Scientists Confirm You Can Communicate With Your Cat by Blinking Very Slowly

[packman]

As someone who has both studied animal behavior and is a cat owner, it's great to be able to show that cats and humans can communicate in this way," psychologist Karen McComb of the University of Sussex in the UK explained when the results of the study were published.






"It's something that many cat owners had already suspected, so it's exciting to have found evidence for it."

If you've spent any time around cats, you've probably seen their 'partially closed eyes' facial expression, accompanied by slow blinking. It's similar to how human eyes narrow when smiling, and usually occurs when puss is relaxed and content. The expression is interpreted as a kind of cat smile.

Anecdotal evidence from cat owners has hinted that humans can copy this expression to communicate to cats that we are friendly and open to interaction.

Interesting article about cat/human communication:


https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-confirm-you-can-communicate-with-your-cat-by-blinking-very-slowly

[NewHendoLib]

1. Absolutely - I do it with my dogs too!

[Marthe48]

6. Open mouth smile

and drop your shoulder, dog talk for want to play

[StClone]

8. Me too but I don't use my eyes

I use a partially open doggie treat bag. I think that is best how to communicate that you like them .

[nuxvomica]

2. I do this with cats, especially ones I don't know

I used to do it with my cats, now departed, and it would get them purring. My current feline friend is very responsive to me singing "When I Fall in Love" in my best Nat King Cole voice. Even when he was pretty much out-of-it (from a stroke, we think) he nonetheless responded to that song.

[PortTack]

3. All cat ppl understand second only to food, the slow blink is universal cat language

[Deb]

4. Those are kissy faces. I kiss my cats from across the room and they always kiss back.

They also meow back "Love you too" in the same tune I sing to them.

I sing "eat", they sing back "eat".

They meow "eat", I feed them a treat.

[chowder66]

5. My cats trained me well. They taught me this early on.

Laying down with a new cat helps them feel more comfortable as well. It's like when adults crouch down to talk to kids.

[wryter2000]

7. I was told that here

Helped make a feral friendlier

[Ligyron]

9. My roommate's rescue cat hated me 'till I did this.

Learned about this right here along with a few other pointers.

[wnylib]

10. Works well with my cat.

When I learned about it, I used the blinks to signal friendship and no hostility to her during some of our power struggles with each other over house rules. She would calm down and blink back at me.

Then she started using the blinks to get away with things. I kid you not. She would grab something forbidden or knock something to the floor. When I reacted with annoyance, she blinked at me. "C'mon, mom. Still friends, right?"

[calimary]

14. And mine!

I don’t know how I stumbled on that idea, but I did, and they seem to understand. I think there’s something about it that telegraphs “I’m no threat to you.” The opposite is true. When you stare at them, they seem to take it as a challenge or threat.

[wnylib]

18. I discovered it in an online video about cat behavior.

My cat is sweet and affectionate, but she is also strong-willed and very playful and adventurous, so she gets into mischief (fun, from her perspective) a lot. She got quite defiant over my attempts to curb the mischief, which was sometimes dangerous, like sneaking foods that cats shouldn't eat. It was getting so that she perceived me as the bad guy. I looked online for solutions. The blinks worked.

I got her when she was 9 weeks old from a home where the pets were ignored and fended for themselves a lot, so she was almost like a feral kitten. I only had her a couple days when I made the mistake of looking closely into her eyes to check the color. She growled at me.

She's 7 years old now and has come a long ways in being socialized. Loves being petted, cooperates (usually) with requests, and no longer grabs at every piece of food in sight. Still loves to knock things to the floor for attention, though.

[calimary]

20. Maybe it's just tapping into old instincts.

A predator will keep its eyes squarely on whatever creature might be its intended victim. That gaze won't break, especially if the predator is forced to give chase.

Just guessing here. I have no certified expertise in this subject. But as a rank-amateur student of psychology, and noting how important observation is in so many survival strategies, it just seems to make sense. Working and surviving in the broadcast "jungle", that skill helped me avoid a fair amount of problems. And it was instructive in knowing when to "get out of range," as it were.

[TygrBright]

11. The hypothesis is that it's an acknowledgment that you're neither predator nor prey, but equal.

And therefore they are comfortable enough in your presence not to have to monitor you as though you represent a threat or potential food.

As always, with a hypothesis involving another species, there's no easy way to verify or disprove it.

philosophically,
Bright

[Kaleva]

19. If you die, they will consider you to be food.

[keopeli]

12. I tell my girl that I love her all the time and she says it back - with the slow blink.

[Sky Jewels]

16. ...

[NNadir]

13. When I do this with my cat...

...she yells "Shut the fuck up, can't you see I'm trying to sleep!"

[Sky Jewels]

15. I figured this out decades ago, when I was a toddler.

We call it “squinties.” 😻

I do squinties with every kitty I see, including big ones in a zoo, and they inevitably return the love.

[Sympthsical]

17. Was this not known?

The slow blink is how to get kitties to chill.

I use it on mine to let them know it's sleep time. Just stare and slow blink, and they'll mimic it and doze off.

Now whether they stay asleep or instead come running when you open popcorn no matter how quiet you were trying to be is a different matter.