Cats Slow Blink to Build Better Bonds With Humans

Cats are often thought of as aloof (and wonderfully fluffy), but if you are not forming a bond with your feline companion, perhaps you are simply not communicating in their language.

Fortunately, research suggests it is simpler than it sounds. You only need to smile at them more - in the feline sense. Rather than baring your teeth as humans do, gently narrow your eyes and blink slowly.

Slow blinking and cat-human communication

Scientists who observed interactions between cats and people in 2020 confirmed that this small gesture makes cats, whether familiar or unfamiliar, more inclined to approach and interact with humans.

"As someone who has both studied animal behaviour and is a cat owner, it's great to be able to show that cats and humans can communicate in this way," University of Sussex psychologist Karen McComb said when the study was published.

"It's something that many cat owners had already suspected, so it's exciting to have found evidence for it."

Watch the video below for a summary of the research:

Anyone who has spent time with cats will probably have noticed their facial expression of ‘partially closed eyes’, often paired with a slow blink. Much like a person’s eyes narrow when they smile, cats generally make this expression when they are calm and content. It is commonly understood as a type of cat smile.

Cat owners have long provided anecdotal evidence suggesting that people can imitate this expression to show cats that they are friendly and willing to interact. A group of psychologists carried out two experiments to investigate the idea.

The first study involved 21 cats from 14 separate households. After each cat had settled comfortably in a location in its home, its owner was asked to sit roughly 1 metre away and slow blink whenever the cat looked towards them.

Cameras captured the faces of both the owners and their cats, with the findings then compared against cats’ blinking behaviour when no person interacted with them.

The results indicated that cats were more likely to slow blink at their owners after receiving a slow blink from them than they were in the no-interaction condition.

Cats are more likely to approach after a slow blink

A second experiment included 24 cats from eight households. On this occasion, the blinking was done by researchers who had never previously encountered the cats, rather than by their owners. As a control, the researchers recorded the cats’ responses in a no-blink condition, where people looked at the cats without blinking.

The researchers followed the same slow-blinking method used in the first experiment, while also extending a hand towards the cat. They discovered that the cats were not only more likely to blink in return, but were also more likely to move towards the person’s hand after the person had blinked.

"This study is the first to experimentally investigate the role of slow blinking in cat-human communication," McComb said.

"And it is something you can try yourself with your own cat at home or with cats you meet in the street. It's a great way of enhancing the bond you have with cats.

"Try narrowing your eyes at them as you would in a relaxed smile, followed by closing your eyes for a couple of seconds. You'll find they respond in the same way themselves, and you can start a sort of conversation."

Dogs may show their feelings far more eagerly than cats, but cat lovers are unlikely to be surprised by this finding. Studies over recent years have indicated that our feline companions are considerably more attuned to the people they share homes with than once believed, and that treating them as though they should be compared with dogs does them a disservice.

For instance, cats respond in kind to people who are receptive to them. So, if cats seem distant to you, the issue may lie with you rather than the cat.

Cats also mirror the personality traits of the people they live with, which could be connected to their apparent ability to notice when their humans are sad.

They can recognise their own names too, although they often decide not to respond. Their connections with their humans can also be remarkably profound.

What a cat’s slow blink may mean

It is hard to determine exactly why cats slow blink at people in this way. One interpretation is that it signals harmless intent, as cats are believed to see sustained staring as threatening. However, it is equally possible that cats developed this expression because people react positively to it. With domesticated animals, the answer is often impossible to establish.

In either case, it appears to help create a rapport, which is useful to know. Understanding how to strengthen our relationship with these mysterious animals may also improve their emotional wellbeing, not only at home but in a variety of potentially stressful circumstances.

"Understanding positive ways in which cats and humans interact can enhance public understanding of cats, improve feline welfare, and tell us more about the socio-cognitive abilities of this understudied species," said psychologist Tasmin Humphrey of the University of Sussex.

"Our findings could potentially be used to assess the welfare of cats in a variety of settings, including veterinary practices and shelters."

You are going to try it straight away, aren’t you?

The research was published in Scientific Reports.

An earlier version of this article was published in October 2020.