The Hidden Language of Cats: Learn what your feline friend is trying to tell you

by Sarah Brown

Descended from shy, solitary North African wild cats, domestic cats set up homes with devoted owners all over the world by learning how to talk to us. This book translates—in case you missed anything.

A renowned cat behavior scientist of over thirty years, Dr. Sarah Brown has been at the forefront of research in the field, discovering how cats use tail signals to interact with each other and their owners. Now, she reveals the previously unexplored secrets of cat communication in a book that is both scientifically grounded and utterly delightful.

Each chapter dives into a different form of communication, including vocalizations, tail signals, scents, rubbing, and ear movements. The iconic meow, for example, is rarely used between adult cats—cleverly mimicking the cries of a human infant, the meow is a feline invention for conversing with people. Through observing the behavior of two cat colonies in rural England, readers will also have the opportunity to glimpse into the lives of some of the cats behind Dr. Brown's science.

Can we understand what cats’ meows and other signals mean? How do cats actually perceive us? And how can we use this information to inform how we talk back to our feline friends? Referencing historical records, exploring modern scientific studies of cat-human communication, and including simple, elegant line drawings, The Hidden Language of Cats is perfect for any cat lover who wants to learn more about their companion.

Genres: Nonfiction, Cats, Animals, Science, Audiobook, Nature, History

293 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 2023

About the author

Dr. Sarah Brown is a cat behavior consultant and author. She holds a Ph.D. in the social behavior of neutered domestic cats from the University of Southampton. She has worked as an independent cat behavior counselor, as a consultant for the cat-toy industry, and has conducted research for and worked with several UK animal charities. She lives in London, England, with her family, her dog, and her cats.

Reviews

[Olive Fellows (abookolive) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cat owners like myself have likely read some of those online articles on cat body language and communication. You'll read about the slow blink and what your cat's tail position says about what they're thinking. Well, imagine one of those articles was rewritten by someone who earned their Ph.D studying cats who fleshes out those nuggets of information and backs them up with really interesting research.

That's "The Hidden Language of Cats" in a nutshell: a book about cat communication - with us and amongst themselves.

Click here to hear more of my thoughts on this book (and meet my new cat 😻) over on my Booktube channel, abookolive!

[Jason McCracken · Rating 3 out of 5]

The experts say cats do (a) the authors cats do (b) and my cats do a bit of (a), a bit of (b) and a whole lot of (c). I guess the moral of the story is that cats do whatever the fuck they want so you can mostly ignore scientific studies and just give in to their demands.

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sarah Brown earned her PhD studying social behavior in cats; since then, she’s worked as a cat behavior consultant and dabbled in related industries, including cat toy development. Her 2023 book The Hidden Language of Cats is based on her own personal and work experiences with cats and also presents published findings in this field. Studying cats inherently remains in the looser end of the social science sphere (small n, largely observational, difficult to conduct rigorous, controlled experiments given the difficulty of working with very independent-minded subjects)

I picked this book up because I’m a lifelong cat person (my GoodReads username is CatReader, after all), and while it was a quick and pleasant listen, it didn’t really offer much I hadn’t already figured out from decades of firsthand experience with cats. Many of the conclusions are either common knowledge for seasoned cat owners or supported by studies that, while charming, didn’t strike me as especially revelatory.

One topic the book touches on is tail position as a signal of social receptivity (both to humans and other cats), with tails held upright being a sign of confidence and sociability. This reminded me of some observations from my own home. Thanks to the magic of affordable home security cameras connected to wifi and viewable on my phone, I frequently peek in on my cats when I’m away. I'm currently co-owned by two cats, a 12-year-old female tuxedo (the queen) and the roommate she begrudgingly tolerates, a 9-year-old male cream tabby (the court jester whose antics would fit right into r/OneOrangeBraincell). Whereas my boy cat walks around with a raised/receptive tail regardless of whether I'm home or not, my girl cat is much more cunning, walking around with a raised tail strategically around me, but with a downward-tail prowl when I'm gone, clearly demonstrating her dominant standing.

If you're new to cats or wanting validation of the little quirks you may have taken for granted, this is a pleasant, light read. But if you've been living under the rule of feline overlords for most of your life, don't expect much you haven't already picked up via direct observation.

