What cat owners think about communicating with cats and dogs. Infographic.

There is little need to add to the information in the infographic. The responses look pretty typical and normal to me and they reinforce the knowledge that we have very close, enduring and important bonds with our cats and dogs and are able to communicate with them in a pretty refined way (both ways). Cat and dog companions are of vital importance to very many people - a significant proportion of the population of many countries.

What cat owners think about communicating cats by Michael Broad

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

Men should talk to their dogs like women using baby-talk (this is science)!

Men should have the courage to speak to dog companions as if they are a woman using baby talk communicating with an infant. In that way the dog will better understand them and understand their commands! 

That is the finding of a study (see link below). It found that dogs respond to the kind of intonation and patterns of speech (prosody) employed by women (and of course men sometimes) when communicating with their infant child. 

This is a cross post from my main website. I think that it is interesting enough to post this twice but from a different perspective. In this article I am looking at what men might do to improve their communication with the family dog! They might learn from their female partner.

The video explains it all better than me as the voice over is by the lead researchers I believe

fMRI scans

They used fMRI scans to see how the brain reacted to both men and women talking to dogs in various styles such as adult-speak, dog-speak an infant-speak. They found that if a man spoke to a dog in human adult language the dog would respond less well as their brain would be activated to a lower level that it would be if a woman spoke to the same dog in baby language.

It is the way women emphasise certain parts of their speech, the rhythms and patterns and intonation of their speech when communicating with their young child and the family dog which triggers the dog's brain better than standard adult speech.

Although the emphasis is on women speaking to dogs in an infant language, one can imply from the research that cats would also respond to infant or cat-directed speech using a certain 'prosody'. 

Dog studies

In fact, it is certain that millions of women talk to their cats in exactly the same way that women talk to their dogs. The reason why the research is about dogs is because dogs are much easier to deal with in a research study. It's a typical problem: that there are far more scientific studies about dogs than there are about cats for this reason.

Prosody

The word "prosody" means speaking in a certain way in which there are certain emphases on certain words and there is a certain pattern and intonation in the language.

Comment: it doesn't surprise me that dogs' brains showed more activity when women spoke to them in dog-directed baby talk because women talk to their babies all the time and more so than men normally. 

They become better skilled at communicating with infants and babies. As they are better skilled in communicating with infants and babies, they are more likely to speak in a way which is understood by the family dog. Dogs are better able to understand commands and requests in infant-directed speech. This is the domain of women normally.

More information: Anna Gergely et al, Dog brains are sensitive to infant- and dog-directed prosody, Communications Biology (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05217-y

Bimodal communication with domestic cats

Try bimodal communication with a cat that doesn't know you to get a speedier response. The video - sorry it's dull - explains the title. It is about getting a speedier response from a cat by using two or more ways to communicate with. The conclusion is the result of a study by a group of French scientists. Perhaps any decent cat caregiver would tell you the same thing from personal experience.

The French scientists investigated communicating with rescue cats in a cat café in France. They measured how long it took for the cats to approach the human participants. 

They found that if the participants held out their hand silently or offered a hand with some vocal communication the cats were more likely and more speedily encouraged to come over and interact with the human. 

"Bimodal" means two different forms (2 modes) and in this case it refers to a vocal communication together with body language and actions.

It's a way of eliciting a speedier response and the scientist concluded in their words "this suggests that cats are more sensitive to visual and bimodal communication initiated by an unfamiliar human."

I would suggest, too, that it is also useful for humans with whom the cat is familiar. It is likely that this happens anyway.

For example, when I take a walk with my cat outside, I call his name and tap my jacket to encourage him to follow me. He associates the tapping with the request to come to me. I think this is the kind of thing they are referring to as this is bimodal communication.

Do domestic cats have names for animals they see?

Take this scenario: my cat is allowed outside and he sees a badger in my back garden. Last night he would have seen a fox walking down the right of way behind my house where I feed them. So, on numerous occasions he has seen and even encountered, in quite close contact probably, other animals who live close to my house. And, of course, he bumps into other domestic cats. In fact, he has a friend, a female black-and-white semi-long-haired cat. Humans have names for these animals but do domestic cats? Do they have a special list of names of the animals that they are likely to meet in their lives and which have been taught of by their mother?

Maine Coon photo by Armand Tamboly. I know I am in breach of his copyright but I hope he will forgive me as I am promoting his photography and encouraging a sale.

