Mary Allen
Facial expressions are an important clue to interpreting cat body language. The position of the ears and whiskers, the movement of the lips, and the size of the pupils reveal something about the feelings of the four-legged friends.
Cat owners should not only be able to interpret the body language, but also the facial expressions of their darlings. It often works intuitively. But sometimes people are also very wrong because the facial expressions of cats are sometimes very different from human facial expressions.
Eye Contact: If You Look Away, You Lose
When cats look at someone, they can have very different intentions. The velvet paws simply signal attention to familiar people. But cats sometimes hold staring competitions with their fellow cats: whoever looks away loses; because avoiding eye contact shows peacefulness or a willingness to submit.
That may be one reason why cats always snuggle up to visitors who are least familiar with cats – unlike real cat fans, they don’t constantly stare at the house cats and thus behave much more invitingly from a cat’s perspective.
Wink & Pupil Size in Cat Language
The size of the pupils changes with changing light conditions, but the emotional state of the cat also has an influence on the size of the pupils: when it is very exciting, the black area in the eye becomes significantly larger. This excitement can be both joys at a treat and excitement at the presence of an enemy. Wide-open eyes also show that the animal is observing its surroundings very attentively and may be afraid. Only when they really feel safe and relaxed do the animals close their eyes completely.
A typical, slit-shaped cat’s eye tends to require caution. In an attacking mood, they narrow their eyes to a narrow slit to reduce the risk of injury. A quick blink indicates stress, while slow blinks once or twice indicate a friendly gesture. It’s like making your cat smile at you.
Ear Position Complements the Cat’s Facial Expressions
Ears are an important part of a cat’s facial expressions. To listen, however, the velvet paws turn their ears in the direction from which the noise is coming. This sometimes makes it difficult to interpret the ear movements correctly. Basically, however, the following applies: In a relaxed state, the auricles look forward. If something exciting is happening, they straighten up.
If the auricles of the raised ears point backward, this is a threatening gesture that precedes a possible attack. In addition, the ears can be fastened quickly from this position – this protects against injuries. Flattened ears show fear if the rest of the facial expressions and gestures do not indicate an attacking posture. If the ears move restlessly, the animal is probably nervous.
Mouth Movements & Whiskers as a Means of Communication
In a relaxed normal state, the lips don’t move much and the whiskers stand unobtrusively to one side. If something exciting happens, the whiskers fan out very wide so that the cat doesn’t miss a thing. In fear or skepticism, the cat’s face appears narrow and pointed: the lips are pressed together and the whiskers are drawn close to the head.
Raising the upper lip and dropping the lower jaw is a sign of frustration.
Cat FACS – Science Behind Cat Facial Expressions
FACS stands for Facial Action Coding System and was originally developed for humans. Today, however, it is also used in modifications for other mammals such as horses (EquiFACS) and cats (CatFACS).
Scientists from Portsmouth, England, have cataloged the possible muscle movements in the cat’s face and thus created a basis on which researchers can interpret the connection between facial expressions and emotion in cats. So far, it looks like cats only have three measurable facial expressions. However, the computer-aided system probably does not get along well with the fur of the four-legged friends when evaluating the image material. In addition, the test groups have so far been rather small.