Mary Allen
Cats are masters of facial expressions. Unfortunately, we rarely succeed incorrectly interpreting their fine facial movements. Read what is behind the facial expressions of cats and the results of research on cat facial expressions.
Anyone who thinks that Grumpy Cat was always in a bad mood because of her grumpy facial expression is wrong: cats communicate a lot through their body language and only have a limited repertoire of facial expressions. Research suggests that only certain emotions are reflected in their facial expressions – sadness and joy are not among them.
How To Correctly Interpret Your Cat’s Facial Expressions
As part of the cat mimic research at the University of Lincoln, the following cat mimics could be assigned an emotion using the CatFACTS software:
Cat Stares At An Object To Its Right With Its Head Tilted
= relaxed-interested mood
Cat Blinks Frequently And Eyes An Object To Its Left
= fear
Cat Often Licks Its Nose
= frustration and/or need for employment
Cat Raises Upper Lip, Lowers Jaw, And Shows Tongue
= anger
In order to obtain meaningful measurement data, scientists in the field of cat mimic research use a special analysis tool called CatFACTS.
This Is How Cat Facial Research Works Using CatFACTS
The Cat Facial Action Coding System, or CatFACTS for short, is a unique feline anatomy-based program that captures and records even the smallest facial movements. A team of researchers from the University of Lincoln used the software to study cat facial expressions. 29 test cats from a Canadian shelter took part in the study and were exposed to certain situations. Their reactions were filmed, paying particular attention to facial expressions.
Conclusion: The University of Lincoln researchers concluded that cat facial expressions ranged primarily between moderate interest, fear, and frustration.
Cat Facial Expressions And Adoption Success In Animal Shelters
A research team from the University of Portsmouth had also found that shelter dogs that raised their eyebrows particularly often (“dachshund look”) found a new home much more quickly. In cats, there was no connection between facial expressions and adoption success. The researchers suspect that cats – in contrast to dogs – were less forced to adapt their facial expressions to human preferences during the course of their domestication.