Menu Close

Does your cat have a staring problem? These are the reasons why!

A funny photo of a cat staring

I do not know about your cat but our has a real staring problem. We can go and lay in bed and it will just appear and then stare at us for hours at a time!

Often myself and the wife will say “I wonder what it is thinking” as it sits there quite contently. It’s gaze never parts with our own eyes. What is it after, what is it trying to tell us? Sometimes we will try and have a staring contest with her. We never stand a chance she can stare without blinking for multiple minutes at a time.

Well I decided to make it my mission to find out why our cat stares at us. Now I am going to tell you everything that I found out so you can know too. I will also tell you what I learnt about why cats stare at each other and how it generally always ends up turning bad!

Why does my cat stare at me?

There are a few different reasons why your cat may sit and stare at you. I will list them below:

  • Your cat may be hungry and is trying to influence you into feeding it. After all your cat cannot talk and tell you when it wants a snack!
  • You are your cats everything and it wants to watch what you are doing.
  • It may be trying to bond with you and show you affection.

Real life examples of the above cat staring reasons.

Often when our cat stares I will get up and walk towards where it’s food bowl is. Our cat will let out a meow as I walk towards the bowl area and then speed ahead and wait patiently at it’s food bowl.

It is quite obvious when this happens that our cat feels like it has communicated what it wants. It is like its verbal meow is a “yep you got it” before it’s speeds ahead to its bowl.

Other times it seems like food isn’t the target of the staring. There have been times where I have got up and the cat will just stay where it was. However it’s gaze will still be fixated on me. This kind of staring is an obvious show of you being your cats world.

You feed it, you care for it and you give it strokes. You are the centre of your cats universe and it wants to watch you to see what you are doing. If you find this happening with your cat then stare back and blink slowly. This is thought by professionals to be a way to bond with your cat.

Your cats staring can feel creepy but do not worry.

A photo of a cat gazing at its owner
Does your cat sit and stare at you?

I bet we have all been there before, feeling totally creeped out by a cat staring at us. I have  been numerous times but have now learnt that it is for a reason and our cat is trying to communicate with us.

The most creepy staring episode I ever faced was like something straight out of a horror movie. I was asleep and it was the very early hours of the morning, something woke me suddenly from my slumber.

Our cat Nipper was sat next to my pillow with its nose around 2 inches away from mine with its big black eyes staring straight at me. I was freaked out if I am honest! It made me wonder how often our cat does this? Does it literally spend the whole night sat staring at us?

Let me know in the comments if your cat has a staring problem and also if you have any creepy cat staring stories to share!

Why do cats stare at other cats?

Along with lovingly staring at their owners, cats also stare at each other for prolonged periods of time. Again there are a few different reasons for this.

Cats are all about territory. Once they have claimed an area as their own they do not like other cats encroaching on it. If a cat does happen to stray into another cats territory without permission a stare off can begin.

The cat who “owns” the territory will stop what it is doing and stare directly at The intruder. The intruder cat will then lock gazes and the stare off begins. If the more dominant cat does not scare the other cat off with its stare there will then be a cat fight.

Now there is nothing that we as owners can do about this happening outside of the house. However if they are cats that you own and it is happening indoors then there are steps you can take to stop cats staring at each other and ultimately fighting.

A photo of two cats staring at each other.
When cats stare at each other they are seeing who is the more dominant.

How to stop cats staring at each other.

Most conflict at home will be between new pet cats. At first there will be a power struggle especially if one of them is already an established member of the family.

There are several steps you can take to limit conflict and stare offs between new pet cats though. They are as follows:

  • Make sure that any contact between the cats is supervised. You need to be ready to separate them if things take a turn for the worst.
  • For the first few weeks you will need to keep their feed, water and litter trays separate. This will lessen the feeling of territory invasion for your cats.
  • Try to slowly introduce your cats smells to each other by taking items of bedding and swapping them between each other’s beds. This will help to get them used to each other’s scents.
  • If you find that non of these steps are working it may mean separating them to different rooms. This is only a temporary measure but will allow them time to adapt. Slowly you can introduce them to each other for a few minutes at a time.

I hope this post has answered some of the  questions you was asking yourself about cat staring.

I think one of the main takeaways is that cats stare because most of their communication is shown in body language. If you take some time to try some of the examples from above you will be able to work out what your cat is trying to tell you when it is staring.


If you liked this article please share it :)