Study Suggests We Can Communicate With Cats

Let's be honest, we have all tried to talk to our pets at least once in our life. While COVID-19 keeps us locked in our house we may find ourselves doing it more than once as we all sit here bored out of our minds.

When it comes to pets in the Midwest we have people who have one gold fish to people with 3 dogs 6 cats 12 fish 2 rabbits and a million others. It's safe to say you most likely have a furry best friend, and if it's a cat they may be able to understand you better than you think.

According to a new study you can communicate with cats by by basically blinking slowly. A few different studies were done, and one that stood out was,

"In the first experiment, owners slow-blinked at 21 cats from 14 different households. Once the cat was settled and comfy in one spot in their home environment, the owners were instructed to sit about a metre away and slow-blink when the cat was looking at them. Cameras recorded both the owner's face and the cat's face, and the results were compared to how cats blink with no human interaction. The results showed that cats are more likely to slow-blink at their humans after their humans have slow-blinked at them."

In short while it's clearly difficult to know why cats slow-blink at humans. It's been interpreted as a means of signaling different intentions. It is also possible that cats developed the expression since humans respond positively. In all honesty with domesticated animals, it's often impossible to tell.

That being said however psychologist Tasmin Humphrey of the University of Sussex stated,

"Understanding positive ways in which cats and humans interact can enhance public understanding of cats, improve feline welfare, and tell us more about the socio-cognitive abilities of this under-studied species,"

So this could be a step in the right direction.