Question
When I was talking to my wife last night, it came up that blinking slowly at a cat is supposed to be a way to tell them that you love them. She said that when she tried it with her parent's cats, one cat slowly blinked back at her and the other cat started purring.
I tried it with our two cats and both ignored me, although I rescued the small one when she was still only a few weeks old, so she probably doesn't have the same behaviors / experiences as a normal cat.
Is it true that blinking slowly at cats is a way to communicate the message that you love them? My thoughts are that it's maybe more of a signal of trust, but I don't know for certain.
Answer
In the Manual of Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Dogs and Cats, Karen Overall describes the slow blinking motion of a cats eyes as a sign of a fully relaxed cat. If a human is mimicking that action, the message they're potentially sending to the cat is that they're, themselves, relaxed and so trusting in the presence the cat. That consequence of that, in turn, may be to further relax the cat which then causes a similar response as well as, possibly, a soft purr. Basically a whole lot of contentment all around.
If nothing else, the ability of any animal to be fully relaxed and comfortable in the presence of a human is a sign of trust and confidence and that's as much a sign of love as anything else we could choose to take. So, I think you're both right. :D
Answered By - Joanne C