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The bad news for cats? They lack this muscle. As a result, cats’ stares can look cold and unfriendly, and two cats staring at each other can often be a prelude for fisticuffs. But a slow blinking stare – one that your cat probably gives towards you from the other side of the room – is something else entirely; it’s their way of expressing love. Even turning their heads to one side isn’t necessarily disdain, but a sign of their relaxation.
Vitale draws attention to her study at Oregon State University, in which cats and dogs were left in a room by their owner, with the owner suddenly returning some time later. “One interesting thing is that the majority of cats who were secure with their owners, when they returned, they greeted them and went back to exploring the room, with little moments of coming back. Dogs did similar,” Vitale says. “If the dog has run around the room, playing with toys and occasionally coming back to the owner, we wouldn’t worry so much.” Researchers called this “secure attachment” – calmness when the owner returned, suggesting a strong emotional bond.

Relaxed cats are more likely to want to make friends

“Humans’ expectation bias for the animal impacts their behaviour,” says Vitale. By trying to force cats to behave more like dogs – showering us with attention – we’re trying to push them away from their natural behaviour.
Hiestand says that out historic inability to see cats’ temperament as different to dogs is part of the issue. Even experts with years of training are not immune. “I went to a conference in 2007 and felt like an absolute idiot,” she says. “There was all this basic information about cats that I didn’t know, such as that they like their water and their food in separate places. This research is all quite new, but once you have the humility that what you thought you knew about them is wrong, you start to learn stuff that’s interesting.”