Although cats have a reputation for being solitary animals, they have developed an elaborate system for communicating with each other. Scent, body language, touch, and sound help one cat learn about another. Your cat will use the same tools to communicate with you.

Following Their Noses - Odors are one of the most important ways your cat learns about his environment and other cats that live in it.

If your cat lived outside, he would use urine to scent-mark his territory, backing up to an object, squirting urine on it, and leaving a pungent odor for any feline passers-by to smell. While not having the effect of keeping other cats away, urine marks alert other cats to the presence of the marking cat.

If you've had your cat neutered before he began spraying, he should not urine mark inside your home, but he may use his sense of smell in other ways to identify his space. Depositing facial pheromones by rubbing his cheeks on objects increases your cat's comfort level and helps him navigate around his environment. If you have more than one cat, you will notice them butting heads and rubbing their cheeks on the other. Only cats comfortable with each other will engage in this mutual rubbing. Once they have determined that it is safe, cats will approach each other and raise their tails, each allowing the other cat to sniff their rear end – a sign of mutual acceptance.

Body Language -

About 70 percent of human communication is nonverbal, resulting from changes we detect in the way a person sits, walks, or changes expression. Your cat also uses body movements and facial expressions to let you and other cats know what's on his mind. To determine what your cat is thinking, observe his body language as a whole rather than simply one aspect of it. For example, if your cat's pupils are dilated, it may mean that your cat is becoming aggressive and wants to fight, it may mean he’s fearful, or it may mean his eyes are accommodating to low light.

A relaxed, contented cat points his ears forward, half closes his eyes, and purrs. When he becomes more alert, his eyes open widely and his whiskers stand straight out. If your cat is afraid, he draws his ears back and begins to fold them flat on his head. His pupils dilate. An agitated and aggressive cat has completely dilated pupils, flattened ears, taut facial muscles, forward sweeping whiskers, and may open his mouth to bare his teeth. He is ready to either scare off an intruder or to fight with one.

To a cat, staring is intimidating behavior, and your cat will stare at another cat he wishes to challenge or threaten. To prevent your cat from feeling menaced when you gaze at him, slowly blink your eyes to indicate that the look is benign rather than belligerent.

A defensive cat will be poised for action. He may arch his back and puff up his hair to appear larger. If your cat feels totally relaxed with another cat or with you, he will roll over and bare his belly – a sign of total submission. Be careful, though. Just because he shows you his belly doesn't mean he wants it rubbed. Some cats enjoy belly rubs while others don't and forcing the issue may make your cat aggressive. He may claw your hands.

Moving his tail is another way your cat sends non-verbal signals. A tail held high above a cat's back is a sign of dignity and self-respect. A cat holding his tail in a lowered state says that he is relaxed and content. A rapidly flicking tail indicates annoyance and ambiguity.

Cat Talk -

Your cat will tell you what he needs through vocalization as well as body language. In the wild, cats have two sets of language – one to communicate between mother and offspring and another to communicate with other adults within their territory. The pitch, intensity, frequency, rapidity, and volume of the meowing reflect your cat's different emotional states and physical needs. The more rapid, intense, and loud are the vocalizations, the more panicked, scared, and anxious your cat may feel. Conversely, the slower and less intense the vocalizations are, the more confident or potentially assertive your cat is being.

Your cat's vocal patterns will fall into three categories. The first is murmur patterns, including purring, that indicates a calm, friendly state. Vowel patterns indicate a need for food or other needs and desires. Loud, strained, intense sounds, including hissing, growling, and screaming, are associated with mating or aggression toward a human or other animal.

Cats are clean and have been praised for their mysterious, exotic looks. They are fun to watch, whether they are stalking a toy, your ankles or a snack. And they are noted for their keen senses: their sharp hearing, sense of smell and touch, and the ability to see in near darkness.

Your cat's senses evolved from those of the wild cat’s, a long line of hunters and predators, and are designed for the purpose of stalking, hunting and killing. Almost all of your cat's five senses have heightened ability when compared to humans.

Scent Savvy -

The first thing your cat does when he climbs onto your lap is smell – your lap, your hands, your clothing. Before he digs into his food, he will sniff it; before he takes a treat, he will sniff it. And have you ever tried hiding medicine in his food? I’ll bet it was a solitary object lying in the bowl after he finished.

