Scientists reveal simple trick to bond with even the most picky cat
Which gesture allows you to communicate with a cat (photo: freepik.com)
Cats have a reputation for being very aloof, stubborn, and picky animals. Communicating with them can be difficult, but only for those who don't know how to speak their language.
Scientific Reports reveals a simple trick that can help you understand any cat in the world.
A study by specialists from the University of Sussex showed that several gestures help establish contact with a cat. To do this, you need to smile, but not like a human – instead, squint your eyes and blink slowly.
Observations of cat-human interactions confirm that this gesture causes cats, regardless of their temperament and sociability, to approach people and become more receptive to them.
"As someone who has studied animal behavior and is a cat owner, I’m happy to be able to show that cats and humans can communicate this way. This is something that many cat owners have suspected, and now there’s evidence," said psychologist Karen McComb.
If you’ve spent time with cats, you’ve seen their partially closed eyes expression, accompanied by slow blinking. It’s similar to how human eyes narrow when we smile, and it typically happens when a cat is relaxed and content.
The expression is interpreted as a cat smile. When a human mimics this gesture, the cats receive the signal that the person is friendly and open to interaction.
In the first experiment, owners of 21 cats slowly blinked their eyes at their cats. After the cat felt comfortable in one spot in the house, the owners were instructed to sit about one meter away and slowly blink when the cat looked at them. Cameras recorded the faces of the owner and the cat, and the results were compared with how cats blink without the involvement of a person.
The results showed that cats were more likely to slowly blink at their owners after their owners had slowly blinked at them, compared to the condition without interaction.
The second experiment involved 24 cats. This time, it wasn’t the owners but the researchers, who had not previously interacted with the cats, who did the blinking. For control, it was recorded that cats responded to the condition where people looked at them without blinking.
The researchers carried out the same slow blinking process as in the first experiment, adding an extended hand toward the cat. They found that the cats not only blinked more frequently in response but also approached the person's hand more often after the person blinked.
"This is the first study that experimentally investigates the role of slow blinking in communication between humans and cats. And it’s something you can try yourself with your own cat at home or with cats you meet on the street. It's a great way to strengthen your bond with cats. Try narrowing your eyes while looking at them, like in a relaxed smile, and then gently close your eyes for a couple of seconds," advises MacComb.
She assured that after this trick, you’ll notice that cats respond in the same way, and it will be like starting a conversation with them.
By the way, cats respond well to people who are receptive to them. And if a cat doesn’t want to communicate with you, the problem may not lie with the cat, but with you.
Cats are capable of mirroring the traits of the people they live with — which explains why some cats may appear sad when their owners are feeling down.
Additionally, cats can recognize their names, although they often just ignore them.
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