f e l i n e
Reading Cats’ Minds Given that, according to a recent study, many cat guardians have trouble deciphering their cat’s emotional state, Andrea Carne explains how those who share their lives with cats can learn to interpret how they are feeling by paying close attention to changes in behavior
© Can Stock Photo/Rustmb
© Can Stock Photo/vladko13
A recent study found that cat guardians were not always able to accurately read their cat’s signals
Cats display a variety of emotional states through their body language and facial expression
A
ment to cats not necessarily gaining a higher score than those reporting no such affinity. What does the Dawson study really tell us then, apart from confirm ing that people may not always be very skilled in reading their cats’ minds? Well, the research team believes it points to the obvious oppor tunity to turn that particular statistic around so that more people are educated about the intricacies of cat facial expressions. This knowledge building will greatly im prove the bond between cats and their guardians and increase overall cat welfare. I absolutely agree, but this will take time and more research. We are talk ing about changing an ex tremely longheld, common opinion that cats are inde pendent, aloof and can take care of themselves. They don’t need us getting all clingy and trying to read their facial expressions, right? Wrong! Those of us that follow the science
new study reveals something many cat owners may have already thought for some time – cats can be hard to read in terms of their emotional states (Dawson, Cheal, Niel & Mason, 2019). Sur prised? No, I didn’t think so. But what may be surprising is that cats cer tainly do have facial expressions and they change subtly to give signals to their humans. It’s just that humans may not always be terribly effi cient at deciphering them, or even noticing them. More than 6,300 people from 85 countries took part in the online study which involved watching a series of 20 short YouTube videos fea turing cats and assessing whether the cat in each one was either in a positive or negative state. The videos concentrated on the cats’ faces (eyes, muzzles and mouths) in a range of scenarios including playing, being petted, seeing food, and being intimidated by other cats. None of the videos showed the classic fear responses such as flattened ears and bared teeth as the researchers considered these to be already widely understood. The average score was around 59% and, of the thousands of participants, only 13% scored 75% and above. Women scored better than men (but only just), younger people scored better than older, and those that scored well generally had professional experience with cats, such as veterinarians (Dawson et al., 2019). It is perhaps not surprising that veterinarians scored well – it is, after all, in the cat's best interest that veterinarians recognize pain and it is also in the veterinarian's best interest to be able to recognize if a cat is about to lose his cool. Another recent study into cat facial expressions was aimed at devel oping a Feline Grimace Scale to assess the pain score of cats under med ical care in veterinary hospitals (Evangelista, Watanabe, Leung & Monteiro, 2019). But while vets scored well in the Dawson et al. study, it is interesting to note that being a selfconfessed cat lover made no dif ference in scoring well in this case, with those listed as having an attach
While body language indicating fear may be more commonly recognized, cats also display more subtle signals that their guardians may not always understand © Can Stock Photo/Cherrymerry
BARKS from the Guild/March 2020
45
