Cats are talking, but are we listening?

Time often creates a bridge of communication that overcomes the differences between species.

The longer one spends with their pets, the better they come to understand their moods, expressions and gestures.

Most often, our pets learn our ways long before we come to understand theirs — knowing our habits, routines and moods with such finite comprehension, they almost seem psychically in tune with us.

In return, however, we do not always understand them as well as we might, or perhaps, should, especially given all the time our species have spent together.

Dogs often get the most credit for their assimilation abilities — mastering the very human trait of making and holding non-confrontational eye contact and exhibiting body language and facial expressions that closely mimic those of humans — to such an extent that people largely believe (whether it’s accurate is another matter) they understand what their dogs feel or think.

Though their relationship to humans stretches back about as far as dogs, cats remain an enigma of sorts and, as such, are at times perhaps the most misunderstood of domestic creatures.

Admirably independent and resourceful, with a firm grasp on their instinctual roots, cats are fascinating in that while they do bond closely with humans, they maintain a uniqueness that can lead to misreading their interactions with us.

Scientists know cats work diligently to communicate with us humans — for example meowing is something cats do specifically for humans and don’t use to communicate with other cats — unfortunately, most research has focused on canine-to-human communication. As a result, large gaps remain in understanding feline communications.

Cat owners know their kitty will guide them, meowing and circling back and forth until the message is received or the human reaches the empty food bowl and finally gets the point it’s dinner time.

Likewise, when kitty needs affection, a purring fur ball is likely to appear under the nose, with paws that reach out to hook and pull hands in their direction, a clear message it’s time for petting.

But for researchers now delving into cat-human-communications, it’s the less obvious expressions and cues that are most misunderstood.

Work done in the late 1970s to decipher cats’ facial expressions left too much room for misunderstanding, according to a team of researchers hailing from the University of Lincoln, UK, and the University of Queensland, Australia.

Using a facial action coding system (FACS) recently developed for cats that is similar to what’s used to code human expressions, the team has begun the process of decoding the facial expressions of cats, paying particular attention to how those expressions are influenced by human interactions; that’s according to a recent article published in the scientific journal, Behavioral Processes.

Analyzing video footage of 29 Canadian shelter cats, the first group of expressions researchers have identified are associated with fear, frustration and relaxation.

Frustrated cats demonstrated their feelings through hissing, nose-licking, showing tongue, jaw dropping, raising the upper lip, wrinkling the nose, parting the lips, stretching the mouth or by vocalizing.

When feeling fear, cats blinked, half-blinked and/or showed a tendency to turn their heads to or gaze to the left side.

If relaxed and engaged, on the other hand, researchers found cats turn their heads and/or gaze to the right.

They also noted after interaction with humans the intensity of expressions changed — a further indication humans do influence cat communications.

While it interprets specific expressions that expand understanding of cats, research such as this emphasizes, perhaps more importantly, our cats are indeed talking to us, the question is, are we listening.

Sharna Johnson is always searching for ponies. You can reach her at: [email protected]