My statistics:
Book 240 for 2025
Book 2166 cumulatively

[Brandon Westlake · Rating 5 out of 5]

I unashamedly read a lot about cats. There's many attempts written to try and figure out these creatures, and I enjoy a lot of them. Sarah Brown's takes the gato to a whole new level. First, her writing is readable, yet not in a condescending tone. The organization of the book is great, focused on different cat actions associated with body parts, and why they do what they do. Who can honestly resist a good cat headbutt?? Brown does a great job balancing anecdotes with science writing- there's a lot about physiology and neurophysiology that took what I knew, and adds some layers.

Anyone who appreciates felines will benefit from this book; however, I definitely recommend for new cat owners who want something a little more substantial to read.

People always benefit when they can understand their higher authorities more. Since cats are our bosses, and we just tend to their comforts, all would be wise to learn a little bit more about those we serve.

Also, while they're simple, I was mesmerized by the drawings that were sprinkled throughout the book. There was something about them that captured my attention and I found myself meditating on them several times. Maybe my cat is trying to tell me he wants a portrait?

[Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love cats and have read several books explaining cat behavior and communication. Those books were informative, light reading. The Hidden Language of Cats was written by a cat behavior scientist and it is not light reading. This book includes many studies that are discussed in detail and at times I felt it was way above my reading comprehension. I stuck with it and in the end I did learn a few news things about my favorite furry friends, but it was a lot of reading to get to those few tidbits of information. If you want to know the science behind a cat's behavior then this book is for you!

Thanks you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP Dutton for my copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Courtney · Rating 2 out of 5]

It appears that cats and their owners aren't all random mixtures of personality types; some aspects of owners' personalities are significantly related to the personalities of their cats.

This book had such promise. While I did learn more about cat communication and how that might apply to my cat Pepper, I found this book rather boring. I think Brown could have made this a more enjoyable read instead of just throwing study after study at us. The line drawings of cats were on point though.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Brown has spent many hours observing, thinking about, and living with cats. Her affection for them warms her writing and makes for lighthearted reading. Distinct areas of cat communication is broken down and made plain such as the meaning of tail positions, ear placement,head butts. The mini lesson in the beginning of the book about the origin of cats and their entanglement with humans was very interesting. Anyone who likes animals will enjoy this book. Caution: reading this book will make you crave kittycat snuggles!

[Mai H.]

Non-fiction November TBR

📱 Thank you to NetGalley and Dutton

[Anna Bonfiglio]

Was hoping this would make me a better cat mom, but just confirmed that cats do whatever tf they want

[Luke G · Rating 4 out of 5]

Delightful anecdotes and interesting research are combined to make an insightful book about our feline friends. It's a must-read for first-time cat owners, but I found myself reading about lots of things I already knew from years of being around them.

[Nursebookie · Rating 5 out of 5]

TITLE: The Hidden Language of Cats: How They Have Us at Meow
AUTHOR: Sarah Brown PhD @drsarahbrown
PUB DATE: 10.17.2023

Descended from shy, solitary North African wild cats, domestic cats set up homes with devoted owners all over the world by learning how to talk to us. This book translates—in case you missed anything.

Thoughts:

Every cat lover should have this book.

Dr. Sarah Brown is a well-known cat behavior scientist who has been doing research on how cats communicate with their humans for over 30 years. Backed by research, Dr. Brown shares this unexplored language, revealing to us now how cats communicate, meowing and their vocalization, use of their tail to signal, and what their ear movements, rubbing, and use of scents all mean.

This is a wonderful book that reads with so much ease and interest. Every page is truly an eye-opening learning for me.

This will make a perfect gift for any cat lover.

[Natalie Park · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Thank you to Net Galley and Penguin Group Dutton for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. This book is filled with lots of info about how cats communicate along with a history of cats, taming vs. domesticating, and scientific research. I have had many cat companions over the years and 90% of the info I've gathered from their body language and behavior - use of tail, ear and whisker movements, meows, body language, over-stimulation, etc. Yet, I learned how extreme importance of scent, they see clearly only to about 10 inches in front of them, that cats don't meow to each other only us, and their sight is mainly to detect movement not colors (graphic patterned toys are better than solid brightly colored ones). Hopefully, my little companions will benefit from this additional knowledge.

[EuroHackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to give this an extra star for having one of Mr Butters's cousin kitties as the cover star ♥

I don't think there's anything new here; if you've read one well-researched book on cat behavior, you've kinda read them all. Nevertheless, I appreciated the in-depth look at the actual studies conducted on cat behavior (if I had known it was possible to pursue a PhD in cat behavior, who knows how different my life would be now, LOL!!) and especially the last chapters on cat-human interaction. I like to think I know my boy pretty well, but do I really? Certainly food for thought!

Recommended to anyone who loves and lives with cats.

[Vivian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightful and informative book on cat behavior, including cat-cat and cat-human interactions. The tail is actually used to communicate (read the book to find out how :)

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful and fun to read. If you've ever wondered why your cat does what it does, this is the book for you. Beginning studies in behavioral genetics.

[Iulia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Foarte bogată în informații, structurată științific și combinând rezultate de cercetare cu explicații detaliate, cartea construiește un univers felin pe înțelesul tuturor, în măsura posibilităților unui astfel de demers, incluzând modurile de comunicare și personalitatea pisicilor, între ele și față de oameni.

[Kendra · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a “cat lady” of my time, I found this book fascinating. I have tamed 3 ferals into my own indoor/outdoor mouse hunters and have 2 adopted indoor cats. I am happy to report that much of the experiences the author had in research mirrored my own. We also live in a community with a fairly robust cat population. This helped me connect further with the situations the book encountered. I enjoyed learning about things I knew happened, but never the science behind it - such as the Flehmen Response.

I would recommend this book to any cat lover looking to understand their companion on a basic, instinctual level. Thank you NetGalley, Penguin Group Dutton, and author Sarah Brown, PhD for the ARC in exchange for my honest review. “The Hidden Language of Cats” was published October 17, 2023!

[Angie Boyter · Rating 4 out of 5]

3+ 4-

The science of cat communication and senses
In the Introduction to The Hidden Language of Cats, Sarah Brown says, “studying cat behavior involves a delicate and sometimes challenging balance between rigorous science and unbridled delight at your subject.” Both aspects are on full display in this book! I learned a LOT about the history of Felidae, the anatomy and physiology of cats, and their behavior. Although I have enjoyed the company of cats for MANY years, I even picked up some helpful tips, like the fact that most cats can understand us when we point to something, which can help us direct them to food or a treat, but the musculatures of their eyes makes it hard for them to focus on things closer than 10 inches, so they tend to use their whiskers or sense of smell for things up close. The “delight” came through with items like “peemail”, urine spraying by cats to spread their “social scent” messages.
I would, however, make two cautions to potential readers. The first is that the charming book title and description may set up the wrong expectation. There are chapters on what could be considered language or communication, including nonverbal communication via elements like tails, whiskers, and ears, but I think it would be more accurate to describe it as a book about cats’ sense and their social behavior beyond communication. Most important, Dr. Brown IS a scientist, and this book teems with it. She shares a lot of fairly sophisticated science, more than many general readers will want to know, such as what part of a woman’s brain gets activated when she pets a cat. In particular, the first chapter, about the ancestry of domestic cats, covers a great deal of history and discusses cheetahs, lynxes, and other cats in addition to domestic breeds. She also describes numerous studies, even ones that were not able to draw any conclusions.
I expect my scientist husband will love this book, my retired librarian catlover friends not so much. As for me, I think I will go practice a “slow blink” on my Rikki to see if I can woo her to my lap!
I received an advance review copy of this book from Edelweiss and Penguin Random House.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband and I recently lost our beloved cat, Sass, after a six month battle with a heart condition. The library notified me that this book was on hold for me a day after Sass’ passing…and it took me a week before I could pick it up. I had hoped to get some incite into Sass’ more enigmatic communications as we were struggling to get her to take her 10 daily medications while keeping her quality of life high.

I struggled to pick up the book, but I am ever so grateful that I did. Sarah Brown unintentionally made me cry, laugh, and cherish the little monster who had quite literally shoved her way into our home and onto our laps.

“Cats seem to go on the principle that it never does any harm to ask for what you want.”-Joseph Wood Krutch

Filled with history and great studies, as well as some personal anecdotes, the Hidden Language of Cats was well worth the read. In addition to all the wonderful explanations and information, Sarah Brown is a really good writer. She kept my interest until the very end with her writing style and her ingenious cat Smudge who doesn’t need opposable thumbs to get the job done. Besides the writing, one of the things that delighted me throughout was the adorable minimalist kitty sketches, which I have taken to imitating in my own journal and tales of Sass.

