If you have ever wondered what your cat message your cat is trying to send, maybe you need a Facial Action Coding System.
It’s likely not something that is commercially available, but it was built by a couple researchers trying to decode cats.
You might think dogs are far more expressive than cats. That cats are just aloof and far more anti-social. But cats and dogs have about the same number of facial movements. Cats have twenty-six facial movements. Dogs have twenty-seven. Humans have forty-four. But cats are far more expressive than we may have thought.
Researchers filmed cats in a cat cafe, then ran the footage through their Facial Action Coding System to see if they could figure out what they were trying to communicate. In all, cats had two hundred seventy-six different facial expressions. And this was amoung cats that were all spayed and neutered, so there are likely a few more facial expressions for things like the cat equivalent of, “so… do you come here often?”
I have had cats for years, and I know they seem to try to communicate. I have never managed to decode any facial expressions. Although if I had to guess, of the two hundred seventy-six, many of them probably have something to do with food. Things like, “I’m a bit hungry.” Or maybe even, “I can actually SEE the bottom of my dish!”
There may also be a few of “I have this itch. You may scratch it for me.”
But these researchers have said they seem to have quite a few facial expressions they use with each other to get different messages across. They probably try them on us, and are likely pretty disappointed in our lack of ability to figure it out.
Although my solution is to just give them food. If it doesn’t make them happy, it at least keeps them distracted.
