Hi, I'm Nicky Trevorrow and I work at Cats Protection.
Today we are going to look at some behaviours of these lovely animals here, cats
and see why they are actually quite complicated and quite subtle in their behaviours,
much more so than social species such as ourselves and dogs.
So, let's have a look at the cats and see what you think is going on.
When a cat comes towards you with their tail up,
usually pointing at the top, it's a sign of a greeting in cats.
This is a lovely behaviour to say that, usually, they're greeting you when they're coming home
or they're soliciting attention. The best thing to do with these behaviours
is to acknowledge their greeting and you should give them a bit of fuss like a head rub,
for example.
When cats are rubbing round ourselves or other objects in the environment, usually
corners of things, they're often using parts of their body like their cheeks and up here
and their sides – they're actually depositing scent.
While this looks like a really cautious behaviour, where they're sort of smooching these
areas, it is in fact scent-marking. We often see these behaviours, particularly when we
first arrive home for example, when they're rubbing around our legs.
It is a greeting behaviour as well, but primarily because we smell a bit funny
where we've been out and they're trying to make us smell more familiar. The slow blink is one of my
favourite behaviours – this is where you slow blink at a cat, so really slowly closing your eyes
and then perfect cat etiquette, just turning your head slowly to the side.
This is showing the cat that you're nice and relaxed in their presence and that you're not threatening at all.
And if you're really lucky, the cat will slow blink you back.
When cats have got their ears flattened – either to the side or back – this can be a sign of stress,
that they're quite frightened.
What's really important for cats that are feeling stressed and frightened
is to give them a place to hide and the opportunity to get up high.
You know when you return home and the cat throws itself on its side and shows you its belly?
Often, many people misinterpret this behaviour and think it wants it tummy rubbed.
Now unfortunately, those people that will have tried this behaviour will unfortunately get a grab round the hand
and maybe the cat will bite them as well. That's because what this cat is really doing is showing a greeting
behaviour and also that it feels relaxed in your presence. It trusts you and it's almost an abuse of
that trust to go and stroke their tummy. What the cat would rather you do
is just to give them a slight head rub and that's it.
Lip-licking can occur for a variety of different reasons,
for example if they've just had something to eat, then you'll notice them doing a really big lick.
However it can also be a sign of nausea – and in this particular cat,
it's a sign of stress. So when cats are stressed,
it's really important to give them a place to hide and the opportunity to get up high.
Purring is one of those behaviours that's familiar to all cat owners. It often shows a cat that's content,
often soliciting attention, but sometimes it can actually be a sign that the cat is in pain.
I hope you've enjoyed looking at these cat behaviours and found them interesting.
Hopefully when you go home today you'll look at your cat in a whole new light
and hopefully it'll improve your relationship with them as well.