We don't know! It seems highly unlikely because domestic cats do not have a constructed language as humans have. They communicate in various ways and of course domestic cats create sounds which are highly variable and which have a meaning either in terms of a long-distance call or a close encounter form of communication but they don't have a language in the sense that we mean it.

Therefore, we have to conclude that domestic cats do not label the wild and domestic animals that they meet with names. They probably simply see them as other creatures and recognise them as either potentially friendly, friendly, potentially hostile and actually hostile. They probably innately understand whether an animal is hostile in the way that they understand that snakes are dangerous.

We know that they understand that snakes are dangerous because they adopt the appearance of a snake when they curl up. This applies to tabby cats which is the original coat. And of course, we all know that they hiss like snakes. This is an adaptation, part of their evolution, to deter predators. But domestic cats won't have a name for the snake. They just know that that particular creature makes a hissing sound and that it is a danger to them.

On that subject, by the way, there is one wild cat, a diminutive species in fact, the sand cat, which is very capable of attacking, killing and eating any snake even the poisonous varieties. So not all cats are fearful of snakes.

It seems that only the human has been able to classify animals and give them labels. Domestic cats simply recognise other animals but in one sense they do classify them: hostile or non-hostile. This allows them to avoid or approach respectively.

Touch and body language are more effective than vocalisations when communicating with your cat

I guess that this is common sense: humans have a common language with their cats which is touching i.e. physical contact in the form of petting et cetera, combined body language. Interactions between domestic cats often include physical contact such as rubbing against each other, licking each other and physically reaching out with their paw to touch the other. Domestic cats understand communication through touch and contact. And the meow is not for cat-to-cat communication. It was learned for cat-to-human demands.

Touch and body language are more effective than vocalisations when communicating with your cat. Cats understand the message when it is in the form of contact and touch far more so than in human vocalisations. Photo in public domain.

This is in contrast to the usual form of communication for humans, namely language and the sound of the voice. Cats don't understand human language although they do understand the tone of our voice and its volume and what it means in context. But they receive the intended message far more clearly when it is transmitted in the form of physical touch.

So, if you want to tell your cat that you love her, you gently stroke her and interact with her in a very loving way. Your cat will fully understand it. They will understand that you are friendly and affectionate and caring and loving. In short, for the feline, they will recognise you as friendly and protecting

Conversely, if you simply state to your cat that you love her, she won't get it. If you say it in a melodious way, she will get the message that you are being friendly, perhaps, but they might be a little bemused. The message is far less cleanly delivered using vocalisations compared to using physical contact provided it is carried out with tenderness and gentleness.

So, what does this mean? Well, the obvious: that in most of our communication with our domestic cat companions we should use body language and physical contact backed up with warm vocalisations. I use the word "vocalisations" because cats recognise sound, its frequency and volume but they don't obviously recognise the English language or any other language. And there is no point trying to make feline sounds because they won't understand those either.

It is also worth mentioning that physical contact with a domestic cat is often made within the context of a routine and the rhythms of life between cat and person, which also helps to clarify the message. In fact, routines are a very important part of communicating with a domestic cat.

Siamese Cat Vocalisations

We know the Siamese is vocal. Apparently show judges recognize this. Cat show judges are people who have a unique perspective on the purebred cats with veterinarians. No other person sees, talks to and handles more breeds of cat. They can make comparisons.

The cat show judge confirms that the Siamese cat vocalizations are similar to talking (meaning a variety of types of meow and other vocalizations) and the Siamese is the most outgoing with strangers and the most demanding of attention. To get attention the Siamese will use that well known voice. The voice can have a specific Siamese tone to it as well.

At the opposite end of the spectrum the Russian Blue is shy and withdrawn. The Persian is also considered diametrically opposite to the Siamese in terms of activity and vocalization demands.

In a survey veterinarians also reported that the Siamese cat was the most active and vocal of the mainstream cat breeds.

Remember though that the wildcat hybrids will have similar or greater activity levels. The Siamese voice, however, is very much his or her own.

Of all the cat breeds the Siamese cat talks most to his or her human companion. This will be a meow demand for attention and interaction (play, stroking, feeding etc.), I suspect.

This fits in well with the other Siamese cat trait that is well known; their liking of being around, with and on their human companion! You need to be ready and willing to interact with your Siamese cat.

See more at Cat Sounds - includes some audio files of Siamese cats.