What are cats thinking?

Cats barely meow at each other. Adult cats communicate by scent and body language, and the meow is something they developed almost entirely for humans - a sound aimed at us, sharpened over generations of being answered.

The stare is not affection by default. A slow blink is the friendly version and cats offer it to people they are comfortable with; a fixed, unblinking look is closer to a question about what you are about to do.

The purr is not a mood ring. Cats purr when content, but also when injured, when giving birth, and at the vet - which is why a purring cat at the clinic is not necessarily a relaxed one. The frequency sits roughly between 25 and 150 hertz, low enough that you feel it before you hear it.

Some purrs are built to be answered. Researchers described a separate solicitation purr with a high-frequency cry folded into it, sitting near the frequency band of a human infant. People rated it as more urgent and less pleasant than an ordinary purr, and cats deploy it mostly on their own owners, mostly around food.

A cat cannot taste sugar. The gene for the sweet receptor is broken in cats - present but non-functional - which is why nothing sweet interests them and why a cat's idea of a treat is fat and protein. Whatever your cat wants off your plate, it is not the sugar.

The tail-up walk is a greeting rather than a mood. A cat approaching with its tail vertical is signalling friendly intent before contact, and it is one of the few signals domestic cats use on other cats and on people identically. Cats approach a tail-up silhouette readily and hesitate at a tail-down one.

Head-butting is filing as much as affection. Cats carry scent glands on the cheeks, chin and forehead, and bunting leaves scent on whatever gets bunted. Your cat is not only saying hello, it is adding you to the set of surfaces that smell correct.

Whiskers are instruments, not decoration. Each one sits in a follicle dense with nerve endings and reports airflow, width and proximity rather than simple touch. It is also why some cats dislike a deep narrow bowl - the whiskers are being pressed the whole time they eat.

Kneading is a leftover. Kittens tread against their mother to encourage milk flow, and adult cats keep the motion for situations that feel safe. The claws arriving in your leg are the same reflex with nothing soft to press against.

Cats are crepuscular, not nocturnal. Activity peaks at dawn and dusk, which is when the small animals they evolved to hunt are moving. The three-in-the-morning sprint is not a cat being nocturnal, it is a cat running slightly early.

The righting reflex is anatomy rather than magic. A falling cat reads which way is down from the inner ear, then rotates its front and back halves in opposite directions to conserve angular momentum. It also has no rigid collarbone joint, which is what lets the shoulders follow wherever the head fits.

Bringing you a mouse is not a gift in the sentimental sense. Provisioning is what an adult cat does for kittens that cannot hunt yet, and the behaviour is often aimed at humans who have never once demonstrated that they can. The compliment is real. It is just not flattering.