Eyeballing the slow blink - what does it mean?

 

We cats don't much like being stared at by strangers. Worse still is being stared at by an enemy. The direct gaze can make us feel uneasy.

But sometimes the direct gaze between humans and cats is different. This is when we feel completely safe with a human, who is our pet.

We gaze and we do a slow blink. Just to show that our gaze isn't aggressive. It is loving...

And after the blink, we don't turn away or stop gazing. We continue to gaze with confidence and affection. 

So, humans, if you get a slow blink from your cat, you know that she loves you and she feels completely safe with you.

Congratulations. You have become the perfect pet for a loving cat.

 

The playlist of what cats are saying is on my Youtube channel under Celia's name is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMH0Q-3hEcw&list=PLnwXtI1uuo884ABEOTorPYZNnIeTh04pV 

Am I an international cat?

 Last Friday was International Cat Day, according to International Cat Care. I began to wonder if I was an international cat? Or just a cat? Or a European cat?

As a British blue pedigree, it is obvious to me that I am British. But does this stop me being International too? I hope not.

I have done my best to be international. I have tried to educate humans, wherever they may be with this blog. Is this enough to make me International. I am still not sure.

Another thought? Purrhaps all we cats are international. After all, if I was transported to China, I would be able to talk to other cats without having to learn a new language. (It's only stupid humans that use different languages according to where they live!)

So I came to this conclusion. I am International because ALL cats are International
 

Eyeballing - the stare that says "Don't come closer."

When I meet a cat I don't know, I usually stop and stare. So does he. We can learn a lot by this simple eyeballing.

If he is in my territory, he will often be slightly uneasy. So instead of keeping eye contact, he will turn his head away to one side. He may even begin to retreat.

Then I feel as if I have won! It's a good feeling. 

But sometimes these staring matches can go on for a long time. So I just sit there and stare and stare and stare.

Of course, if I am intruding into his space, l may be the one that has to break off eye contact. I don't feel very happy about this, but it is a contest which is both silent (no cat yowling) and safe (no fights).

By the staring contest, we can both keep our dignity and stay w don't have to fight.  

 

Licking, more like wiping my lips... what does it mean. Educating humans.

We wipe our lips carefully when we are eating or when we have finished eating. Our tongue comes out and travels round the edge of the mouth.

This is a functional movement of the tongue rather than an expressive signal. We do this so as not to waste food. The tongue curls so that any food fragments are carefully put back in the mouth to be eaten.

So what does this signal to our dumb friends, the humans? It means either that I like the food and want to make sure I get it all, down to the last crumb or smear. Or it means I was so hungry I didn't want to waste any, even of food that I was less keen on.

If humans look carefully at us, the fact that there is food being eating should make them able to distinguish between this kind of lip wiping and the swifter tongue flick, which expresses stress.

This video is also on Celia's Youtube channel in the playlist of cat signals - what is my cat saying?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxC12BbRB54&list=PLnwXtI1uuo884ABEOTorPYZNnIeTh04pV&index=26 

 

Educating humans ... the silent purr

 

Here is my friend Freya doing an almost silent purr. So different from the loud purr by Tilly which you will find on my Youtube cat signals playlist. I couldn't video a silent purr because listeners or viewers would simply assume that I had turned the sound off.

Some of us purr very very loudly. Some purr moderately. And some purr so silently that our dumb humans cannot hear us and think that we don't purr at all.

If they looked more closely they would see the slight movements in the chest. Some humans put their ear close to our bodies to see if they can feel the vibrations. They usually can.

Luckily I purr moderately. I feel that the loud purrers are giving their humans too much feed back. 

If I was unlucky enough to be a silent purrer my human would never know I was doing it. Because if she put her ear close to my body I would simply swipe at it...

You have to stop them taking liberties.