The author starts with some history, both her study of “domestic” cats and the history of cats themselves from their wild solitary origins as African wildcats to their worship and reverence in Egypt to their spreading via ships to their use on farms and value to the Welsh people to the hysteria and their mass slaughter due to Pope Gregory IX to their beloved homes across the world today.

“Domestic cats, wise as ever, have kept their options open. Rather than completely changing to become a social species, they have retained the ability to live solitary or social life according to their circumstances.”

After a brief look at how domesticated cats really are, Miss Brown then proceeds to walk us through all of the cats’ senses and how they use them to attempt to communicate with us and others. The scenting that they do and why, along with an interesting explanation of their additional olfactory aid via their vomeronasal organ. There was a great explanation of their scratching and how that is part of the scent trail…which explains why Sass’ favorite item to scratch was the crabapple tree on our front walk.

“They really have no excuse for ignoring us.”

Then Miss Brown delved into their hearing, which as you can imagine is exceptional, they have a pitch range way beyond ours and one of the widest tested in mammals covering 10.5 octaves. Cats’ vocalizations have been surprisingly well documented and studied over the years…a couple of my favorite bits in the readings: I loved the name of a group who studied cats’ vocalizations at the Lund University in Sweden, who called their project the “Meowsic Project” and I particularly enjoyed Miss Brown’s writings around describing the “chirrup”:

“This gentle trill-like sound was written by Moeller as “mhrn”* phonetically. It is a delicate, cheerful sound, described by nineteenth-century writer Lafcadio Hearn as “a soft, trilling coo, a pure caress of tone.” To humans this enchanting call sounds much the same…this may be an adaptation for survival in the wild, where litters of kittens are often hidden out of sight by their mother while she goes off to hunt or find food. Her reassuring chirrup as she returns let’s them know that it is safe to come out.”

Miss Brown then delves into cats’ talkative ears and how they have adapted to using their tails to get us slow on the uptake humans to understand, before getting into their expressive eyes and need for touch.

I learned a lot from this book and I would have said my feline IQ was already pretty high. I appreciated learning about the mutual oxytocin rush that cats and their owners receive from each other, along with the stress hormone cortisol reduction.

I picked up a couple of books I would like to seek out like Paul Gallico’s The Silent Miaos, which Miss Brown describes as amusing and charming and the children’s book Six Dinner Sid by Inga Moore, which she described as a must read for any cat owner.

I found this both eye opening and heartbreaking: “stressed cats housed in animal shelters…cats that received this treatment (gentling-defined as combination of stroking/patting and calmly resting a hand on an animal, with or without speaking quietly) showed increased levels of secretory immunoglobulin A, and subsequently exhibited better resistance to upper respiratory infections. The non-gentled group of cats turned out to be over twice as likely to develop these types of infections over time compared with the gentled group.”

It didn’t take me long to realize that this was a book I wanted to grace my shelves and have since purchased a copy of my own. I highly recommend this to both cat and animal lovers alike. Lots of information to walk away with and told in a very readable manner with adorable little sketches along the way.

Final quote to leave you with from the British vet of “All Creatures Great and Small” fame, James Herriot:

“I have felt cats rubbing their faces against mine and touching my cheek with claws carefully sheathed. These things, to me, are expressions of love.”

Miss you, sweet Sass.

[Jason Pettus]

