Neither meowing nor petting: what cats really prefer when you want their attention

If you’ve ever felt like your cat was reading your mind—or, more often, choosing to ignore you—welcome to the mysterious world of human-feline communication. After thousands of years living side by side, cats still often leave us guessing about what’s really going on in their fuzzy little heads. But thanks to a new study published on May 3, 2023, in the journal Animals, we might finally be making progress in decoding cat preferences when it comes to those crucial moments when we crave their attention.

The Longstanding Cat-Human Connection (and Misunderstanding)

Cats have been a part of human society for millennia. These days, our feline friends spend most of their time amidst humans—often more than with other cats. This close companionship has advantages but also sets the stage for frequent miscommunications. Even after so much history together, our two species still have a long way to go in understanding each other.

Luckily for all of us trying to bond with the living room panther in our lives, cats, much like their canine competitors for human affection, have developed a specialized knack for recognizing our communication signals. According to recent findings, cats can interpret human gestures—such as pointing to find hidden food—and follow our gaze to gather reference information. Impressively, they’re also sensitive enough to differentiate among our various facial expressions. So, while you can’t trick your cat by ‘accidentally’ looking toward the treat cupboard, at least you know they’re paying attention (sometimes, anyway).

What Do Cats Want? The Study’s Approach

Our efforts to decode feline signals still pale in comparison to their skills in reading us. So, do cats prefer being spoken to, making eye contact, or some mysterious third option? Seeking answers, two researchers—Charlotte de Mouzon and Gérard Leboucher from the Ethology, Cognition, and Development Laboratory at Université Paris Nanterre—ventured into the most purr-fect of laboratories: cat cafés in Bordeaux and Toulouse.

They set out to test how cats responded to three distinct types of interaction:

Vocal: The experimenter called the cat by name, taking care to avoid making eye contact.
Visual: The experimenter showed their hands to the cat, occasionally alternating between looking directly at the animal and looking at the floor.
Bimodal (visual and vocal): Both the voice and visual cues were combined.

Twelve resident cats (evenly split between six males and six females) had their reactions scrutinized while the cafés were closed to the public—meaning no outside distractions or tempting pastry crumbs were involved. As a bonus, the study included a control condition, in which the human made no attempt to communicate at all. (We can only guess what the cats made of this silent treatment!)

Feline Feedback: More Than Just a Twitch of the Tail

The results? Cats approached humans much more readily when visual or combined visual-and-vocal cues were used, compared to when the person only spoke or stayed totally silent. So next time you’re tempted just to call your cat’s name from the sofa, you might want to throw in some inviting gestures and actual eye contact.

When only vocal communication was used, cats appeared more hesitant—a finding that might reflect how unusual it is for a person to speak without also looking at the cat. Normally, after all, calling to a cat involves some visual engagement.

The study also uncovered a fascinating tale—er, tail—of feline frustration: cats wagged their tails significantly more when ignored by the experimenter, and also did so more during strictly vocal communication compared to the bimodal method. For cats, increased tail movement is often a sign of frustration. In other words: don’t ignore your cat, or you might get an eloquent whip of the tail in response!

Dr. Charlotte de Mouzon noted, “Given the importance of vocal communication between cats and their humans, we expected vocal signals to play a greater role.” Yet, the results highlighted the remarkable adaptability of cats, who seem able to adjust their use of different communication channels depending on the human they’re interacting with.

The researchers suggest using appropriate visual cues, especially when approaching cats who don’t know you yet—the feline equivalent of not skipping straight to a handshake on a first meeting. After all, cats have also shown in previous research that they respond differently to their own human’s voice versus that of a stranger. Future studies may need to investigate these familiar bonds even further.

If You Want to Get Closer (Respectfully, of Course…)

Our understanding of cats is gradually improving, aided by a growing public interest in animal well-being. Dr. de Mouzon is encouraged by this trend but urges continued support for feline behavior specialists, so that we can all become more aware of cats’ real needs and signals (and perhaps save a few fingers from being swatted in the process). She also cautions that as our affection for cats grows, we should resist the urge to treat them exactly like humans. Understanding cats means respecting their feline nature—not trying to turn them into tiny, four-legged people with whiskers.

So, next time you’re trying to get your cat’s attention—skip the dramatic monologue. Instead, offer a welcoming look and an open hand. And remember: when in doubt, let the cat make the first move. They tend to prefer it that way.

Neither meowing nor petting: what cats really prefer when you want their attention