You probably couldn’t miss all of the stories in the news a few weeks ago explaining that a study assures us that your cat won’t hold a grudge if you put her on a diet. What struck me about this story is that it clearly starts with the assumption that your cat is going to hold a grudge for this to begin with. That’s when I realized that a lot of people really don’t notice the other signs that their cats love them.
Cats know love other ways than food! Photo credit: depositphotos/peus
Maybe it’s easier for me because I live in a house with a cat with Ashton, who loves me and doesn’t love my husband. Not through any fault of his own! He feeds her, and she is happy to eat meals and even takes treats from his hand. But that’s the extent of their relationship. If he wants to touch her, she eyes him suspiciously and leaves.
So Ashton is a good example of how feeding a cat won’t make her love you. But there are other signs that are not related to food that show your cat is fond of you.
Ways Your Cat Shows She Loves You
1. Hanging Out
Not every cat feels the need to be all up in your business all the time. Some cats just like to hang out in the same room while you’re in there. If you walk into another room and sit down, after a few minutes, you’ll notice your cat may follow you in there, too.
Sometimes cats hang out in more convenient locations than others. Photo courtesy flickr creative commons/julia_manzerova
Some cats take this to the next level and like to get between you and whatever you are doing. (How many times have you tried to look through a cat head when you were trying to read email?) Other cats will cuddle against you or nap in your lap as they hang out with you because you’re someone they like.
2. Expressive Tails
Cats feeling happy to see you will approach with an upright tail posture as a gesture of greeting. An upright tail whose tip curves into the shape of a question mark is an invitation to interact and play.
An upright tail signals a cat ready to interact with you. Photo courtesy flickr creative commons/Ervins Strauhmanis
When your cat walks by you and wraps her tail around your leg, it’s a gesture of friendship like you wrapping your arm around another human. Who wouldn’t feel their heart warm to that camaraderie?
3. Rubbing
Cats have scent glands in their cheeks and foreheads that allow your cat to deposit pheromones on things when she rubs against them. When your cat rubs your legs with her cheeks, she is leaving a little bit of those pheromones on you to tell every other cat that might come along that this human is hers.
Cats show affection by rubbing against you. Photo credit: depositphotos/vvvita
Head butting – called bunting – also deposits pheromones on you to scent mark you. It is a friendly behavior, especially when your kitty bunts you on the face the way she would another cat.
4. Social Grooming
Cats who are related or just like each other will often groom each other. This behavior is known as allogrooming. Some cats will also socially groom their humans. If that happens, you may find that your cat is not as good a stylist as the one at your salon, but it is a gesture that shows your cat cares about you.
5. Verbal Communication
Cats mostly communicate with each other using body language, but they use verbal communication with humans, probably to get our attention. Cats will use different meows for different situations. For instance, the insistent meow when you are preparing a meal in the kitchen is very different from the meow your cat uses during a ride in the car to the vet!
Cats meow to communicate with humans. Photo courtesy flickr creative commons/miss_pupik
Your cat may have special meows and chirps that she uses only with her favored humans, too. Or kitty may only meow in certain everyday circumstances to get the attention of the people she likes and wants to get more attention from.
Can you think of other ways that your kitty shows you she loves you when it isn’t mealtime?
