The stereotype about pets is that dogs are excellent communicators while cats are more reserved, mysterious and impossible to understand. The reality is obviously very different: even felines have a broad and expressive language, which they have among other things learned to adapt to domestic life – for example, adult cats do not communicate with each other by meowing, but they do so if they have to “talk” to a human.
The research. A study published in Frontiers in Ethology now offers a standardized test that allows you to test your ability to understand the language of cats, which you too can take (in a shortened version) on this page The Conversation. Particularly interesting, as we will see, are the results obtained by the hundreds of people who worked directly with the team to carry out the complete test.
Guess if I’m happy. 368 people were involved, who were shown a series of videos of interactions between a human being and a cat. In half of the videos the interaction portrayed was positive, while in the other half a series of more or less explicit signals were “hidden” showing how the cat was stressed, bored or wanted to be left alone: human participants were asked to identify the animal’s mood, and also how they would interact if they found themselves in front of that specific cat.
Pay attention to the nuances. In summary, the results say that we humans are very good at reading positive signals, but we have more difficulty interpreting negative ones. There are undoubtedly signs that are impossible to misinterpret: when faced with videos in which interactions were classified as “extremely negative”, 366 out of 368 humans correctly guessed the cat’s state of mind. However, when the signals become more nuanced, the percentages drop radically: 73% of participants made a mistake in reading them at least once.
How to understand a cat’s mood. Unless you have a phenomenal knowledge of cat language, the test can help you identify many of the signs that indicate that the interaction you are having with the animal is a source of stress for him: it would take too long to mention them all, but some of the most obvious are the position of the ears and eyes, the tension of the body and the rapid movements of the tail. In general, one of the most important rules is that a cat that doesn’t want to play should be left alone, because you won’t change its mind.
The rules. As for the “rules of engagement”, the authors of the study list five to start from. The first concerns the way to touch them: there are parts of the body (the legs, the base of the tail) that are always off-limits, and in general you should avoid playing with your hands. You then need to learn to read the position and movement of the tail and ears (in particular, if the latter are flattened on the head it is a sign that you need to leave the cat alone), and to interpret the vocalizations: “trills” are a positive signal, hissing and growling are obviously not. Finally, the most important rule: as soon as it seems to you that the cat is even vaguely stressed, leave it alone; he will take care of getting closer if and when he feels like it.
