Helen Miles wrote:
Unlike dogs, eye contact is not a dominance signal. Rather, it is a
signal of friendship, as it is in humans.

Orchid


Sorry, but I beg to differ. In cats eye contact is a threat. If you
star at a cat you are deliberately intimidating it. In the wild, a
dominant cat will stare at a rival, and what will then usually happen
is that the subordinate will drop eye contact and turn away. That's
why cats are attracted to people who don't like cats - the lack od
eye contact signals a lack of threat and the cat then feels it is
safe to approach. If you are trying to make friends with a cat, you
should always look away or to one side. Eye contact is threatening.

Just my £0.02

How funny, I just now posted about this in another group! I was confused by
what Orchid said, because I knew cats generally don't like prolonged eye
contact, but I just read something which clarified what she said for me.
Slow, blinking eye contact is a signal of friendship between cats, and can
be very calming and a sign of affection when done by a human, whereas a
continuous stare from humans or other cats is threatening (as per
catsinternational.org). So it's the type of eye contact they don't like,
rather than not liking any at all.

Ann

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http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak