Talk:Cat body language

Anthropomorphism
Let us not allow it to creep into this article.


 * Also my first thought. I think this article needs credible citations. Marc K 05:48, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

Request for picture
A good picture of an angry cat arching its back would be appropriate here.

Eventual Merge?
Ultimately, depending on how this article turns out, it could be a candidate for merging back into the main cat article.

This article's title does not follow the naming conventions. Things in parens should be used for disambiguation, not for subpaging. I will move this article from Cat (Body Language) to Cat body language. Nohat 06:38, 8 May 2005 (UTC)

I think this article should be at cat communication and include vocal ways cats communicate also. This title would also mirror the dog communication article. Lachatdelarue (talk) 4 July 2005 15:20 (UTC)

Ambiguous behaviour (cat lying on its back)
Added a minor note: a cat lying on its side/back may also be defensive, with all four claws in readiness to strike. It is possible to disambiguate this from a relaxed cat by looking at other body language signs, but it is pretty dangerous to assume that a bared belly is a sign of submission. Four cat claws and sharp teeth can hurt quite a lot if you mistake the cat's intentions.

I have never been in the position where a cat (or indeed any other animal) lying on its back, has been and indication of defense - nor a precursor to a defensive attack. My experience is that cats tends to defend themselves in a manner that also will allow them to flea should their defense strategy fail. Patrick Bayer 12:51, 24 January 2007 (UTC)


 * To clarify: dropping on your back to defend with all four claws is the defence of the last resort in a cat fight. It is a tactic used by the losing cat to create a standoff. As anyone who has ever played with a kitten knows (see the other remark in this thread), cats do grab an opponent with the front paws in order to hold them while raking with the rear claws. Mvdwege 22:28, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

My younger cat often lays on her back before fighting (play?) with my older cat. My older cat sometimes lays on her back when she wants to play rough with me. She grabs my hand with her front paws and kicks my forearm with her back legs. Donn Sundeen 20:28, 23 May 2007 (UTC)

POV
"In particular, 'dog people' who are accustomed to the outward signs of dog 'language' seem slow in detecting what a cat is telling them in its body language..."

This is badly written and slanting towards POV. Suggest someone reworks it... or gets rid of it. --Pellet 03:53, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Be Bold. --WikiCats 12:12, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Tail twitching
Also an impending sign for an attack, playful or otherwise. Not sure how this benefits the cat(s) in the wild but it certainly provide the alert human with vital information. E.g. which cat is about to be bowled over :) Patrick Bayer 12:54, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

No sources
This is a nice essay, and I enjoyed reading it, but without sources it doesn't belong. Can we find some citations for some of this stuff? -- cmhTC 15:16, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Longcat!
Ahahahahahahahaha!

I lol'd. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 90.193.147.40 (talk) 18:20, 23 February 2007 (UTC).

I didn't, and I reverted it. Longcat may be looooooooong, but he's not appropriate for regular Wiki cat articles. Rdfox 76 04:52, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

Why? Because he's well-known for his appearances on 4chan, 7chan, and those other chans that nobody cares about? You, sir, are a racist. --71.55.16.69 00:23, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Will you tolerate this injustice? I, for one, will not. I will do whatever it takes to ensure that our cats are judged the same as other cats, because a cat is a cat, regardless of the colour of it's fur, regardless of how often it licks its harbl, and regardless of where it comes from. 89.86.122.100 01:06, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Amen, /b/rother. --71.55.16.69 03:14, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Well, that was fun, but I think it's over now. Anonymous gets bored quite easily, you see. --71.55.16.69 16:19, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

What's the difference?
Isn't this page extremely similar to Cat behavior? Surely these two pages can't coexist, it's pointless. One paragraph in the page is almost exactly the same as in the aforementioned page. Ashnard  talk  19:36, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

How did they discover it all?...
I'd like to know how they discovered everything it says here. How can they tell the cat's irritated when it twitches its tail if it doesn't say so? Siúnrá (talk) 10:19, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
 * You should ask that at Reference desk/Science. :) -- Quiddity (talk) 19:01, 29 June 2009 (UTC)


 * Scientists use the Babel Fish, it even translates cat. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JynBEX_kg8 lol —Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.169.178.118 (talk) 20:52, 13 January 2010 (UTC)