Cat Fun FactsCats Behavior

Do cats love their owners?

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Every now and then pop up questions in our heads about our almost "alien" neighbors. Cats are truly inexplicable to our human mind, their behavior is even different in comparison with our other pets -dogs. If dogs show affection in the most evident way cats prefer to remain mysterious. So how to know if cats love their owners? Let’s dive into this question and learn more about love and cats.

Explanation of the Bond between Cats and their Owners

For cats, a person is an authority. They perfectly understand who is the eldest and chief in the house, on whom they depend in matters of food, toilet, and a roof over their heads. It is more of a parent-child relationship than a boss-subordinate construct.

They understand that man is a different species. We have different speech and different body language. To cats, we are big weird creatures that treat them well.

“He loves me, and because of this I can forgive him for all his oddities,” - the cat thinks when looks at your strange behavior.

Cats, like children, are guided by their adults emotionally. If a person is nervous, they also worry: “Something bad has happened, and we are not safe.”

How to know that the cat loves us?

Cats cannot express their feelings in words, so they use body language. When a pet rubs its head against you, it "marks" you with its scent. For this, the cat has special secretion glands. If there are other cats in your house, you may see them rubbing their faces against each other, mixing scents, creating a unique "family scent" which means to cats "we love each other and we share the same smell".

But focusing on tactile manifestations alone is not worth it, because a stranger cat can come up to us for affection, and he will forget us in five minutes. It is much more important that the cat and its human have understanding and trust. This is the feeling when it seems to you that your pet is talking to you, his actions are predictable for you. You know when a cat is hungry and when it wants to sleep; you have formed contact with the animal.

Do Cats Love Their Owners?

If we are answering this question straight up and you are not sure if your bond and understanding with your pet are strong, you can look at the common body language signs. Signs of Cats' Love for their Owners

Head-Butting

a woman is cuddling with a cat on a couch

If a cat head-butts you, then she trusts you as a friend. Plus it's a way to tag you for other cats to let them know this owner is already taken. By the way, not only small cats can butthead the big ones too.

Rumbling

Cats can purr for a variety of reasons, including when they feel bad. But in combination with other signs, a good owner will always understand when a cat purrs from a state of comfort and bliss. The rumbling intensifies or begins when her beloved owner strokes her.

Tailpipe

a cat walking down a sidewalk next to a tree

If a cat furiously beats its tail on the surface at your touch, expect trouble: he is unhappy. But, if at the sight of you, the cat raises its tail as a pipe, this means that he is happy, feels confident, and is glad to see you.

Back riding

a cat laying on its back on a window sill

When a cat rolls on its back, exposing its stomach to you, it expresses its confidence in this way. And even if, when you put your hand on it, it starts to bite you, all the same, the cat's belly is shown only to those who are trusted.

Licking

Licking your body and hair means that the cat perceives you as one of its own. By licking you, she shows almost maternal care.

Milk step

a cat laying on its back on a fluffy white blanket

Cats remember the so-called milk step from childhood when they drank their mother's milk and touched her stomach with their paws so that milk would come. Now, when the cat, anointing himself on your knees, begins to massage them (sometimes it hurts and the cat uses its claws), do not be offended: he remembers the sweet moments of childhood and equates you to his mother.

Wink

an orange cat sitting on top of a white surface

If a cat can look into your eyes for a long time without blinking, this is a bad sign. But if she squints or winks at you, this is a sign of friendship. Do the same in return.

Co-sleeping

If a cat loves to sleep with the owner( on top of you or next to you), this is one of the signs of love. They only sleep with people they trust. If the cat didn't trust you, she would sleep somewhere far away, where she can't be seen.

Presents

a black and white cat looking at a dead mouse

Do not scold the cat if she suddenly brings you a fly or a mouse. This is a sign of the highest, almost altruistic, love. The cat shares the trophy because he understands that the owner is unlucky and will not be able to catch anyone himself. And it can also show you its usefulness in the house. However, some scientists believe that these are not gifts to the owner at all, but an instinctive desire to bring prey to their territory.

Booty turning

a small kitten sitting inside of a brown boot

Often the owners of cats are offended that they, sitting on their hands, suddenly turn their backs. She sits on your hands with her butt towards you, not because in this way she expresses her contempt, but because for predators this means something completely different. They turn their backs on a friend, because they trust him, and inspect the premises at this time as if protecting themselves and him from danger.

