When it comes to getting a cat’s attention, a French study led by a cat lover has revealed that the best way to make that feline interaction happen is through a combination of physical and vocal signaling.
The project was carried out by a team from Paris Nanterre University’s Laboratory of Compared Ethology and Cognition, led by Charlotte de Mouzon. Over the past few years, de Mouzon and her teams have conducted various experiments on how cats and humans interact. Their latest endeavor aimed to improve the relationship between people and cats through a four-part experiment to determine how cats prefer to be called by a stranger.
Cat Calling Preferences Revealed
The findings of the study were published in the journal Animals. Speaking with Gizmodo about the experiment, de Mouzon explained, “When we communicate with them, what is more important to them? Is it the visual cues or the vocal cues? That was the starting question of our research.”
For the study, de Mouzon interacted with twelve cats at two French cat cafés to observe how they preferred to be called by a stranger or new acquaintance. Initially, de Mouzon spent time with the cats before beginning the experiment.
Attempt One: Vocals Only
In the first attempt, de Mouzon called the cats by name and used cat-calling sounds to grab their attention.
Attempt Two: Physical Gesture Only
For the second attempt, de Mouzon remained silent but extended her hand to invite the cats over for a scratch. She also tried direct gazes and slow blinks.
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Attempt Three: Both Vocal and Physical Cues
In the third round, de Mouzon combined hand signals, slow blinking, and vocalizations with cute sounds and the cats’ names.
Attempt Four: No Interaction
As a control, de Mouzan ignored the cats, providing no greetings or attention in their direction.
The Results
The cats responded best to the combination of vocal and physical cues. This aligns with the idea that cats enjoy when we lavish attention on them. However, de Mouzon and her team were surprised to find that cats tended to respond more favorably to physical invitations over vocalizations alone. Additionally, the behavior of tail wagging was noted.
Researchers observed that when the cats were completely ignored, they exhibited more tail wagging, which could indicate stress due to uncertainty in the situation. After receiving attention, being ignored left them with no cues to interpret. Cats like to be informed about everything around them!
It’s important to note that this study focused on how cats react when strangers or new acquaintances call them. Communication between cat owners and their pets is a different dynamic. De Mouzon clarified, stating that this study “shows it’s not the same thing.”
“It’s not the same for a cat to communicate with their owner as it is to communicate with an unfamiliar human,” said de Mouzon.
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When meeting new cats, try out these different approaches. And here’s a fun experiment you can do with your own cat.
As discovered in de Mouzon’s study, French individuals tend to use a “pff pff” sound that mimics cute kiss sounds to call cats, while English speakers often use “pspsps” to get a cat’s attention. Try using the “pff” sound with your cat and see which sound they respond to best.
the sentence: “The cat is sleeping peacefully on the windowsill.”
Rewritten sentence: “Peacefully sleeping on the windowsill is the cat.”