DO CATS SULK? Well, I’m sure there are many who will
disagree with this, but apparently, NO, they do not sulk. What they are really doing is avoiding the situation that caused what appears to be sulking after being disciplined or whatever activity made them feel threatened or outcast. In particular they need to avoid eye contact, a stare being sure invitation to fight in the animal realm! If you disciplined them, you probably made steady, direct eye contact with them and they are going to do what they can to avoid that
situation happening again.
So, they aren’t really sulking; rather, they are allowing you to be the dominant one by turning away from you. This can cause further confusion for the cat since, as their provider and safe-keeper, they know they need you for food, comfort, petting, nice words and so on, but won’t be sure how to go about getting it back. Thus it may be up to you, their owner, to reassure the cat that everything is fine and he/she needs
not fear you. Whatever their indiscretion was is long forgotten, but not so for their feeling of insecurity.
We have one cat like that; submissive and seemingly very tender, getting hurt feelings easily. She’ll go and hide in her little “apartment” on a shelf in the tub room and won’t associate with us anymore except for food and water, until WE make the first move to welcome her back into our laps.
So, it might feel like
we’re the ones that always have to apologize, but really, what we’re doing by that is reassuring the cat that they still have a valued place in the home and are welcome there.
CATS’ TAILS or CATS’ TALES? Lots of people tell tales. Often if their tongue is wagging, they’re telling tales of one sort of another. With cats, it’s the other end that tells tales! You
might even say the “Tales are in the Tails”.
Cats are big on body language, just like people are. And like people, those who pay attention and research a little bit can often figure out what a cat’s tail is telling those around it. Oh, they aren’t really telling “tales”, but they are projecting their attitudes and emotions via their overall body language and the tail is probably the most easily seen by people in general.
I love it when I see one of our cats trotting through the living room, high on its toes, tail straight up but with a forward facing hook at the very end of it. That’s a very secure, satisfied and happy cat! His tail says so! There are always exceptions and a lot of overlaps, but here are some of the things I’ve noticed, and researched, about cats’ tails: Tail Standing up and quivering: That’s a cat happily excited by some very recent event.
You came home after being away, or he came into the room hoping to find you there,
and has some “lap time” in mind, or maybe they heard the can opener running and they’re hungry, but know food is immediately forthcoming, one of their favorite food!
The cat is telling you about the happiness or excitement it feels. Rapidly Swishing Tails: One source I found gives the explanation that the cat is
swishing its tail from side to side in an effort to illicit a small movement in its intended prey. Cats cannot do not easily see still objects and thus their tail movement is an instinctual movement designed to get the prey to move slightly as it watches the tail, thereby enabling the cat to pinpoint its exact location.
Gentle, side to side
swishing and sitting quietly is said to mean the cat is concentrating intently on something, trying to figure out what it is or what the cat wants to do with/about it. I have observed this in cats when they play, in fact, in the cat laying in wait to “attack” another one playfully. Vigorous, strong lashing back and forth
tail: This is Anger, annoyance, in a very upset cat. If a cat does this while you’re petting or playing with them, stop! They are telling you they have had enough and it’s not a good feeling any longer.
We have a cat like this; his name, appropriately enough, is Major Buzzer. He loves to have you pet his head, scratch his ears, even rub his belly; for a SHORT period of time. But he doesn’t need, nor allow, more than he
wants of it. Soon the purring will stop and the tail will start. At that time, if the “offender” doesn’t stop in time, they’re going to get first a gentle, painless love-bite, followed by a reasonably painful pinching bite. We don’t make him mad enough to see what would come next <grin> because we think we know, based on his reactions to other cats in the household when they preen each other. He’s not a fighter;
he’ll leave a situation rather than fight, but he makes his displeasure known in no uncertain terms as far as he’s concerned! A cat’s tail can tell you when they’re trying to make a decision, too. It swishes, sort of half heartedly, but definitely a swishing. It’s a little harder to spot this one based solely on the tail
because it’s sort of in between a couple of other descriptions given above, but it’s there once you learn how to recognize it.
We’ve seen it in our cats when they cant’ decide which bowl to eat from, or which of two other cats it’s watching and getting ready to play with, and even when you toss two catnip toys on the floor, spread out so she has to pick one first, over the other. It’s easy to miss this one though as the swishing
stops the second the cat makes its decision over what it’s going to do, in which case the swishing becomes different or stops entirely. And lastly, when a cat walks into the same room or space you are in, you’ll sometimes notice the tail will give some quick, upward movements on occasion. It’ll happen when they
meet other cats they like too. It seems to be a greeting, or welcome, to whoever the object of its attention may be. | 
