I hope this two pages of an infographic helps in understanding domestic cat tail body language/signalling. It can be quite subtle. There is one cat breed, a rare one, with a curled-over tail called the American Ringtail. This cat will struggle with one or two of these tail signalling positions! And, of course, the tailless …
A study described the use of space and patterns of interaction among a group of 14 unrelated domestic cats living in a single-story house. Although I am referring to a scientific study, cat owners should not be put off by that because the findings are interesting. Cats are very intelligent in finding ways to live …
Cats in multi-cat homes ‘time share’ and use tail positions to keep the peace Read More »
Introduction: This article on the social function of tail up in domestic cats is based a scientific research paper of very similar title prepared by S.Cafazzo and E.Natoli. and which was published on the internet by Science Direct. The right to read the entire document was purchased by me. It is a summarized version in …
Why do domestic cats carry out ‘scent exchange’ with their owner? First of all, what is scent exchange? It may not be apparent to a cat caregiver that it is taking place. However, it happens very often, particularly when a cat owner comes home and their cat greets them. The cat will do one of …
Why do domestic cats exchange scent with their human caregiver? Read More »
I am discussing the domestic cat’s tail. Having thought about this for the first time, I’ve decided that the positioning and movement of a cat’s tail is between a voluntary and an involuntary action. Therefore, it does not quite have a mind of its own but neither does the cat have direct control over it. …
In general, feral cats do not meow. This is because it is usually a learned vocalisation between domestic cat and human caregiver which is employed to ask for something. We hear it a lot. In short, it a product of cat domestication. However, I would expect that the meow must have entered the feral cat …
A cat’s tail is made of bone (caudal vertebrae), ligaments, tendons, cartilage, muscle, skin and hair. A typical cat has between twenty-one and twenty-three caudal vertebrae which are extension of the spine. Exceptionally a cat with a full tail may have as few as eighteen or as many as twenty-eight of these bones. They reduce …
A cat’s tail serves two main functions (1) to assist in balance particularly at times when balance is critical such as climbing trees to hunt and (2) a signal in feline body language when it takes up various positions such as ‘tail up‘ which signals a friendly approach. The small wild cat the margay has …
This is a cat-to-human friendly nose touch greeting. Cats who are friendly with each do it a lot combined with the tail up and scent exchange rubbing including head butting. It’s very hard for a domestic cat to greet us with the classic feline ‘nose touch greeting’ for the obvious reason that we are enormously …
Why do humans and dogs smile but cats don’t? Firstly, I am not sure that dogs do smile but I’ll concentrate on humans and cats, two species that I know well. Note: these are my thoughts because the experts don’t talk about cat smiles. If you have different ideas please leave a comment – thanks. …
Rudolph Furtado, POC’s Asian reporter in Mumbai, India, has recently returned from Indonesia where he noticed a large number of short-tailed cats and some with kinked tails. Singapore SPCA say short tailed cats are common and they are born that way. That is the obvious reason: genetics and inheritance; however, Robinson’s Genetics (a well-known book) …
Lots of Asian cats have bent and short tails. Why? Read More »
The other day I was perusing a message boards in one of the cat communities to which I belong. I ran across a very strange question posed by an owner who was quite upset and concerned about his cat’s usual tail position. He asked: “My cat’s tail is always pointing straight up at the ceiling. …
The cat tail up position in relation to a cat meeting another cat is a communication signal – a piece of body language – which says: “I am friendly and I accept my social status”. So, it is more likely to be initiated by a cat of lower status to a cat of higher status. …
