PoCats
Photographing cats
How to photograph a cat with your phone
A clear cat photo starts with distance, light and focus. These phone tips help you photograph the cat you actually met, without making it come closer.
Cat behaviour
How to read a cat's body language in the street
A cat tells you what it wants with its tail, ears, whiskers and eyes, usually several seconds before you get close enough to make a mistake.
Updated 17 September 2026
The short answer
Read the tail first because you can see it from across the road, then the ears, then the eyes. Tail up is a greeting, flat ears mean stop now, a flicking tail is irritation rather than pleasure, and a slow blink is the closest thing to a compliment a cat gives.
The tabby on the wall outside the chip shop watched you for a while before you noticed it. By the time you looked up, it had already decided something about you, and it had been saying so with its tail. Cats are not subtle animals. They are quiet ones, which is not the same thing.
Almost everything that goes wrong between a person and a cat in the street happens in the two seconds after the person misses a signal that was on display for ten. Here is what the signals mean, roughly in the order you can see them as you get closer.
Read the tail first, because you can see it from across the road
The tail is the loudest thing on a cat and the only part you can read at distance. Learn it and you will know whether to carry on walking before you have committed to anything.
| What the tail is doing | What it usually means |
|---|---|
| Straight up, tip loose | A greeting. The cat is comfortable and will often close the distance itself. |
| Straight up with a hook at the top, like a question mark | Friendly and curious. This is frequently the opening move of a cat that intends to investigate you. |
| Upright and quivering | Excitement in a greeting, usually aimed at someone the cat already knows. |
| Held low, or straight out and stiff | Uncertain. Something about the situation has not been settled yet. |
| Tucked tight under the body | Fear, or pain. Give it room. |
| Bristled and fat, sometimes with an arched back | Startled. The cat is making itself look larger than it is. |
| Thrashing or thumping side to side | Irritation, and often the last warning before teeth. |
| Tip twitching while the rest of the body is still | Focus. It is watching something closely, and that something may be you. |
The thrash is the one people get wrong most often. A dog swinging its tail hard is usually pleased. A cat swinging its tail hard is usually not. If you are stroking a cat and the tail starts going, take your hand away and watch what happens next.
The ears move faster than anything else
Ears change before tails do, so once you are within a few metres they become the better instrument. Forward and upright means interested and at ease. One ear rotating backwards while the face stays on you means the cat is tracking a sound behind it, which is alertness rather than a comment on you.
Ears turned out sideways, flattened into what people call aeroplane ears, mean the cat is agitated and in two minds. That is your signal to stop advancing. Ears pinned flat against the skull mean frightened and defensive, and a cat in that shape can swipe from a surprising distance. Nothing about pinned ears improves if you keep coming closer.
Whiskers and eyes, once you are close enough to see them
Whiskers fanned forward mean the cat is investigating something at close range and is engaged with it. Whiskers held out relaxed to the sides mean an untroubled cat. Whiskers pulled back flat against the cheeks mean fear or pain, and it is the same face you see on the table at the vet.
Pupils only mean something when you account for the light. A cat sunbathing with narrow slits is a cat in the sun. A cat in that same light with wide black pupils is running on adrenaline, and adrenaline covers both excitement and fright, so check the ears before you decide which.
The slow blink
Cats do not treat a hard unbroken stare as friendly. Between cats it is closer to a challenge, which is the reason the person in the room who dislikes cats is the one the cat walks towards: they are the only one not staring.
A slow blink is the opposite of a stare. The eyes soften, half close for a beat, then open again. It is what a relaxed cat does around company it is not worried about. Research published in 2020 found that cats were more likely to blink back at a person who slow blinked at them, and more likely to approach a stranger's outstretched hand after that stranger had done it. To return one, relax your face, close your eyes slowly for about a second, open them and look slightly to one side. Do it from where you are standing rather than leaning in over the cat.
The crouch and the bum wiggle
A cat that flattens down, fixes on something, shuffles its back feet and wiggles is loading the launch. The wiggle plants the hind legs. The pounce follows. It is hunting practice, whether the target is a pigeon, a leaf, another cat's tail or your shoelace, and it is not affection. If the target is your hand, the arrival will include claws, and the answer is a toy rather than a telling off.
Do not confuse that with the other crouch. A play crouch is loose and bouncy and usually ends with the tail up. A frightened crouch is tight and still, held low against the ground, with the ears out sideways and the eyes wide. That cat is not preparing to spring at anything. It is making itself small and waiting for you to leave.
The belly is not an invitation
When a cat rolls over in front of you and shows you its stomach, it is showing you the least defended part of its body. That is a compliment about how safe it feels. It is almost never a request for a belly rub. Most cats that get one will catch the hand with all four feet, and they are not being unreasonable about it.
Stroke the cheeks, under the chin, and the base of the ears. Avoid the stomach, and go carefully near the base of the tail, which plenty of cats dislike. Then use the consent test: after three or four strokes, take your hand back and hold still. A cat that wants more will push its head into your fingers. A cat that does nothing has told you it is finished, and you should believe it the first time.
Kneading, chirping, and who the meowing is aimed at
- Kneading. Paws pushing in and out against a lap, a jumper or a cushion. It comes from nursing as a kitten and carries into adult life as a settling behaviour. A kneading cat is a comfortable cat, and the claws are not aimed at you.
- Chirps and trills. Short rising sounds, made with the mouth closed. Mothers use them to call kittens, and cats use them on people they are pleased to see. If a cat trills at you, you have been categorised as friendly.
