Your feline friend is not aloof, as most people believe. Cats can sense your different moods, including sadness and anger. Cats are intelligent creatures. They can detect a sudden change in their owner’s behavior and know you are happy or mad.
Do cats know when you’re mad at them?
Well, the simple answer to this question is YES. Cats are known to read the facial expressions of their owners. Therefore, most experts believe that kitties are capable of translating your different moods, including anger.
In this article, you’ll learn how you can show your feline that you are angry and how your cat apologizes to you:
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Harmless Ways to Show Your Anger
Your little feline friend is pretty sensitive. If you express your anger to your cat in a harsh way, it’s possible your feline gets depressed and starts to fear you. Cats don’t spend time with a person that gets angry with them. So, with your harsh behavior, you might lose your little feline friend.
To help you out in this regard, below, we have mentioned some of the most harmless and effective ways to show your cat that you are mad at them:
Take Away Positive Rewards
Most cat owners out there train their cats by offering rewards. If your feline does something good, you can offer him/her a reward for its positive behavior. For instance, you can offer your feline a toy if it is affectionate and friendly.
Cats love rewards, and they will surely adopt positive habits just to get them. However, in case your cat does something bad, and you are angry at him/her, you can take away these rewards to express your anger.
Other than taking away their toys, you can stop offering them treats or playtime. Your cat will surely feel this obvious change in your behavior and will learn the negative consequences of their bad behavior.
Ignore Your Cat
If you think taking away toys and treats is too much, you can simply ignore your cat to express your feelings. If your feline friend has some bad habits, just walk away from them.
Cats are known to be attention seekers. They cannot spend too much time alone and want attention from their owners. In case of bad behavior, you can ignore your feline for some time. Plus, you can give the silent treatment to your feline and refuse to respond physically or verbally.
However, some domestic cats need affection and love for their well-being. So, if your feline is attached to you, don’t ignore him/her for too long. If you ignore your feline for too long, it can lead to anxiety, stress and depression in your cats.
Frown at Your Cat
Frowning at your feline is effective if your cat can decipher your expressions. In 2015, a study by Vonk and Galvan found that your cat behaves differently if you smile at them. Furthermore, according to this study, you can express your feelings to your feline in different ways.
The most effective and harmless way to show your cats that you are angry at them is by frowning at them. You can show your anger with your furrowed eyebrows and clenched face. If your cat deciphers this expression, it’ll show that your feline friend can read your expressions and emotional gestures.
However, this method is only suitable if you are the owner of that certain cat. According to the above-mentioned study, cats act differently with unfamiliar faces. For instance, if you frown at a non-domestic cat, it might feel threatened and attack you.
Methods to Avoid
As humans, we express our feelings both physically and verbally. However, when it comes to your feline friend, there are some methods that you should avoid to express your anger, such as:
Beating
You should never beat your feline friend. Beating might feel like a tit-for-tat or natural response to bad behavior, but it does more harm than good.
There are two main reasons that you should never hit your feline. First, your kitty might act in self-defense and return the favor. Second, cats are quite fragile, so you might injure your little furball.
In addition, cats are not that strong when it comes to emotions. They want affection and love. They will let you spank them in the back as a sign of trust. However, if you beat them due to your anger, they might get depressed and stressed.
The stress in cats can cause some serious health issues, including:
- Gastrointestinal Issues
- Bladder Problems
- Skin Diseases
- Hair Loss
- Weight Loss
Scolding
We humans can express our anger through shouting. But when it comes to cats, shouting is not that effective. As cats are attention-seekers, they might interpret your shout as a sign of attention. As a result, your feline might think a negative habit is positive due to this misinterpretation.
How Do Cats Apologize?
If you express your anger to your feline, it’s a possibility it will start apologizing to you. It’s worth taking into note that cats cannot apologize like humans. They are not capable of talking or expressing their feelings verbally.
However, cats can interact with their owner physically or emotionally. Most cats use gestures to represent their feelings. For instance, if your cat allows you near its kitten, it means he/she trusts you and feels secure around you.
So, if you are angry at them, how do they make things right? How do cats apologize? Well, cats use different physical and emotional gestures to apologize to their owner. For instance, as a sign of apologizing, they can:
- Knead at you
- Hold their tail high in the air
- Narrow their eyes
- Blink slowly
- Make purring sound
- Rub their body against you
Conclusion
Do cats know when you are mad at them? Well, cats are quite intelligent, and most of the time, they can read your expressions. If your cat is unable to decipher your expressions, you can frown at them, ignore them or take away their rewards to express your anger.
However, don’t be too harsh on your feline as it can lead to depression and stress that can cause serious health complications in cats.
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