Study Shows Most People Don’t Speak Cat
How well do you think you’re able to understand what your cat is trying to tell you? Do you think you speak your cat’s language? Well, a study found that most people misinterpret what cats are saying, and it isn’t the first study that has determined people have difficulty understanding feline companions.
Interpreting a Cat’s Behavioral Cues
Accurately interpreting your kitty’s behavioral cues is important for the safety and welfare of your family and pets. Misunderstanding your cat’s emotions can result in unmet needs, stress, and negative reactions like bites and hisses.
After all, if you don’t really know what your cat’s body language indicates, or you don’t know what they mean by the various sounds they make, you might go to pet them or pick them up only for them to lash out in defense, or you might try to play with them when they aren’t in the mood for it, and that could annoy them.
Using a survey of 368 Australian adults, researchers were able to figure out how well people speak the cat language. In other words, how well do they interpret a cat’s emotions, particularly when it comes to whether they’re willing to play or want to be left alone.
The Research
Study participants were told to watch videos of cats and humans interacting, with the cats exhibiting various behaviors.
After watching the videos, participants were told to categorize the behaviors as either negative or positive, and were also asked how they would react in those situations. Then, their responses were checked for accuracy to see how well they were able to assess cats’ moods and interactions.
The Results
When it came to overt or obvious negative cat behaviors and cues, the people were generally accurate, with 76.7% of them correctly assessing cats who were doing things like trembling or hissing—but this also means 23.3% of people got it wrong.
But it got worse, with roughly half of the participants missing the mark when the cats exhibited subtler signs like changes in their facial expression or posture. And even when people recognized the subtle signs that a cat didn’t want to engage, many said they’d engage anyway—this could lead to human injuries from bites and scratches, as well as cause stress for cats.
Also, after watching educational videos on feline body language, participants didn’t show enough improvement and even got worse at interpreting subtle cues.
Knowing how to recognize a cat’s stress, and knowing how to respond, is ultra-important, and can prevent harmful interactions. Unfortunately, this study found that 1 in 4 cats, on average, were incorrectly classified when they were in an overtly negative state.
This all points to a need for better training/education for cat parents so they can understand when their pets are ready to play and when they should be left alone.
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Lisa Selvaggio is a freelance writer and editor, and our resident cats-pert, with certifications in pet nutrition and pet first aid. She enjoys producing content that helps people understand animals better so they can give their pets a safe and happy home.
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