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Cat Body Language 11 Part Series

Do you talk to your cat? Chances are you have thought that they do not understand you. You are partially right; they do not completely understand our language. BUT, just like they respond to their own name, they also remember specific words we say to them and what those mean along with the tone they are said in.

All animals are intuitive, that is, they learn and learn to communicate with the world around them. For many years people thought animals ran completely on instincts. While it is true that they do run on instinct, so do humans. We call it a sixth sense. And just like humans, animals learn to communicate through strings of sound, pitch of sound, and most of all, body language. While we spend most of our time thinking about ourselves and our fellow humans and mostly ignoring our pets until it’s time to feed them, they spend most of their time observing us to understand us better so they can better communicate their needs and better respond to ours.

Talking to Your Cat

Some people are cat people and some people are dog people. And some very rare people are both. The difference are in their instinctual reactions in communicating. Dogs are pack animals and cats are social group animals. So dogs have a defined pecking order where there is one leader, either you or them, and where everybody else falls in line along that pecking order.

Cats on the other hand, conform to a social group order, much like humans have families. There is a parent, a provider (and usually this is the same person,) and everybody else is a sibling that they either love or tolerate. In a cats world, all are almost equal.

People who are both cat and dog people are more intuitive than most, this means they can adapt to either social setting, leader and pack or family, and usually can easily find their place in it.

The differences between cats and dogs are why dogs come when called and cats take their time. Dogs, most of the time, see you as the pack leader they serve; while cats see you as a family member they cohabitate with. Which is also why cats will bring you dead animals (sometimes stuffed toys they see as prey) because they are contributing to the family. Whereas dogs will only play fetch.

Training Your Cat

There has been a long fight as to whether cats train humans or humans train cats. Training a dog is easy, it wants to obey its pack leader once you have defined yourself as such in his mind. But training a cat is much like training a kid. You have to give them a just reason for obeying the command. They have to see a value in doing it apart from being given a doggy treat like a dog does.

While dogs can be taught to open doors and roll over, it is only because you have taught them over time that doing so will mean instant gratification. On the other hand a cat has to be shown a long term value in the trick. Such as opening a door or turning on a light. Dogs see action equals instant pleasure. Cats see “how can I use this in my life.”

Cat body Language and Training

Learning your cat’s body language will be the most effective way to learn to train your cat. You need to see what they are saying to you, through their body and meows to understand what they are trying to communicate back to you. Once you have mastered your cat’s unique language, then you can understand if the cat is disinterested, confused, or has gotten the idea and is bored. You can tell if the cat is working out the problem in her head before she attempts it on her own.

This 11 part cat body language series will provide you insights into understanding the broad spectrum of cat body language and how to use it to effectively communicate with your fuzzy family member. Once we have mastered the basics on how to communicate with your cat, we will move on to other aspects of cat training and behavior.

Cat Books:
Cat Secrets Revealed
Cat Training Secrets
How To Take Care Of Your Pregnant Cat
Cat Tree Construction Plans
Purrfectly Trained Cat
No More Bad Cats!
Ultimate Cat Secrets


In Loving Memory of Munchkin
Meow At Munch