How do cats communicate with each other? The key to cat language

Updated 07/11/2023

What is cat language? How do cats communicate with each other? As always, we are tackling the hard-hitting questions every pet parent and cat carer has asked themselves at least once (in the last week). Can one purr-baby chat with another purr-baby? Do cats meow at other cats? Have they created a secret form of communication only they can understand?

The answer to the last question is definitely ‘yes’, but for the others let’s claw through these queries together. So, how do cats communicate, and do cats talk to each other?

The language of cats for cats

Our favorite felines communicate with one another in a variety of ways. Although you may only hear cartoon cats talking, they do have their way of chatting and displaying their feelings. As many pet parents know, cats do not hold back on telling you what they think!

From physical contact to scent sharing, we’ve listed the top ways domesticated cats communicate and show affection to each other.

Touch noses, foreheads, cheeks, and chin rubs

As aloof as our floofs can be, they do enjoy using physical contact as a sign of love or to show affection. If two cats are familiar or unthreatened by one another, they will greet each other with nose touches. This is the cat form of a polite handshake. For those kitties with a closer bond, they may continue the greeting by rubbing heads, foreheads, cheeks, and chins.

A cat’s cheeks and chin have tiny scent glands (that contain pheromones) they use to mark their territory. When cats rub their faces on objects, humans, or other cats, it's a sign of acceptance. They see you or the other kitty as an equal. Wow!

To take it one step further, research has shown that cats' scents, or pheromones, actually calm other cats down when they interact..

Slow blinking

One of the key tell-tell signs of whether a cat loves you is the mystical slow blink. Slow blinking is also known as the ‘cat smile’ and it translates between cats. To show they mean no harm, they’re happy to see the other kitty, and they’re looking to make friends. Slow blinking is a way of summing all these cat feelings up.

Vocal cat language

One of cat carers' biggest questions is, ‘Do cats meow to communicate?’ The short answer is, no, not from cat to cat. Meowing in adult cats is reserved especially for us humans. As kittens, mewing or meowing is used to make sure their mother knows where they are and if they’re in distress. Domesticated cats have evolved (yes, we’re going to use the big ‘e’ word) to use their meow in adulthood as a means of, well, domesticating us. As hilarious and slightly unnerving as that is, it means that when it comes to cat-on-cat interactions, using the meow to communicate isn’t required.

Instead, cats will use a range of noises to indicate fear, aggression, or contentment. Have you ever been woken up in the middle of the night to a catfight? If you haven’t, know that it is terrifying! Cats will use high-frequency yowling and screeching to defend themselves and their territory. Hissing and growling is often added as a final warning to any trespassers before they make an attack.

On the flip side, if your frisky feline encounters another furry friend, it isn’t unusual to hear soft chirping or purring from them, before exchanging scents with head bumps.

Chemical cues and scent glands

This one is pretty gross, so be warned! Like many mammals, male cats will spray urine to mark their territory. We may have pampered a lot of the panther out of our purr-fect friends, but domesticated cats still have their wild instincts at heart. 

As mentioned above, cats use the scent glands on their faces to mark their territory, as well as exchange scents with other cats as a means of a friendly greeting.

Other bits of cat body language to look out for

This might sound strange, but being able to read a cat’s tail is a great way to see what it’s thinking. Most of the time. The language of cats can be communicated through the power of the tail. For example, an upright tail with a slight hook or curl means they are happy in that particular situation. However, if you see two cats interacting with whipping tails, or with puffed-up fluff, they are telling each other this conversation is not going well.

Similarly, their body language is another form of cats talking. Fluffed-up, with arched backs, and standing sideways, means they are preparing for battle. Sitting or lying with their paws tucked in and slow blinking is cat language for ‘I’m not a threat, I don’t see you as a threat, let’s enjoy this lovely sunny day together’. And the biggest compliment of them all - rolling around and displaying their magnificent bellies or grooming each other. If you witness cats doing this together, you know they are the best furry friends.

Cat behavior can seem weird if you’re not a cat carer. But once you recognize some of these key bits of body language, you may soon become a feline frontier in cat-on-cat communication.

Meet our veterinary expert, Aisling

This article has been checked by veterinarian Aisling O’Keeffe MVB CertSAM ISFMCertAdvFB. Aisling qualified as a vet 7 years ago from University College Dublin. She has worked in a mixture of UK small animal hospitals along with Irish practices. She worked for 3 years in a feline-only hospital where she further developed her feline medicine and surgery skills. She currently lives and works in a small animal hospital in Cork, Ireland. 

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