Mary Allen
A “yawn!” sometimes says more than a thousand words. Here’s what yawning in cats can mean!
A separate science, known as cosmology, deals with the meaning of yawning – be it in cats, humans, or other animal species. Over time, many yawning theories have been proposed, disproved, or confirmed. For example, for a long time, it was believed that a lack of oxygen in the blood should be compensated for by yawning, but this thesis has now been refuted for humans and animals.
People often yawn from fatigue. But what does it mean when cats yawn? One thing is certain: Cats yawn in different situations!
Yawning in Cats From Tiredness and When Waking Up
A common reason for yawning in cats, like in humans, is fatigue. Yawning relaxes the muscles and, in addition to a pleasurable stretching, is also part of the waking phase for cats: This chases away the last bit of tiredness and the cat is fit for new adventures.
Cats Yawn to Soothe
Some cat behavior experts include yawning in their body language repertoire and associate it with cats’ appeasement gestures. A hearty breath should stand for well-being and peacefulness, but also for insecurity.
Hearty yawning signals relaxation to both conspecifics and humans, which prevents conflicts or can take the excitement out of tricky situations.
Yawning in Cats When Playing or Hunting
Sometimes cats will yawn all of a sudden while playing, prompting a “Hey, please slow down!” equals. If a cat is confronted with an unreachable prey target – for example, a bird in front of the window – the typical chattering noise can also be accompanied by a yawn.
Both are to be evaluated as skipping or substitute actions: the cat doesn’t get what it wants and has to relieve its arousal in some other way – and what could be better than a big yawn to vent your own frustration?
Yawning in Cats as a Concentration Behavior
A study from the State University of New York at Oneonta, led by Andrew Gallup, found that the duration of a yawn is related to the number of nerve cells in the brain.
Gallup theorizes that yawning increases blood flow to the brain while keeping it cool. The following applies: the larger the brain mass, the longer the yawn. Humans are at the top with 6 seconds, mice bring up the rear with 1.5 seconds. Dogs come to 2.4 seconds, cats to 2.1 seconds.
So yawning in cats is not so much an expression of boredom and laziness, but rather a behavior that represents concentration.
Extremely frequent yawning in combination with listlessness and lack of appetite can also indicate pain – then a visit to the vet is announced.