How do cats communicate with other cats?
Elizabeth asked:
I have two cats(well actually one cat and one kitten)and sometimes when they are in the same room they look at eachother and I wonder if they are talking to eachother. Do they have some sort of non-talking cat language?
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I have two cats(well actually one cat and one kitten)and sometimes when they are in the same room they look at eachother and I wonder if they are talking to eachother. Do they have some sort of non-talking cat language?
July 5th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
No. Cats are not telepathic. Body language, different vocalizations purring and how they touch each other is how they communicate with each other. Kristin
July 6th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Cats do not use words and vocabulary like we do, but they still communicate with one another. They are not telepathic, but can read eachother by simple body language. Imagine a society without words, where you can determine someone’s mood by just looking at them. Where you can have an entire conversation with someone and not say a word. How do cats do it? How do two unfamiliar cats greet one another? Do cats have social hierarchies like dogs do?
Cats have very subtle ways of speaking with one another and use various means to communicate, including vocal and body language. Any cat owner can tell you that their cat makes many different sounds.
When speaking with us, cats will often meow and display different body postures. Each meow may differ in meaning by the tone, volume, pitch, rhythm, and pronunciation.
However, when feral cats meet, do they greet one another with a meow? The familiar loud ‘miaow’ that our cat uses to speak with us is often not used to communicate with other cats. Body language is very important in the cat world. Most cats do not need to make a sound when communicating with one another. Posture, tail movement, eye contact, and even scents send signals to other cats. A cat can communicate with another cat from across a field without even having to say a word.
Cats use the same signals to communicate with one another as they use to communicate with us. However, cats are far better at observing and responding to those signals. They use body language to do most of the communicating, and less verbal noises (such as meows) are needed to gain another cat’s attention.
Cats are territorial creatures. Their territory may contain areas that they share with other cats and areas that they want exclusively for themselves. They mark their territory by rubbing up against an object, by scratching a tree and/or urinating. These signs act like posted signs, telling other cats whose property they are trespassing. Other cats can not only see the marks, but they can detect the pheromones left from the rubbing or in the urine. Therefore, besides body language, a cat’s sense of smell is also very important for communication.
Another example where smell is important is when cats groom one another. When two cats live together, they will sniff and groom one another. Grooming is done not only to keep clean, but to provide comfort, remove parasites and relief social tension. This is also known as social grooming. A queen (mother cat) will be able to recognize the familiar smell of her own offspring. Queens will groom her kittens regularly to keep them clean, to stimulate bowel movements, and to provide comfort.
When observing feline behaviour, one may notice that cats seem to have a dual personality. They can be friendly and inviting one minute, and then unexpectedly strike you the next. This is due to the cat’s unique place in the food chain – they are both predator and prey. So they can be stealthy rodent hunters at the same time as being aware of their surroundings for potential dangers, like large dogs or other carnivores. Therefore, cats have a wide range of behaviours that enable them to adapt quickly to different situations. Owners often get upset when their cat suddenly turns and bites them after petting the cat a minute earlier. This dual personality behaviour is important when trying to understand feline behaviour and communication.
Not all cat communication is understood, even by those who have owned and observed many cats. Humans cannot detect pheromones or read every subtle movement of their feline companions. Sometimes we observe our cat staring out the window at the stray cat outside. Are they having silent conversations with one another? What factors determine social hierarchies? Many questions are yet to be answered, but at least humans are capable of understanding some basic words in the complex feline language. Snow White
July 7th, 2010 at 12:33 pm
they emit different sounds
alot of them you can’t hear
meows how they communicate with people & a meow is a high pitched roar
meow means, hello; purr means, i like that; hiss means, back off
infra sound can mean anything the man
July 7th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
the same way you communicate with other humans X/ Nark
July 8th, 2010 at 5:37 am
Cats communicate by leaving their scent on things and each other, the way they meow, they also communicate with different tail movements. hope this helps
Karl Chuck
July 9th, 2010 at 7:28 am
Via sound and movement, also by scent Kevin7