The head shake...I am resetting myself after stress

Watch the head shake. What does it mean? Educating humans about cat body language is not easy but I am still trying to do so.

When we repeatedly shake our heads, there may be a veterinary reason - like ear mites or perhaps a grass seed has got into the ear. We will probably scratch at the ear too.

But a single small headshake is a way of expressing ourselves. It means we are trying to reset our emotions after something has stressed us. 

It is usually only a small head shake - and humans often don't even notice it. If they do, they probably don't understand its meaning. 

• For more cat body language videos, go to my Youtube channel (under Celia's name, alas) and press on Playlists. Choose Cat signals - what is my cat saying, - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQMXNyTVlCTxbGCe1QLO9tw
  

Watch my head turn - what am I feeling?

Just a shelf and no way to escape staring humans - head turn

 Staring between us cats can be challenging or even threatening. So one way to lessen the tension is for one of us to turn his head away, breaking the mutual eye gaze.

Staring by humans can also make us uneasy or fearful. So we turn our head away, and break off the gaze. It shows we are uneasy, worried or even frightened.

Alas, in cat shelters we cats may be left with no way to hide or retreat from the staring humans. All we can do is turn our head away. There is video on Celia's Youtube channel here.

So, if we look frightened, stop staring at us. Turn your own eyes away or even turn you head and look sideways at us.

We will feel less worried.

Watch my tongue - what am I saying?

The tongue flick showing anxiety

 Humans don't know how to read cat language. We have to remember that they are dumb animals with no proper feline language - only an assorted number of meaningless vocalisations.

So watch my tongue, humans. It will give you a message to tell you how I am feeling.

If I flick my tongue upwards towards my nose, that signals that I am feeling slightly anxious. You can see it in a video that Celia has posted on her Youtube channel here. 

Toby is enjoying being petted but it is slightly too rough for him. So he gets slightly anxious. He flicks his tongue then he turns his head away to show he has had enough for the time being.

If your human wants to learn cat language, get her/him to watch the video.

Lessons for humans 6. Don't put up with groping.

 

                                        Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JiIDD6O_9k
 

We cats are quite clear about body privacy. We know where we DON'T want to be touched. Backside, belly, tail end of back - these are often our private areas.

We also are clear when we want humans to stop touching.

So when some insensitive human gropes us, we nip, bite or scratch. We make it quite clear - Take your hands off me. 

Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6P5KysZq0FE

Humans could learn from us. Send a clear message if you don't want to be groped.

You can't bite most of the time. Your face is wrongly designed. You can't  scratch because you have pathetic nails not proper claws.

But you can shout, hit or slap. Humans, it is the twenty first century. You don't have to put up with groping. 

• For a video of lessons from cats go to Celia's Youtube channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBIJyISl3rA&t=55s

Lessons for humans 5. Check the toilet bowl

Tommy inspects his urination. Full video -

https://youtu.be/ujWARbL9tws

 One of the weirdest things about humans is how they toilet. They sit on a ceramic seat, do their business and then pull a lever which flushes water down the same ceramic.

Odd. Very odd, indeed. I have spent time looking into the human toilet and I still don't understand....

There is something they often forget to do... to take a good look at their eliminations before washing them away.

We cats always do this, unless we are interrupted or when the litter tray is covered in a way which makes it too difficult to turn round.

Tommy inspects the human toilet

Yet if humans did this every single time, they would learn more about their state of health. Did dark urine show that they needed to drink more water? Was there blood in their stools? 

So, humans, take a lesson from cats. Take a good look in that ceramic bowl before flushing....