Are You A Cat Whisperer?
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While dogs openly demonstrate joy or displeasure through grins and grimaces, discerning a cat's emotions from its face is often hard, even for its owners. Now, researchers from Canada's University of Guelph assert that stoic as they may appear, cats also express emotions on their faces — one just has to learn how to interpret them!
For their study, Professors Lee Niel and Georgia Mason recruited 6,300 people from 85 countries. The participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire and watch 20 short cat videos, obtained mostly from YouTube. Each clip highlighted just the cat’s face — its eyes, muzzle, and mouth — and gave no clues to its surroundings or circumstances. The viewers did not have to determine the cat's exact emotion, but just decide whether it was in a positive state, a negative state, or if they were unsure.
The researchers, who published their findings in the November 2019 issue of Animal Welfare, found that only 13 percent, or 819 participants, were able to read the cats' emotions accurately over 75 percent of the time. Further research showed that the so-called "cat whisperers" were primarily women and veterinarians or vet technicians. Younger adults also seemed to be able to read the expressions better than older individuals.
"The fact that women generally scored better than men is consistent with previous research that has shown that women appear to be better at decoding non-verbal displays of emotion, both in humans and dogs," said Mason. Surprisingly, being a cat owner did not help study participants, indicating that a strong attachment to the animal did not necessarily mean better understanding of its emotions.
Fortunately, all is not lost for cat owners who are unable to tell their pet's moods. The researchers believe the skills are not innate but learned over time, which explains why veterinary staff scored high in the study. "This is important to be able to do because it could help strengthen the bond between owners and cats, and so improve cat care and welfare," said Niel.
To find out if you have what it takes to be a "cat whisperer," take the fun, interactive catfaces quiz created by the study's researchers.
Resources: catdogwelfare.wixsite.com
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679 Comments
- fallpumpkinover 1 yearMy cat does not meow much but he is a REALLY nice cat he won't bite or scratch you he is very calm and whenever he lays on my lap he purrs so LOUD.😍🐱
lunarkittiover 1 yearI'm definitely a cat whisperer, my cat pepper will walk into my room and meow at me and we'll moew to each other for a while, it's so cute!
ilovedoggover 1 yearsame with me, but I do it outside
blondbeautyover 1 yearI have that with my bird and dog
majestic_tiger1over 1 yearI know same my grandmas cat meows at me when I come in the room its so cute
lolly_1234over 1 yearEven stray cats!- lolly_1234over 1 yearI am definitely a cat whisperer every time I go somewhere near a cat comes close and starts meowing at me
- lolly_1234over 1 year(And by definitely I mean I think so) I mean meowing at me like if they want me to cuddle it, weird
pehosomakoreover 1 yearI think I'm a cat whisperer, I am able to get a cat to come over to me to pet it. :3- ilovedoggover 1 yearMe too! I always somehow know where the cat's fav pet spot is
iheartpuppiesover 1 yearI bet I'm a cat wisperer, I have a way with animals
cattenaxbeeover 1 yearI love cats! I think I may be a cat whisperer!
summerheartalmost 2 yearsI don't know if I am but I do have a cat he is so cute he is the best😺
deafgirlhistoryalmost 2 yearsI kinda of cat whisperer, too! My cat and I have really strong bond and friendship, my sisters, don`t get enough of attention for my cat, my cat literally just follows me around my house and sleep with me almost every night!- iheartpuppiesover 1 yearThat's awsome! I bet your sisters love that!
