The study says it's essentially a 'cat smile'.
A new study has confirmed a wide held belief that some cat owners have had for a long time, that 'slow blinks' help you bond with your pet.
A new study published in the journal Scientific reports that a slow blink or narrowing your eyes, is the equivalent of a smile for a cat.
The study was carried out by the University of Sussex and had two parts.
The first looked at 21 cats from 14 different households to see how they responded when their familiar owners sent them a slow blink.
The second part looked at an additional group of 24 cats from eight different households to see how they responded when the researcher, who was unfamiliar to them, sent a slow blink.
The results.
What they found was that the owners who gave their cats a slow blink are far more likely to get one back in return.
When it came to the second part of the experiment, the researchers who had sent their new feline friends a slow blink before offering them their hand were more likely to be approached compared to those who maintained a neutral expression.
All in all the researchers determined that slow blinking was a form of positive communication between cats and humans.
"As someone who has both studied animal behavior and is a cat owner, it's great to be able to show that cats and humans can communicate in this way,” said Professor Karen McComb, from the University of Sussex, in a statement.
“It's something that many cat owners had already suspected, so it's exciting to have found evidence for it.
"This study is the first to experimentally investigate the role of slow blinking in cat-human communication. And it is something you can try yourself with your own cat at home, or with cats you meet in the street. It's a great way of enhancing the bond you have with cats. Try narrowing your eyes at them as you would in a relaxed smile, followed by closing your eyes for a couple of seconds. You'll find they respond in the same way themselves and you can start a sort of conversation."
