Feline expert shares one way to know if your cat loves you

A feline specialist has shared how to know if your cat really loves you.

It’s normal to wonder how your pet feels about you as they become a member of your family and household. Owners often show care and affection towards their pets by holding them, feeding them and taking time to play with them.

However, some animals don’t show obvious signs of love, like cats. Those who have felines in their homes might not be aware of the ways to tell if their pet loves them.

Amanda Campion is a clinical feline behaviourist who has more than 30 years of experience of caring for cats. She shares information about kittens and cats on social media and gives tips for owners.

The expert recently posted a video on TikTok discussing how to know if your cat loves you. She posed the question: “Do cats really love their owners?

“Cat parents, how do you know if your cat loves you? Because they’re not like dogs, they don’t wag their tails, or if they do it means they’re a bit cross.”

Campion said that cats “show their love and affection in powerful ways” and owners have to “decode” this by understanding their “cat communication” and knowing their ‘language’. She mentioned that a lot of research has been done on secure attachment in cats and found that sometimes a cat and a human can be “co-dependent on each other.”

The feline behaviourist explained that there are different patterns of behaviour, as some cats “may want to follow you everywhere and have real separation anxiety when you leave the room,” while other cats might not want to sit on your lap but just want to sit next to you instead or be in the same room as you as they have a different level of attachment that suits them.

She added: “There’s different ways, physical ways that a cat can show you their affection and that would be slow blinking, purring, kneading on you, licking you, grooming you, nibbling you, we’ve talked about love bites before. These are all ways that cats will show affection.”

Campion gave another example of a cat sitting by the window, seeing its owner come home and jumping down to meet them at the front door because it’s “so pleased” to see its carer and may also vocalise. The expert elaborated: “That’s another way your cat is saying ‘hey mum/hey dad, I’m really happy that you’re home.’

“That’s their way of showing affection and if the cat is getting closer to you and will lie on you, it will turn upside down, that just shows their level of trust for you but again, don’t take it personal[ly] if you’ve got a cat that maybe isn’t as confident and doesn’t want to lie all over you. They’re sitting next to you, they trust you.”

Campion shared that all her cats have different ways they show love and affection towards her. Hugo always head bumps her and Esker “constantly” talks to her and throws himself on her.

Another one of her pet felines, Rocco, likes to bring toys to her for them to play with together. The cat behaviourist ended by pointing out that this shows there’s “so many different ways” felines can show love and affection.