Your cat’s sense of smell is superior; it is one of the ways in which he interacts with his environment. His nostrils are working constantly. His nose is small and neat, but hidden behind it is a maze of bones and organs. Cats have 19 million odor-sensitive cells in their noses compared to 200 million in dogs and about 5 million in humans. In the roof of the mouth is a taste and smelling organ called the Jacobson’s organ, a tiny cigar-shaped organ that links the senses of taste and smell. He uses it to sniff out things like a potential mate, a strange cat in his territory or an unusual odor.

Cats are equipped with glands that secrete pheromones, which are identifying scents akin to fingerprints in humans. These glands are found on your cat’s cheeks, on his lower legs, and under his tail. He deposits his scent marks as he walks, when he rubs his cheeks against something or when he sprays. Another cat will identify these scents and will gather information, such as the identity of the cat (if it’s one he knows), when he was there, which direction he headed, and even what kind of mood he was in.

Seeing Stars -

Keeping in mind that your cat evolved from hunters, you can understand why his sense of sight is one of his strongest. He can scan your backyard with a single sweep of his eyes and detect the tiniest of movements from the tiniest insect. He can see in the dimmest of lights; his eyes can open about three times as wide as the human pupil and let in as much light as possible at the normal “hunting” times of dawn and dusk. He also has about three times as many rods (the receptors that are sensitive to light) than we have.

But letting enough light into the eye is not enough; your cat’s beautiful eyes also have a reflective layer at the back called the tapetum ludium. This accounts for the reflective glow you see when your cat’s eyes reflect light. Also, to make sure his sensitive system isn’t a problem during the day, he can shut his pupil size down to a fine vertical slit so that only a small amount of light enters the eye. His retina is limited in size and by giving more space to rods than cones (the cells that recognize color), he probably sees some blues and greens but not reds – they probably look gray.

A final protection is the third eyelid – a thin fleshy membrane that is usually tucked away at the corner of the eye, but that can be used rapidly for protection. It reduces the intensity of bright light, affords some protection from eye damage in a fight or in pushing through prickly undergrowth, and it helps to clean the eye. You might see it when your cat isn’t feeling well.

Hearing Aids -

Your cat is sound asleep in the back room of the house when you open a can of soda. Nothing happens. Later, you open up a can of cat food. Suddenly your kitty is there, stretching and looking sleepy and hungry.

A cat’s sense of hearing is amazing. Cats can hear high frequency sounds we cannot. The upper range of hearing in cats is about 60 to 65 kiloherz, which enables them to hear both their kittens and the ultrasonic calls of rodents. They can also distinguish the tone or pitch of sounds better than we can. And their ability to locate the source of a sound is highly advanced. From a yard away, a cat can distinguish between sound sources only 3 inches apart. They can also hear sounds at great distances – four or five times farther away than humans.

Cats can also detect the tiniest variances in sound, distinguishing differences of as little as one-tenth of a tone, which helps them identify the type and size of the prey emitting the noise. It also helps them distinguish the sound of your opening a can of soda from the sound of your opening a can of cat food.

Observe your cat as he listens to something. His ears move back and forth, functioning like mini-satellite dishes as they rotate to pick up the sounds and funnel them to the brain. The external ear, or pinna, contains more than 12 muscles, which allows the ear to turn, rotating up to 180 degrees to locate and identify even the faintest of squeaks, peeps or rustling noises.

Touch of Cats -

You may have noticed as you pet your cat, he turns into an “id,” demonstrating nursing behavior like drooling and treading – behaviors normally performed by kittens to stimulate milk flow. These are pleasurable memories from kitten-hood. When you stroke your cat, he, in fact, regresses to behave as he did when his mother groomed him. It was her touch that was the primal source of affection, and your cat substitutes you for his mother when he licks or kneads you.

Cats can feel their way around because of their highly developed sense of touch. Their skin is covered with highly sensitive “touch spots,” which respond to the lightest pressure. Add to that their whiskers and eyebrows and the group of long hairs in the back of their forepaws that all transmit pressure sensations to the brain.

It’s said that if a cat’s whiskers touch a mouse in the dark, the cat reacts with the speed and precision of a mousetrap. The whiskers are the most sensitive of all and play a vital part in his survival. The special hairs, called the vibrissae, are set deep within the skin and provide the cat with sensory information about the slightest air movement around it – a valuable tool for a nocturnal hunter. Whiskers also help a cat navigate at night and help him determine whether he can fit through small spaces.