- Meowing. Adult cats rarely meow at each other. The meow is largely a noise cats developed for humans. A street cat that meows at you is a cat that has learnt people respond to it, which usually means it is somebody's, or the whole street's.
- Purring. Usually contentment, but not always. Cats also purr when they are frightened, injured or unwell, apparently as self-soothing. Read a purr alongside the ears and the body rather than on its own.
- Hissing, growling, spitting, low yowling. A request to stop and go away. It is not aggression so much as a cat trying hard to avoid a fight, and the only correct answer is distance.
Four states, and what each one asks of you
| State | What you see | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Relaxed | Tail up or loosely curled, ears forward, whiskers out to the sides, body soft, sitting with the feet tucked under, slow blinking | Stay where you are and let it come to you. This is the only state worth trying to photograph. |
| Alert | Head up, ears swivelling, body upright and gathered, tail still with a twitching tip, eyes locked on something | Wait. The cat is deciding. Anything sudden turns this into the next row. |
| Frightened | Crouched low or backed against a wall, tail tucked or bristled, ears flat or sideways, wide pupils, whiskers pulled back | Stop moving, then back away slowly. Never close in to reassure a frightened cat. |
| About to leave | Weight shifting onto the back legs, head turned away from you, a last flat look, or a sudden burst of grooming when nothing needs grooming | Let it go. A cat that leaves on its own terms is a cat that may still be on that wall tomorrow. |
How to approach a cat you have never met
- Stop further away than feels necessary, three or four metres, and let the cat watch you arrive.
- Get low. Crouch or sit down. A standing human is a large animal looming over a small one.
- Turn slightly sideways and drop the direct stare. Slow blink instead.
- Hold out one finger at about the cat's nose height and keep it completely still. That is the invitation, and it works better than reaching.
- Let the cat cross the last of the gap. If it does not, that is the answer, and it is a perfectly good one.
- If it bumps or rubs its cheek along your finger, stroke the cheeks, chin and base of the ears. Not the stomach, not over the top of the head to start with.
- Pause after a few strokes and take your hand away. Carry on only if the cat asks for more.
- Never stand between a cat and its way out. A cat that knows it can leave usually decides it does not need to.
Some cats are not yours to read. Leave one alone if it is with kittens, if it is eating, if its eyes or nose are running, or if it is behind a gate on someone's property. If an animal looks injured or unwell, call a local rescue or vet rather than handling it. Never use food to bring a cat closer to a road, and never pick up a cat you do not know.
What this changes if you are trying to photograph one
The main reason to learn any of this is that it makes you less irritating to be near, which is a decent thing to be. But it has a practical edge if you carry a phone. Ears and tails tell you how much time you have. A cat that greets you with its tail straight up will frequently walk into your frame without being asked. A cat with flattened ears will be gone before your phone unlocks, and following it costs you every future meeting on that street. The photograph you end up with is the one the cat allowed.
That is the entire premise of PoCats, a free iPhone and Android game built around the cats you genuinely meet outdoors. You photograph a real cat, the picture is checked to confirm a living cat is in it, and that cat is cut out of your own photo into a card for your album; nothing draws it. There is a short timing catch in between, and walking afterwards unwinds a yarn ball the catch leaves behind. Nothing in it rewards you for crowding an animal, and no payment makes a card rarer. The tabby on the wall decides, the same as it always did.
Watch tails for a fortnight on the walk you already take and something shifts. You reach for fewer cats. More cats come to you.
Questions people ask
What does it mean when a cat slow blinks at you?
A slow blink is a relaxed, non-threatening signal. A cat that half closes its eyes at you is telling you it is not worried by your presence, which is the opposite of the hard stare cats use as a challenge. Research published in 2020 found cats were more likely to blink back at people who slow blinked first, and more likely to approach a stranger's outstretched hand afterwards, so it is worth returning.
What does a cat's tail position mean?
Straight up with a loose tip is a greeting, and a hook at the top adds curiosity. Low, stiff or tucked under the body means the cat is uncertain or frightened, and a bristled tail means it has been startled. A tail thrashing side to side is irritation, not pleasure, and is often the last warning you get before claws.
Why does a cat show its belly and then bite my hand?
Rolling over exposes the least protected part of a cat's body, so it is a sign the cat feels safe rather than a request for a belly rub. Most cats will grab a hand that arrives there, using all four feet, because the stomach is instinctively defended. Stroke the cheeks, chin and base of the ears instead.
How do I know a street cat wants to be left alone?
Look at the ears and tail together. Ears turned out sideways or pinned flat, a tucked or bristled tail, a tight low crouch, wide pupils in good light, or any hiss or growl all mean stop and back away. Never approach a cat that is eating, with kittens, injured, or on private property.
Free tools for your next cat encounter
Make a keepsake with the cat card maker, using a photo you own. For your next walk, the body language decoder reads a cat's tail, ears and eyes back to you, and the street cat name generator names the one that has been sitting on your wall all summer.
Where this fits in PoCats
PoCats is a cat spotting game: you photograph a real cat you meet, it is checked as a living animal, and it becomes a collectible card cut from your own picture. The catch itself is a two-second timing moment you can try in your browser, and the whole loop is explained here.
More field notes
Finding cats
Where to find cats in your neighbourhood
Most neighbourhoods hold more cats than you notice, sitting in the same few places at the same few hours, and this is how to find them without bothering anyone.
Cat behaviour
How to tell if a cat is stray, feral or owned
A cat's coat, posture and voice tell you more than a collar does. Here is how to read them, and what each answer asks you to do next.
Meet a cat? Make it a card.
PoCats turns the cats you meet outdoors into a collection cut from your own photographs.
