How Do Cats Communicate With Each Other

Cats are smart pets that will communicate with humans and fellow cats in different ways. Whether you have one pet or more, you may have noticed several behaviors between your cats that maybe you didn’t know what they meant.

Cats are able to express themselves and their feelings and we’ll be looking into that. If you have noticed a certain gesture in your cat, whose meaning you would like to find out, keep reading.

How do cats communicate with each other?

Cats communicate with each other using verbal and non-verbal cues. They will express themselves and their feelings towards one another physically using body language, with scents using chemicals they produce, and with sounds using various vocals. Though cats meow a lot when speaking with humans, they tend to meow less with other cats and instead use other forms of communication more.

Body Language

Humans are used to cats using sounds while talking to them and they’ll listen more to their sounds but most of a cat’s communication is done through their body language.

If you want to learn what your cat is trying to say, you should watch their body language more whether they are around you or around fellow cats.

Greetings

Just like humans, cats do greet each other. They will greet each other when they come across one another by touching noses, rubbing their bodies against each other, or licking the top of each other cat’s head.

This is a form of friendliness between cats and they will usually act this way as a form of bonding.

Licking

Cats are used to the licking gesture since they were young when their mothers used to lick them. They will grow up and continue licking each other into adulthood too.

One cat will lick another cat to comfort them, for instance, if they are sad. Being self groomers, cats will also lick each other as a form of grooming each other.

Stares

Cats may speak to each other using their eyes. If you notice your cat staring at another cat intensely, without blinking, it’s a show of aggression.

However, if a cat is having a relaxed gaze towards a fellow cat, it’s a more friendly sign among the cats.

Showing belly

It’s general knowledge that if animals show their belly it’s a form of trust with who they are with. Cats will show their bellies to other cats for the same reason too and as a sign of being vulnerable with the other cat.

Another reason for showing their belly is as a defense mechanism where they will flip over so as to be in a good position to fight off any predator. In this position, they can be able to claw and bite easily.

Tails

Apart from other body parts, tails are another major way of expression for cats. Tail wagging is used to mean various things some of which include:

Anger – if they move the tail sideways with short busts it means that they are angry and they may become aggressive towards each other.

Confidence – if cats walk near each other with their tails raised high, it means that they are confident around one another.

Secure – if they sleep together and move their tails slowly it means that they feel secure and safe in each other’s presence.

Happy – if cats walk around each other while wagging their tails slowly and rubbing bodies against each other, it shows that they are happy together.

Sounds

Apart from body language, cats communicate with a number of sounds. They have even mastered how to meow in a certain way to get humans to give them what they want.

Though not as much as they do with humans, cats may communicate with vocals among themselves every now and then.

These sounds are meowing, hissing, growling, and purring. They may make a similar sound but the intensity of it is what makes all the difference.

Meowing

Meowing is the basic sound that cats are generally recognized by. Cats may meow towards each other at times.

If the meowing sound is low, it means that they are relaxed. However, if the meowing is loud, it means that the cat is frightened.

Purring

Purring in cats means that they are content. If cats are purring around each other, it means that they are happy and content being around each other.

Hissing and growling

Hissing is a less friendly sound when produced by cats. If new cats meet, they may hiss at each other.

A cat may also hiss at another cat that they live together with if they’re not happy with them. For instance, the other cat could be invading their territory.

Hissing may turn to growling if cats want to fight. They are both warning sounds to the other cat.

Scents

Just like dogs, cats are keen on using scents to communicate with fellow cats. Cats have a developed sense of smell that makes this possible.

Cats have smell glands almost everywhere from their cheeks, forehead, and lips to their paws, tails, and anal region.

They use scents including their urine to mark their territories, recognize fellow cats, share one another’s reproductive state, increase familiarity and bond with each other.

They’ll use their scents in actions like scratching surfaces to leave their scents there and mark them as their territories. They’ll also rub against each other to leave their different scents on each other, and to bond with one another.

Conclusion

Cats are intelligent and they will use various ways to communicate with each other. They communicate using body language, vocal sounds, and scents.

Body language includes staring at each other, showing their bellies, touching noses, wagging their tails, and licking each other.

Vocal sounds include meowing, hissing, purring, and growling.

Their scents are used for reasons like marking their territories, telling others about their reproductive state, and for recognition purposes.

Cats will express their emotions to other cats to show if they’re happy, content, scared, or angry.

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