Taste of Tabby -

You buy a new cat food, a “delicacy” as the ads say. You open the can (your cat comes running) and place it in his dish before him. He takes a quick whiff, turns and walks away – without even a taste.

In spite of their reputation for being finicky when it comes to food, cats have less ability to differentiate among tastes than humans; we have 9,000 taste buds, while cats have only 473. Your cat’s taste buds are found in the mushroom-shaped papillae at the tip and sides of his tongue and in cup-shaped papillae in the back of his tongue. However, they make up for this deficiency with a superior sense of smell, and his most powerful response to food is through that sense of smell, not taste.

Your cat’s taste will respond not only to flavor, but also to food’s texture and temperature. Food that is not room temperature is a turnoff to most cat’s and may be the result of his ancestor’s natural predilection for eating recently killed prey.

Making Sense -

Cats can hear sounds we can’t hear, see things we can’t see and smell and feel the world around us in ways that we could never grasp. These remarkable abilities are part of the evolutionary adaptation to the role of solitary nocturnal hunter. Overall, the predatory instinct plays a large role in your cat’s behavior. Properly channeled through play and exercise, it makes for an interesting and exciting relationship with your pet.

Wouldn’t you love to know what your cat is thinking? You can sit and watch your cat for hours but you never know just what is going on behind those big dreamy blue (or green or amber) eyes. Your cat squints at you, fluttering his eyelids until they almost close. He switches his tail. Is he angry or just excited? We may not know, but we can make some pretty good assumptions about what cats are thinking based upon the full context of their behavioral signing and events that normally follow.

The Eyes Have It -

Look into your cat’s eyes and you can tell a lot about his state of mind. The direction of your cat’s gaze will direct you to the subject of his attention. But gazes vary. Some are intense and focused while others are haphazard. When your cat stares without blinking, does he want something from you or is he feeling hostility? Either could be true. Although a fixed gaze and rigid body posture might mean hostility, the same look might be soliciting petting or some other form of attention in a relaxed, purring cat.

Another fairly definite eye sign relates to pupil size. If your cat’s pupils are constricted and slit-like, his mood is probably ambient, bordering on vegetative. Or perhaps it’s predatory. However, if your cat's pupils become fully dilated in broad daylight, appearing as large black pools, he’s either in pain or ready to fight or run away. Increased pupil size is not intended to intimidate other cats or people but rather to allow more light into the eyes. Cats’ pupils are always large at night but veterinarians learn very quickly to beware when a cat’s pupils are fully dilated in a brightly lit examination room.

The degree of opening of the eyelids can tell a tale, too. Wide-open eyes correlate with alertness and increased levels of mental activity – ready for action, if you will. Semi-closed or fluttering eyes mean that the cat is in a more dozy, complacent mood or may be in the mood for a nap. So if your cat's eyelids flutter and periodically close while he is looking at you, it is a sign of faith or trust. Even if he is on the brink of falling asleep at the time, squinting at you is still a compliment because your pet is showing that he is comfortable and trusting enough to take a nap in your presence.

The Ears Have It, Too -

A cat's ears can adopt several different positions and for several different reasons:

• Ears erect and forward – alert, with attention focused ahead
• Ears swiveled sideways like a swing-wing fighter – on the offensive
• Ears pressed backward onto the head giving the appearance of a snake – extreme defense (ears folded back to protect them from harm)
• One ear forward and one back – ambivalence
• Ears rotating like radar dishes – listening carefully in an attempt to find the source of the sound.

Mouth -

Your cat normally keeps his mouth closed. This tells us very little about a cat's motivation. When the mouth is open, however, you can sometimes learn about your cat's motivation.

• The gape. Your cat gets a far-away look, allows the bottom jaw to drop, and looks as if it's grimacing in pain. What he’s actually doing is savoring certain pheromonal odors on the breeze.
• Open mouth with lips retracted. Your cat stares, bears his teeth and hisses. This indicates intimidation and aggression.
• The yawn. Yawning indicates stress, ambivalence, or sometimes preparedness for action.

Head and Body Position -

A cat on the offensive often walks directly toward the subject of his angst with his head held low and moving slowly from side to side, with his eyes fixed on the target. When in this mode, your cat will swivel his ears sideways and his body will appear wedge-shaped as his rear legs stiffen. Watch out for this cat: He means business.

