Tuffy will not make eye contact with me,,

Hi, I realize this is not a big deal but I wonder why Tuffy won't make eye contact with me. If I push it he will keep looking off in different directions till he gets uncomfortable and walks away. He will not look at the camera either when I take pictures.

Yvonne wonders if he was mistreated at some time and it is from that.

All our other cats read my eyes. Many years ago the very first cat I had when I was on my own was a big black and white male, he looked alot like Peanut only much bigger. He was great at eye contact. He could tell my mood or if I was upset with him or wanted to play with him and I never had to move or say a word. I could also tell what was going on in his little head from his eyes also. He was a stray that showed up at my parents house one winter when it was about 20 below zero out. He was about half grown at the time, so I took him home with me. He got a funny looking line across one of his ears and his tail hurt him, well he must have got frostbite in his ear and the end of his tail because he lost about half of his ear and about 1 1/2" from his tail. He grew up to be a great pet for me and he lived a long time with me. He was a indoor/outdoor cat since I was living on a old farm at the time. One day I found him dead in the ditch by the road, and I could see tracks in the grass where some piece of garbage ran him down on purpose. I think I know who did it but how would I ever prove it. I was drinking allot back then so it was just another reason to get numb on alcohol and not show any feelings. I put myself into treatment in August of 1988 and have been sober ever since. I have learned to let my feelings show and not stuff them, I cry when I need to or laugh when I want to and yell and swear when I get mad, its so much easier than stuffing things.

Sorry to wander way off topic again. Does anyone else have a cat who won't look them in the eye? With Tuffy being a stray I have no idea of where he came from or what he has been through other than he was a very very sick kitty when he found me.

It may be possible that he was mistreated in the past. From what I understand, an animal's willingness to make eye contact is based on their trust/comfort level. Even then, they don't tend toward lingering gazes like we humans do. After eight years of happily living with us, our Rafael would not maintain eye contact for more than five seconds or so, though he would usually come back to it after a bit of scoping out other things.

Isnt eye contact a threatening gesture to cats?

My cats always bop the dog on the nose when he tries to make eye contact for too long.

He's acting like a normal cat. Eye contact is a direct threat to predatory animals like cats and dogs. Tuffy looks away and acts uncomfortable because to him, when you look him in the eye you are challenging him and he is choosing to be submissive because he recognizes that you are the 'alpha cat'.

It's the cats that will make eye contact with us that can be unusual, unless the cat is actually challenging you for dominance. Cats that will make eye contact without perceiving it as a threat do so because they have learned not to take it as a threat. Their experience has overruled their instincts.

Try blinking slowly at Tuffy the next time you try to make eye contact with him. This is a cats' way of telling another that they are friends. Do not worry about him not making eye contact with you though, he is being a normal kitty.