Domestic cats are currently one of the most popular companion animals in the world; despite this, the number of cat-related scientific studies is generally much lower than that of dogs.

Emotion, cognition, and communication are different sides of the same coin influencing and modulating feline behavior, their relationship with humans and their well-being. Emotional motivations in cats are believed to be triggered more by instinct and less by conscious thoughts. Despite this, feline emotions are not static but vary between individuals, as well as within individuals, across time and contexts. Research on cat cognition could have important theoretical value and management and welfare implications, including improved human–cat interactions. In this view, another related topic that appears to be very interesting is the communication, that is essential for the establishment and maintenance of social relationships.

The domestic cat is the product of a domestication process that took it from a wild, largely solitary, predator, to a commensal and then semi-domesticated social species, living in an increasingly dependent relationship with humans. Thus, any evolutionary approach to behaviours’ repertoire of the domestic cat will need to consider both the variety of selection pressures that have shaped it, and the possibility that communicative signals, both intra- and interspecific, are still evolving. Cat cognition, emotion and communication is an area that has recently become of increasing interest amongst researchers, but there are still several unanswered questions. How the development of cat behaviour, emotion and cognition is influenced by factors such as species-specific biological predispositions, domestication, and lifetime experiences, including the human–cat bond?

Cat owners’ lack of knowledge and misinterpretation of natural cat behaviour and emotion, along with other factors, such as breed differences, genetic inheritance, and environmental restrictions, have all been identified as contributing factors to cats’ behavioural problems. In light of that, further studies are needed to investigate better these topics, in order to deepen our knowledge in cat’s emotion, cognition and communication to improve its well-being.

We encourage the submission of original manuscripts and reviews that identify emotion, cognition, and communication issues in cats. In this Research Topic, research areas may include the following:
· Feline emotions: insight into feline emotions, cat emotions recognition by humans, human emotions recognition by cats, implications for the human-cat relationship and welfare.
· Feline cognition: insights into animal cognition, its influence in the relationship with humans and its well-being.
· Feline communication: insights into animal communications, cat communication signals recognition by humans, human communication signals recognition by cats, implications for the human-cat relationship and welfare.
· Effects of domestication and the human-cat relationship on cognition, emotions, and communication
· How to improve the human-cat relationship based on emotions, cognition, and communication
· How the different breeds’ morphological traits can influence the communication capacity and emotions expression of cat

Are you interested in contributing a manuscript to this Research Topic?

Emotions, Communication, and Cognition in Cats