The domestic cat’s unexpressive face

Grumpy cat ascii

The domestic cat, we have to admit, has an unexpressive face compared to that of humans. This allows us to project our thoughts onto our cat. The reason is because their ability to be social is only a few thousand years old. The domestic cat has evolved from a solitary animal to a social …

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Extreme breeding of cats creates misleading facial expressions

Marking out a cat's face to assess facial expressions

COMMENT: There’s a new study published online which looks at the way the normal facial expressions of a domestic cat are distorted by selective breeding when creating purebred cats with extreme appearances. It makes sense because the neutral facial expression of some of these breeds are heavily distorted from the normal. At least this …

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5 reasons why black cats are less likely to be adopted

Bombay cat PASSION

Despite Cats Protection reporting that their campaign to promote black cats has been successful and that they now spend 11 days less on average in their care before they are adopted, in general we know that the public is prejudiced against black cats at animal shelters. This means that they stay longer in the …

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Purrmanently sad kitten gives late Grumpy Cat a run for her money

Sad kitten

We have to be careful not to project our thoughts onto kittens and cats. Also we should recognise the effect a cat’s facial anatomy can have on their expression. They may look sad but it does not mean that they are sad. It begs the big question as to whether domestic cats can show …

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‘Cat Whisperers’ don’t just read cats’ facial expressions but body language too (plus a quiz)

Quiz on cat facial expressions

There is a study out and the media have latched onto it. In doing so they have distorted it. The reports say that 13 participants achieved a 75% success rate in reading cats’ facial expressions. These were the cat whisperers. They were often people like veterinarians. You can read the study in its entirety …

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