How to tell what your cat is thinking
Cats communicate in subtle ways. Experts share the clues that reveal whether your feline is happy, anxious or asking for attention.
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Cats communicate in subtle ways. Experts share the clues that reveal whether your feline is happy, anxious or asking for attention.
From the Cheshire Cat to Macavity the Mystery Cat, felines are known for being enigmatic. They may appear silently beside us, stare into the distance and slink off abruptly for no apparent reason. They are, we might sigh, inscrutable.
Yet behaviour experts say our cats are constantly displaying signs indicating exactly what they’re thinking and feeling – we just ignore or misinterpret the cues. As Dr Madeleine Totham, a vet and cat behaviourist, puts it: “Cats are misunderstood a lot.”
Moggies also tend to be reserved. “Cats are born to live in the wild,” says Lucy Hoile, author of The Book Your Cat Wishes You Would Read. “They aren’t geared up to tell us stuff. We can read their body language, but we have to do the hard work.”
First, we need to notice small details: the tilt of an ear, the position of a tail or just the way a cat is looking at you. In isolation, these signs can mean different things. Cats’ ears, for example, go back both when they’re scared and when they’re playing. But when signals are read together and in context, they can tell us quite a lot.
One of the clearest clues is in the eyes. Hoile says pupils can reveal what a cat is feeling. “When I go into somebody's home, if the cat’s eyes are dilated, I think, this cat’s not happy,” she explains.
“They could be doing all the other things you’d expect from a friendly cat: they could approach me, their ears could be forward and their tail could be up, but I can tell that they’re not comfortable with me.
The opposite signal is the slow blink. Cats sometimes close their eyes slowly at people they trust. “I always do this to a cat I don’t know,” says Hoile. “If they do it back to me, that’s a good sign.”
Context is crucial. Many owners assume that purring means their cat is content. Sometimes they’re right. “That’s a low-level, rhythmic purr,” says Hoile. “You’ll know the cat is happy because it will be settled and relaxed.”
But cats also purr when they’re active. They might be winding around your feet or nudging you insistently. “This purr is high-pitched and quite urgent,” says Hoile. This is what experts call a solicitation purr. “It means I want something from you,” adds Hoile. The cat might want food, attention or to be let outside.
Unwell cats purr, too. “The frequency of this type of purring is thought to be self-soothing,” says Hoile. The gentle vibrations may aid healing by strengthening bones, supporting a cat’s breathing and easing pain.
“It’s like the cat is saying to us, ‘I’m feeling poorly’.”
In their own way, they might be asking for care or comfort.
Another common misunderstanding comes when a cat rolls onto its back and exposes its belly. “Many people think that means it wants you to give it a belly rub,” says Dr Totham. “It doesn’t.”
For a cat, exposing the stomach – one of the most vulnerable parts of its body – is more about trust than touch. “It means it’s feeling relaxed, but it's not an invitation for human contact,” explains Dr Totham.
If the cat then claws at your hand, it’s probably not playing. It may simply be asking you to stop
If you want to know whether a cat wants affection, the safest approach is to let it make the first move. “Wait for the cat to instigate contact with you,” says Dr Totham. The cat will usually have a relaxed posture and upright ears, and will give you a gentle head-butt or nuzzle.
Hoile recommends testing the waters. “Before you stroke a cat, get consent,” she says. “Put your hand out and if it rubs its face on it, you've got the green light.”
Just as important is noticing when a cat has had enough. A twitching tail or a raised paw can be a warning.
“For a lot of cats, just being in the same room is enough for them,” says Dr Totham.
Humans also tend to assume complicated motives behind cat behaviour. When a cat hisses or swipes, we may think it's being aggressive. Usually, says Dr Totham, the emotion is much simpler: it’s fear. “The cat is saying, ‘I don’t feel comfortable. Don’t come near me.’”
Cats are both predators and prey animals, which makes them cautious about conflict. “They don’t want to get injured, because they need to catch their prey to eat,” Dr Totham says.
Faced with something threatening – another cat, a stranger or an unfamiliar environment – they may freeze, hide or try to escape. “When they freeze, they’re assessing the situation,” says Dr Totham. “They’re looking around trying to figure out what to do.”
Even with all these clues, cats are unlikely to ever become completely transparent.
“I think there’s a lot we’re never going to understand about why cats do the things they do,” says Hoile. “If you’re a cat person, I think you love that about your cat.”
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