When your cat is on the defensive, he will hunker down while backing up and lean away from the threat. His head is sometimes deflected to one side giving the appearance of a sideways glance and he will vocalize (hiss, growl or shriek). Other signs of defensive aggression include extension of claws in readiness for a fight, and piloerection (hair raised) - making him appear larger and thus more fearsome. A cat in this posture is less likely to attack than retreat – because he is afraid.

Tell-Tail Signs -

Tail position and movement offers insight into your cat's psyche. Basically a cat's tail can be up, down, or sideways; it can be curved or straight; and it can be still or moving. Here's how to interpret the various positions and movements of the tail:

• Tail tucked – fearful, defensive
• Tail held at half-mast and moving slowly from side to side – indicates mild interest
• Tail vertical or straight up – indicates anticipation and/or greeting
• Tail vertical but curved to one side – indicates playfulness
• Tail curved over the cat's back – indicates expectation/monitoring
• Tail held completely to one side in a female – indicates sexual receptivity
• Tail held low with tip twitching – indicates a stalking, predatory stance
• Tail frantically switching in wide arcs – indicates heightened affect/aggression
• Tail puffed up (piloerect) – indicates fear and aggression

Marking Signs -

• Bunting. Your cat may rub or push his face against objects with his forehead, cheeks or chin. What your cat is doing is marking them with subtle biological scents. Some say that a cat’s rubbing with the forehead or cheeks indicates affection, but rubbing with the chin is usually reserved for territorial marking.
• Furniture scratching. Contrary to popular belief, furniture scratching is not the cat's way of sharpening his claws but is a form of visual and scent marking. Your cat's paws are equipped with scent glands to facilitate this function. Territorial concerns will increase furniture scratching/marking and should be addressed if furniture scratching becomes a problem.
• Marking objects with urine or feces. This is an even more distasteful form of marking behavior to most cat owners. The function is similar to furniture marking signifying an olfactory warning.
• Anal sac secretions. Your cat may sometimes discharge his anal sac when in situations of extreme fear. Anal sac secretions are thought to contain a fear pheromone that serves to remind the cat not to pass that way again.

There are benefits to caring cat owners in obtaining glimpses into the mind of their pet because it enhances their bond with their cat and facilitates communication. So, next time you are alone with your cat and don't have anything to do, try reading your cat’s mind. You'll probably learn something you didn't know before and have a greater understanding because of it.

But though still a mystery, the substance that attracts cats has been isolated. It’s a volatile turpenoid, and has a specific chemical name: nepetalactone. Nepetalactone is not attractive to all cats; only about 30 to 70 percent of cats are actually attracted to it. But when it works, it really works, appearing to drive cats wild with excitement.

The Catnip Trip -

A cat reacts to catnip with ecstasy and unbounded joy. They are given to:

• Sniffing, chewing and batting around the catnip source, salivating profusely
• Shaking their heads
• Rolling and rubbing themselves on the floor
• Becoming ataxic, falling and stumbling
• Tandem kicking forward with the hind feet
• Excitement and chasing behavior

Theories Behind Catnip -

No one really knows why catnip is such a big attraction for cats. It is also unclear what sensations it is eliciting and what behavior(s) it is releasing. Here are a few possible explanations and discussion of the points that arise:

• Some of the behaviors look play-like, so cats under the influence of catnip do seem to be in a good mood and having fun.
• Chewing and salivating appears to be an appetitive response, one that is associated with getting food.
• Rolling and rubbing appear to be a sexual behavior mimicking being in heat.
• Tandem hind leg kicking behavior may indicate predatory behavior.
• Chasing behavior also indicates a predatory component.

So Which Explanation Is It?

It may be that they all are correct. Catnip, it seems, kindles a little bit of everything, exciting cats and allowing them to let go of their inhibitions. This implies a general excitatory effect on areas of the brain, particularly those centered in and around the hypothalamus, the region that controls appetitive, predatory and sexual behavior.

Recent evidence is that nepetalactone, whose molecule has an opioid (opium-like)-shape, does indeed have an opium-like action. It stimulates certain types of opioid receptors in the same way morphine does. You might ask why an innocent plant would be harboring such a powerful chemical. The answer may be to attract insects that will subsequently assist in cross-pollination or help plants in other ways (e.g. wasps that are attracted will eat aphids). Lamiaceae-type plants may have evolved the ability to manufacture cyclopentanoids, known insect sex pheromones, to attract insects to assist in their own reproductive cycle.

