It is one thing to know how your cats communicate with you and other humans, and it is another to understand how they communicate with other felines – all the secret signs and languages you might not be privy to.
It is essential you know how cats communicate with each other, especially when you want to socialize your moggie with other felines. This way, you can predict the situation between one cat and another and intervene if need be. For instance, where your moggie feels threatened by another moggie and may want to defend themselves by attacking, they show this through growling and howling.
Without further ado, the following are common ways cats communicate with themselves:
Nose to Nose
Felines are known to touch their noses together as a form of greeting, especially if they are already familiar with each other’s scent or trying to assess scents for the first time. This way, they identify themselves through the pheromones released by their scent glands located on the forehead, under the chin, between the eyes, and on the cheeks.
Through Sounds
From purring to meowing and growling, yowling and hissing, cats make several sounds and noises as forms of communication. Cats are known to howl at each other when angry or territorial. It acts as a warning that tells the other cat to “back down before I strike.”
Conversely, when cats yowl, it may mean several things – to communicate that they are distressed, in pain, or as a mating call. Similarly, while felines purr at each other to reveal contentment, comfort, or discomfort in some instances, adult cats rarely meow at each other. Meowing is often limited to humans alone. Finally, a cat will hiss when it feels threatened by another cat or startled and often trill in greetings to its counterparts.
Urine spraying
Moggies make a puddle of urine to mark their territory. Their urine also carries their scents and serves as a heads-up or warning to other cats in a colony – or outside of the colony – that they are the boss of the territory. It may also indicate sexual receptiveness, usually in unneutered cats. Similarly, although cats are known to bury their feces or use cat litter – which you can get on Mellowed Cats – they might also expose their feces to delineate the extent of territories.
By Body Movements
One significant way Felines communicate with humans is through their body language and movement. But this is also a significant way by which they communicate with each other. For instance, a feline will expose its rear by raising its backside as a form of introduction to fellow cats. This way, the scents from their anal glands can be perceived by the other cat, and acquaintances will be made. Weird? Yes, mate! But not for those furry champs.
Some communications are exclusive to fellow cats or humans alone, while other forms of felines’ communication may apply to both cats and humans. What mode of communication are you most familiar with?