2025 reads, #14. DID NOT FINISH. Big news around here -- for the first time in my life, I’ve adopted a cat! It was a rescue cat that was just plunked into my lap with no notice, so the first thing I did was start hunting around for books and YouTube videos for new cat owners; and after blazing last week through the four books now written by cat behaviorist Jackson Galaxy (here’s one review that combines them all), I quickly moved on this week to The Hidden Language of Cats by Sarah Brown, PhD. The fact that she so prominently features her PhD credentials in all her promotional material (which, to be clear, is not in veterinary medicine, but rather something called “anthrozoology”) gives you a big clue as to the main problem with this book, and why I ended up giving up on it about a third of the way through; namely, it’s written in the kind of ultra-dry, ultra-dense prose indicative of an academic paper, where for every practical tidbit she offers up to the general reader (which is how this book is being marketed, as a practical guide to the general cat owner, all the way down to the cutesy cover and the overly explanatory subtitle), she feels compelled to write out every detail of the ten other academic studies that led her to the conclusion of that particular tidbit. That makes it an exercise in frustration to try to get to the stuff the average cat owner will be there for (namely, to learn more about how to understand their cat’s behavior), which doesn’t really seem to be what Dr. Brown wants to do in the first place; this really seems written specifically to please her fellow academics without even considering what a general cat owner might think of it, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if this was in fact an exact word-for-word duplicate of Dr. Brown’s PhD dissertation, then with a cutesy cover slapped on the front and some lazy references to Jackson Galaxy added in the blurb by some underpaid 27-year-old in the Dutton Penguin Random House marketing department. Interesting for sure, but be clear about what you’re getting before you pick this up, and understand this isn’t even close to a practical “how to understand and communicate with your cat better” how-to guide.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always been a cat person so when I saw this book I knew I wanted to check it out. Dr. Sarah Brown started her doctoral program by studying cat behavior in two different feral cat colonies. This book is the result of her years of studying cat behavior. This book focuses totally on how cats communicate with each other and with humans. It was much more science focused than I was anticipating and I would have preferred a more general interest book than detailed information about dozens of cat-focused experiments. There were definitely things I learned and things I'll look for in my own cats, but as any cat owner knows cats do what they want whether the "research" backs it up or not. I'd always heard that cats only meow to humans, not other cats (outside of kittens to their mother). But my current cats meow to each other ALL THE TIME - calling each other to play or to show the other a toy/bug/whatever. I also really liked the very cute, simple line drawings that illustrated some of the pages - that really added to the book. But, overall it was definitely high on the science side of things and not as easy of a read as I was hoping for.

Some quotes I liked:

[On cats marking/spraying urine] "Herein lies a problem: many cleaning products contain ammonia, and so does cat urine. So when we cover a urine mark with our 'pine-scented' ammonia-based product, an area that now smells to us like a Norwegian pine forest smells to the cat like ammonia from cat urine. But not their own. This unfortunately results in them having an overwhelming urge to mark over the offending smell with their own urine once more. In this way owners often unwittingly enter into a scent 'conversation' with their cat rather than managing to properly eliminate the original smelly mark." (p. 46-47)

"One of my favorite words used in the study of human-animal interactions is 'gentling.' It refers to a combination of stroking/patting and calmly resting a hand on an animal, with or without speaking quietly. It's a technique long used to enhance bonding between humans and many animal species, including farm, laboratory, and companion animals." (p. 133-34)

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an interesting way for me to understand how my indoor and farm cats are behaving. I did learn several things to help me with them. However, I felt there were topics she barely skimmed over that I wanted to be more thoroughly discussed. The beginning chapter was very slow but the later chapters were more interesting. I really appreciated her anecdotes about her own cats. They livened up the heavy scientific data.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very fun book but also well backed up by research - particularly like that this is a science almost ‘pop science’ book given the premise but it doesn’t do what many do which is either overwhelm with data or extrapolate for the sake of an interesting conclusion.

Dr Brown guides us through the current state of research and what we know and crucially what we don’t and how confident we can be with both

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a lifelong cat companion I thought this would be good to see if I'm missing anything when it comes to my current cat. I feel like I've absorbed enough information already over the years that I'm not doing anything wrong with my own cats and those I meet in public or outside of my home. This was an interesting read and had me thinking over a few things.

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meow!

[granolabars · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite dry at times but still interesting! I love cats.

[Chiara Falciano · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mega interessante, sento di aver guadagnato una laurea in gattologia✨

[Kyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have cats (or want to) this is a must read. Such a delight to read with interesting studies to verify lots of the things we already experience with our own feline friends.

[Aisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thought that a book about cat phonetics would be right up my alley. This was mostly one woman talking about her own cats, with some research thrown in here and there-- but there was way too much repetitiveness and tangent-following for my taste. I don't think there was enough material here for a book. Would have preferred to read the actual scientific papers she mentions directly.

[Sylvie19 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molto piacevole e istruttivo, scrittura un po’ ripetitiva.