“The cat is the only animal that has managed to tame the man.”

Marcel Mauss

Today I want to share a manual to understand a little bit more about the behavior and language of cats; how to predict certain actions and reactions in all kinds of circumstances, this will help us not only to understand better but to be able to communicate appropriately.

Here are eight different the messages they often want to communicate by using their tail only.

An upright, straight and taut tail indicates a demonstration of pure love and devotion to the one present. Some sort of a way to tell us how grateful and happy they are to have us. Many times, this type of attitude is most likely to show when we had spent some time apart.

A slow, gentle lateral tail movement indicates the typical feline curiosity that characterizes them, this type of attitude is prevalent when they are playing or when they arouse interest by some animal or some possible prey.
Their ears are often put on alert, just as their mustaches are quite open, all in the form of radars for greater focus in general.

This is perhaps one of the most challenging behaviors to perceive for someone who is a little newbie on the cat subject. Usually presented as a curiosity but also can appear when our cat shows some annoyance, a behavior of concern, either by malaise or by some more specific situation.

The typical side-movement, constant and violent, clearly shows a feeling of anger and annoyance, can often occur out of boredom, confinement, or just a bad day. If we bother a little too much our feline friends, we will soon notice that this behavior begins to intensify very quickly.

The feeling of fear in cats is one of the most distinctive ones, the tail inflated in the form of a feather duster and pointing down indicates that this uncomfortable, frightened and does not want to be there. It's hard to intervene when our pet got themselves into a violent situation; it is best to approach slowly and try to distract him without generating more fear.

Unlike the demonstration of love that we talked about before, this type of behavior shows an upright but somewhat relaxed tail, even with small slight movements at the tip of it. This happiness that they feel when we interact and talk with our cats, is what generates this type of behavior of joy.

Finally an attitude of anger and annoyance, unlike fear, the response of anger usually appears when the cat is in a fight, either with another cat or with some other animal. This is accompanied by a more severe and long meow. Another point to keep in mind, their claws are alert, and their reaction may be very different from what we know, it is recommended not to approach a cat in this state, or in case of need in, we will need to approach gently.

I hope these brief tips can be helpful to those of you who have decided to share your lives with these incredible animals.

One of the glories of civilization would be to have improved the fate of animals.

Théophile Gautier