Confidence in you

Cats would never allow their brethren to put their paws in the eye or in the ear and pick something there, but they allow you to do this during hygiene procedures. Be proud: the cat trusts you!

Back arching

a black and white cat walking on a wooden floor

When a cat arches its back, lifts its tail, and exposes its butt while you stroke it, this is not a sign of disrespect. This is a sign of the highest trust and love. They arch their back so that the pressure of your hands intensifies in the area of the priests: this is nice because there is a nerve node. And the butt is substituted so that you smell their anal smell. This may feel strange for us, but it is a sign of trust and interest in us.

Biting

For a cat, a light bite is like a passionate kiss. Don't scold him for it.

Escort

a man sitting on a bed with two cats and a laptop

Is your cat always there, wherever you go? This means that, firstly, he is attached to you, and, secondly, he is an extrovert, because introverted cats, even despite their attachment to the owner, still need frequent solitude.

Joint games

Playing together, if not aggressively, is an act of trust. A cat will not play with someone she does not trust.

Abused Cats and their Owners

Although many people think that cats and animals are nothing like us, it is not true in many ways. Yes, their psyche is different but not so much in the end. Cats, just like us, remember the abuse and remember a good attitude. Maybe these memories aren’t the same as we have them, in pictures and logical patterns. But emotionally traumatized cats surely react to the triggers, and flashbacks and have problems with trust. Just like people.

But do abused cats love their owners? If we are talking about the owners that abused the cat, the answer is more likely no. Cats are more practical animals than dogs, and they are not inclined to such behavior. Their love is grown from the owner's love and attitude.

Can a cat be jealous and revenge?

We cannot say for sure whether a cat is experiencing jealousy in the human sense. If another animal has appeared in the house, and we devote more time to it and play with this pet more often, then the cat can definitely experience discomfort.

Cats do not know how to take revenge, this is a social construct inherent in humans. If we are stuck in an elevator, we may be afraid and worried, but let's not think that the elevator is stuck to spite us. Likewise, it is not natural for cats to believe that they have been harmed intentionally. If someone treats a cat badly, for her it will be just an established fact, and not a reason for revenge.

It is important to remember that cats also do not have the concept of “delayed punishment”. They will understand your stern voice if they are caught at the "crime scene", but it is useless to scold them for a misdemeanor committed yesterday. Cats live in the present moment.

Cats and their Knowledge of Owner's Love

And if we decided now that cats love us, how to be sure that cats know their owners love them? How to learn to better understand your cat?

I would recommend learning the language of cats because they are trying to communicate with us. If the cat tried to convey information, but the person did not understand, the cat will not think about the reasons for this trouble. He will simply conclude "I spoke, but they did not hear me."

Many cats get frustrated, just like humans when loved ones don't hear them. Cats have verbal language, body language, and reconciliation signals that are important to know in order to be in contact with your pet.

Dogs vs Cats: Which Love their Owners More

There is a common opinion that dogs are the pets that will be all about love, and cats are too independent to have such feelings. Although cats are truly more independent their love isn’t smaller. It is just shown in another way, not so open and dependent like the dog’s affection. One of the reasons is that when breeding dogs, it was very important for a person to teach them to understand what is required of them (for example, during hunting). From cats, however, a person expected mainly one thing: that they would diligently hunt, guarding the house against rats and mice. By the way, cats were almost never specially fed, they were on “self-sufficiency”. Special mutual understanding with the owner was not required here. They lived next to the man with their parallel life.

And the need for emotional relationships, in “communication” with cats, arose in humans relatively recently. In addition, according to the statistics, 85% of cats mate with street and wild cats, which is why the entire species is still relatively wild. Their interaction with the owner is not so much a learned behavior as a manifestation of instinct. So is hard to say if dogs love their owners more than cats, it just works differently.

Conclusion

Cats are spectacular animals with their own unique nature and mind, and if you plan to bond with a cat and understand him properly, you should just apply more effort. Learning a cat’s body language and attentive attitude toward your cat will result in a deepening of your relationships. Patience and knowledge should be your main base of conduct.