it means it’s terrified.
THE FACE
When a cat’s eyes are open and its ears are up, they’re relaxed but if they narrow their eyes and lower their ears it’s a sign that they’re becoming aggressive. Eyes open but ears back mean they’re preparing to defend themselves and if they bare their teeth, it means they’re now ready for an attack.
VOCALIZATION
Cats have over a hundred vocalizations. That’s why today we’ll look at the most common ones.
The Meow
Cats don’t make this sound to other cats; they make it to us. They make it to serve a particular purpose. For example, when they do it we give them treats or give them attention. They know it works and they keep doing it. So basically it’s a sound that your cat makes when it wants or needs something.
CLICK TO HEAR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjmOWZ3y9gg
The Purr
The purr is a very interesting sound and it’s still a mystery. There are various opinions about what causes a purr. But there is one obvious reason that mostly every cat owner agrees that the purr comes out when a cat is happy.
CLICK TO HEAR:
The Chatter
This happens generally when a cat is looking through the window. Cats do this sound when they’re looking at something that could be the prey, for instance, they might have seen a bird and thought “Oh I found my food for today!”
CLICK TO HEAR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lws_S_d31Pg
The Growl and The Hiss
You’ll hear the growl just before the hiss. It’s an early warning for you to back off and if you don’t, this will lead to a hiss. Hiss is a sound that cats make when they find something threatening so they’re trying to scare it and push it away.
CLICK TO HEAR: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFEm-tN4_3I
To sum up, each of these has different coded messages and you must find out what they mean with the help of the things you learned from this essay😊
SOURCES:
Inside The Mind Of A Cat (A Netflix documentary)