It’s the cat’s meow, but you just don’t understand it

What is the meaning of a cat’s meow that gets louder and louder? Or your pet’s sudden change from purring softly while you stroke its back to biting your hand?

It turns out that these misunderstood moments with your cat happen more often than not. A new study from French researchers, published last month in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science, found that people were significantly worse at reading the signals of an unhappy cat (nearly a third got it wrong) than those of a happy cat (closer to 10 percent ).

The study also suggested that a cat’s meows and other sounds are wildly misinterpreted and that people should consider both vocal and visual cues to try to determine what is going on with their pets.

The researchers extracted these findings from the responses of 630 online participants; Respondents were volunteers recruited through social media advertisements. They all watched 24 videos of different cat behavior. A third depicted only vocal communication, another third only visual signals, and the rest involved both.

“Some studies have focused on how people understand cat vocalizations,” said Charlotte de Mouzon, lead author of the study and an expert on cat behavior at Université Paris Nanterre. “Other studies studied how humans understand cats’ visual cues. But studying both has never been explored before in human-cat communication.”

Cats display a wide range of visual signals: tails waving back and forth or high in the air; rubbing and curling around our legs; crouched; flat ears or wide open eyes.

Their songs can range from seductive to threatening: meowing, purring, growling, hissing and babbling. At last count, kittens were known to use nine different forms of vocalization, while adult cats uttered sixteen.

It may seem obvious that we can better understand what a cat wants by using visual and vocal cues. But we know much less than we think.

“We often take for granted our ability to understand the people and animals we are close to and live with,” said Monique Udell, director of the Human-Animal Interaction Laboratory at Oregon State University, who was not involved used to be. in this research. “It is worth doing this research because it shows us that we are not always accurate. It also helps us understand where our blind spots are, and that we really benefit from having multiple sources of information.”

And the fact that we’re not very good at noticing signs of dissatisfaction in animals should come as no surprise, Dr. Udell. “We are more likely to perceive that our animals are experiencing positive emotions because we want them to,” she says. “When we see the animals we feel good, and our positive emotional state in response to the animals gives us rose-colored glasses.”

Even some of the most common clues can be misunderstood.

For example, purring is not always a sign of comfort. “Spidering can be exhibited in uncomfortable or stressful conditions,” said Dr. the Mouzon. “When a cat is stressed or even in pain, it sometimes purrs.”

Such cases are a form of “self-soothing,” says Kristyn Vitale, an assistant professor of animal health and behavior at Unity Environmental University in Maine, who was not involved in the new research.

The same lack of understanding applies to visual cues in dogs.

“People tend to view the wagging of the tail as something very positive,” said Dr. Udell. “There are actually so many different, subtle signals that can be given with the tail. Does the tail wag more to the left or right? How fast does the tail wag? Is it above the centerline or below? All those wags mean completely different things. Some of them are happy. Some are warning signs before aggression. Just in the wagging of the tail you can see the entire spectrum.”

These studies could help improve not only owners’ personal relationships with their pets, but also animal welfare, the researchers say.

As an example, Dr. de Mouzon on a cat’s habit of suddenly biting. “Over time, if cats communicate and people don’t understand, the cat will just bite,” she said, “because they have learned over time that this is the only way to make something stop.”

Animal shelters use such findings to educate potential owners. Dr. Udell and Dr. Vital research into whether cats can be suitable as a therapy animal, or as an aid for children with developmental differences.

Dr. Udell said such interventions are “becoming increasingly important as we look at mental health, as we look at children who have difficulty connecting with people, as we look at what is now considered the loneliness epidemic.”

She continued: “These are all places where animal companionship can really make a big difference.”

And the benefits for improving relationships between pets and their owners can be enormous, said Dr. Udell.

“You can’t trust animals to be these effective companions if you don’t take their well-being into account,” she said. “And animal welfare, human welfare and the interactions between the two are closely linked. If you improve the lives of animals, you are likely to improve outcomes for people as well.”