Apparently cats have no facial expressions

[Toddlerteaplease]

My friend who is a late vocation to cat parenting thinks that cats have no facial expressions and that we are trying to humanise them. Practically chocked on my tea when he said that! His cats have the most expressive faces I've ever seen. With a very good murder look.

Oh mine certainly do. I sometimes wake up to MCat staring at me. It's as if he's deciding a) am I alive and b) how long the correct etiquette should be before he begins to eat me.

Little M, I can tell by his face if he's planning mischief. And because of his breed, he has little frown lines on his forehead.

Ooh, and when their whiskers are standing proud, they're feeling inquisitive. And the slow blink, feeling relaxed, and chilled.

And what about Hollinhursts' Ollie-cats' Ribbon Face? That's an expression, if ever I saw one.

You generally have to use everything about a cat to judge - i.e. eyes, voice, posture etc etc.

But then the same is largely true of humans?

Oh, and I forgot, when I first met LM as a 5 week old kitten, he put his little paws on my chest, so he was eye to eye with me. He gave me a very long, soul searching look, decided I'd do as a slave and curled up under my chin and fell asleep.

He still does that look now, with people he's not met before. If he likes them, (which is practically everyone he meets) they get presented with a stick from the garden, or a drinking straw.

Rubbish
Or this one?

Well this is mine when we started taking down her Xmas tree

Mine do a very good 'you're annoying me, I'm tolerating it because you feed me'

What nonsense!

Their facial expressions might not correspond with the equivalent human way of expressing a particular mood, but they certainly have a very wide range of them.

I expect your friend will realise this when he gets more used to his new feline companions .

dingit that is hilarious

I've heard this too but don't believe it!! Perhaps they don't have the same muscle control as us in their faces but my cats look at me and I know what they're thinking!! Murder, get that Child off me, food NOW!, get your fucking arse out of bed and let me out ... you know, the usual stuff!

Tell me this face isn't saying:"FUCK RIGHT OFF! MY BED!!"

Oh dingit you cruel buggers, how COULD you?

This was her face when I tried to reach the chocolates without disturbing her.

your friend clearly doesn't understand cat body language - tell him to study harder. FWIW, I'm sure one of my cats, if tested, is also a cat genius. My cats have lots of faces/postures. Including a 'mum, get that toddler off me' look.

I think most cats can easily manage the following basic facial expressions;

Fuck off
Wtf
Pet me NOW
Evil killer
Fun time Frankie

steppecat's favourite 3 are:

I am stupid, very stupid and I don't know what is happening right now so I will just sit here very still with eyes wide open until I work it out. (he does this a lot. Yes he is very stupid)

GO AWAY I did not want to be disturbed

Ahhh - you've come to tickle my tummy yawn/purr etc

anythign else is a variation of those 3. Even his hungry face is a variation of his stupid face, because he frequently forgets he has been fed.

Oh Dear. Poor steppecat doesn't sound like the sharpest tool in the box.

What about this face?

Well I frequently have the same thoughts about sheep!

Or what about this?

My cats are not the sharpest but have plenty of expressions. His two have perfected the 'I'm going to kill you in your sleep' look. And the other one has the smuggest expression I have ever seen on a cat. I think he just doesn't like to acknowledge that he's become a fully paid up crazy cat man. And won't admit he's besotted with them. Though he clearly is!

Ollie also has his famed "I love my human" expression

Our old cat used to have the best "you utter fuckwit" expression whenever she looked at our other, rather dim and stupid cat. Every time he did something silly like walking until he fell off the table, she'd roll her eyes and I swear I heard her sigh

I forgot, Little M makes a "Pffft" noise when perplexed/slightly annoyed. I swear he shakes his head in an exasperated manner at the same time.

no, steppecat isn't the smartest.

He is however ridiculously handsome, and very cuddly, and unbelievably well behaved for a cat, so he is forgiven much except waking me up because he was STARVING, only for me to go downstairs and point to the completey full bowl that he had forgotten about. He has perfected the Oh look food! as if seeing it for the first time