Along comes a cat with a nose for fun, discovers this interesting, perhaps pheromonally-attractive plant, which it proceeds to investigate and perhaps to chew. If he or she actually absorbs nepetalactone, the opioid-receptors, pleasure centers, and “go” systems of the brain will be activated and the cat will roll around in ecstasy. It has been shown that exposure to nepetalactone has an amphetamine-like effect in some animals and will cause certain repetitive behaviors. This goes along with the theory of opioid activation, as opioids, in some species – cats and horses included – do cause stimulation of “go system” neurochemicals (a.k.a. catecholamines), as amphetamine does.

Conclusion -

All this may sound a little far-fetched but does explain the known, observable facts. It also explains why some cats are immune. If a cat that is initially attracted to catnip does not ingest the material, it will not discover the “forbidden fruit” and will thus remain indifferent to the covert pleasures.

Although it seems logical to assume that the estrus-like behaviors released by catnip would be a female-only phenomenon, this is not the case. Males, too, engage in rolling and rubbing behavior characteristic of estrus. This can be explained by the fact that no behavior is unique to any one sex, not even a sexual behavior.

Although some people may be philosophically opposed to the drunken, appetitive, and seemingly erotic state that catnip produces, it has not been shown to be harmful and may even be beneficial in some circumstances. Catnip-sensitive, feuding cats have been made to perceive each other in a new light following the application of catnip to one or both cats. Also, the analgesic properties of catnip may be helpful for cats in pain. It seems that catnip in cats has similar effects to marijuana in people. Luckily we don’t need a campaign to legalize catnip for medical use in our feline friends.

When your cat climbs into your lap, tucks in his paws under himself, and begins to purr, all is right in his world. This is one of the things we love about our cats; that feeling of contentment they share with us. When cats become soft purring bundles of warm reassuring fur, we feel calmer and more peaceful ourselves. We may not always hear the purring – a soft vibrating rumble – but we can feel it. But why do cats purr? And what produces this characteristic sound?

According to veterinarian Bruce Fogle, author of The Cat’s Mind, the original function of purring was to enable a kitten to communicate with his mother that things are well. A kitten is able to purr by the second day of life, and although he can’t meow and nurse at the same time, he can purr and nurse. And the mother cat often purrs back, probably to reassure the kitty.

There are many theories to explain how the purr is generated. One study determined that purring involves activation of nerves within the voice box. These nerve signals cause vibration of the vocal cords while the diaphragm serves as a piston pump, pushing air in and out of the vibrating cords, thus creating a musical hum. Veterinarian Neils C. Pederson, author of Feline Husbandry, believes that purring is initiated from within the central nervous system and is a voluntary act. In other words, cats purr only when they want to.

Purring is an integral part of the feline communication system and occurs for a variety of reasons. It is classified with the “murmur vocalization” group, which involves sounds produced by a cat while the mouth is closed. In addition to purring, this group of sounds includes grunting, calling, and acknowledgment murmurs. Domestic cats and some wild cats, like pumas and mountain lions (almost any big cat that cannot roar), are all able to purr.

As the cat matures the meaning of the purr changes. Some cats purr to indicate contentment or pleasure, but badly frightened cats and severely ill cats also purr, and so do females while they are delivering their kittens. It is not uncommon for cats to purr when they are close to death. This final purring may indicate a state of anxiety or possibly euphoria, states that have also been described in terminally ill people.

Animal behaviorists believe that when cats purr under stressful circumstances, they are reassuring or comforting themselves, much as humans may sing to themselves or hum when they are nervous. Frightened cats may purr to communicate submissiveness or non-aggressive intentions. A feral cat may purr to signal that he will not attack and other cats need not feel threatened. Older cats may purr when they play or approach other cats, signaling that they are friendly and want to come closer.

A more recent theory about purring is that it is caused by the release of nature’s own morphine-like substances (endorphins) in the brain. Since endorphins are released under circumstances of pain and pleasure, this would explain the seemingly ambiguous expression of purring. This theory jives with Pederson’s reasoning, that purring is initiated in the brain, and is also compatible with the more mechanical explanations for purring, as endorphins activate one of the main action systems in the brain (so thought is translated into movement). Whatever the explanation for purring, it seems to indicate cats’ contentment and is associated with improvement in their affect at times of stress. Purring is one of cats' most endearing qualities.