You're sitting on the couch with your cat on your lap. You're petting your cat, your cat is purring, and you're both very happy. But then you feel your kitty's claws on your leg. She's opening and closing her claws against you. Ouch! Your cat doesn't want to hurt you; she's just kneading. This actually means she's happy and content. Kneading is what cats do to their mothers to make milk flow. When your cat kneads with her paws, she is feeling safe. She's treating you like her mother. Cats also use their paws to show other things. When they are disgusted, for example, they may shake their paws, one by one. In fact, cats talk with all their body parts. A loving cat may greet you by rubbing her face against yours. If your cat rears up on her hind legs to greet you, she's trying to get her face close to yours. This means she trusts you and wants to give you a sweet greeting. Cats' tails are important, too. Greeting you with a tail curved like a question mark means she loves you and is happy to see you. Swishing her tail back and forth means your cat is feeling indecisive or aggressive. This is unlike dogs, which wag their tails when they're happy! Just like us, cats show emotions with their faces. Flattened ears mean she's scared, as do wide eyes. Blinking slowly, on the other hand, shows that your cat is calm and trusting. Just because we don't use the same language doesn't mean we can't learn to understand animals. Study cat communication for a few minutes, and you'll be amazed at what your cat can tell you! 你坐在沙發上,你的貓坐在你的大腿上。你撫摸著貓,貓發出滿足的聲音,你們都很開心。然後你突然在大腿上感覺到貓爪,牠的爪子在你的腿上開開合合,好痛! 你的貓並不是想傷害你,牠只是在揉捏你,這實際上表示牠很開心、滿足。小貓會以揉捏的方式促使母奶流出。你的貓用爪子揉捏你時表示牠感到很安全,牠把你當媽媽一樣看待。 貓也用爪子來表現其他事情。舉例來說,當牠們感到厭惡時,可能會接連搖動四隻爪子。事實上,貓會用身體的所有部位說話。一隻愛你的貓可能會用臉來磨蹭你的臉打招呼。若你的貓提起後腿來歡迎你,牠是想用臉來接近你的臉。這表示牠信任你,並想給你一個甜美的歡迎。 貓的尾巴也很重要。用彎成問號狀的尾巴問候你代表牠很愛你,並且很高興見到你。來回搖動尾巴表示你的貓覺得很困惑或是想要攻擊。這點跟狗非常不同,狗開心時會搖尾巴! 就跟我們一樣,貓會用臉表達情緒。耳朵攤平表示牠很害怕,眼睛張大也是一樣。另一方面,緩慢地眨眼表示你的貓很平靜且很信任你。 就因為我們使用不同的語言,並不代表我們無法學習了解動物。花個幾分鐘研究貓的溝通方式,你將會對貓所告訴你的事感到驚訝。 |