Yes and no. It really depends on the cat.
Self awareness is considered an advanced intellectual skill that is only possible with developed frontal lobes. Like we have. And, like cats have.
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The similarity between our brain and a cat’s is astoundingly close. So it can be a good guide to a cat’s capabilities.
How can we tell how our cats interpret their own reflection? We can interpret their reaction.
If our cat thinks their reflection is another cat, they are going to react to it as though it was another cat. Whether arching their back or extending their nose in friendship, our cat is acting as though there is another cat there. Yet this response is usually tempered by the puzzling feedback they get from this other cat who is mimicking their moves, yet is not registering on their other senses.
How our cat resolves this puzzle depends on their age, experience, and intellectual capacity. Kittens always want to play, and so do their reflections. Yet they soon discover this mirror kitten will not give any actual feedback.
Usually, kittens then give up on this unsatisfactory toy. They aren’t getting the tactile feedback which is so important to their play/prey drive. They still notice the kitten in the mirror, but dismiss it, and soon pay it as little attention as they do other perplexing toys, like the television. The promise that seems to be there does not pay off.
Sometimes a cat’s first encounter with a mirror is when they are grown, and no longer have the automatic playfulness of kittens. This is when they are more likely to be cautious or hostile with the “other cat.” Ultimately, they come to understand there isn’t really a cat there.
To help our cat understand that the cat in the mirror is them, we can look in the mirror with the cat. This creates a link in the cat’s mind.
After all, our cat knows who we are, and that there is only one of us. While the cat has learned that they can ignore the cat in the mirror, they cannot ignore us.
By talking to the cat in the mirror, our cat can more easily observe how our movements are mimicked in the mirror. Then they begin to grasp what the mirror does.
Cats will probably not match our conception of mirrors. They don’t have a need to, for one thing. But cats can understand it is “them.”
They just don’t think it is important.
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There’s more ways to understand our cat with The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See all of my posts on WHY CATS DO THAT.
Monkey seems to sit in front of the mirror just to admire himself//// west side story’s ” i feel pretty” comes to mind….
Both Killsy and Byron quickly realized “That’s no cat!” But Byron discovered that he could reach the mirror hanging on the bedroom wall above the dresser, and it was great fun to bang it against the wall. At 5 in the morning…
I now have a mirror tucked away on the bedroom floor.
Sometimes when I bring one of the outside cats in the bathroom to get them ready to go to the vet, they jump up and look in the mirror. I felt like they thought they saw a friend. None of them did try to interact with themselves though. I think most cats realize that it is themselves.
Why don’t cats like going for rides in a car, I have never had a cat that liked this?
lol my two adult female cats love just sitting and staring at their reflections in the mirror and they get especially entranced if they see my reflection moving in it. They sometimes meow at my reflection
it’s so cute
Hi. My Tommy checks out the back of the mirror, in an attempt to find the “other” cat. When he cannot resolve the mystery, he frowns. He than taps the cat in the mirror, checks out the reverse side of the mirror, again, and looks very puzzled. “Of course,” I am not biased but I have it on good authority that Tommy is gifted! Thanks for letting me brag, Adrienne
My cat sits in front of it and actually uses it to see if i am still behind her, then runs away really fast when i approach… she likes to be chased then rolls over like she’s still a kitten all playfully and cute! but she actually gets what a mirror is all about.
Hi .I think they don’t like rides because that’s the wild side of them .they just don’t wana be taken away to somewhere were they don’t know were they will be going.they always sniff the path while walking while in a car they can’t fallow there instinct as they do on they own paffs. In general cats are always like independence and they preffere choose they all ways of doing as we all know.
my cat is a bit over a year now and seems to have “just” discovered her reflection. the problem is she seems to consider it an intruder and has been moaning and hissing at it for the past two days and nights. there are mirrors everywhere in my home so it’s incredibly annoying. it seems like she’s completely lost it.
any ideas?
If she is comfortable being picked up, you can hold her and both of you look into the mirror. This helps my cats understand it’s not really “me.” And it’s not really “them.”
Creepiest/coolest kitty moment: I walk in, Norm is staring intently at himself in the mirror. As soon as I enter his field of vision, his eyes begin to follow my image in the mirror. He makes eye contact with me in the mirror. He turns and makes eye contact with the “real” me standing behind him. He looks back at the mirror. I swear I saw comprehension there. He KNOWS it’s not another cat. I find him often staring at himself in different mirrors throughout the house. My other cat (three years older than Norm) has zero interest in any mirror.
my cat once freaked out looking at a poster of a lion.
My cat is laying on my bed behind me, I have a mirrored wardrobe to my left and I’ve opened one door at an angle so that we can have eye contact in the mirror. She looks directly into my mirror eyes and does the usual “squinting relaxed happy eyes”. So I’m pretty sure she understands mirrors.
How in the hell is that the same cat in that picture!! Please, I’ve been staring at it for about 20 mins trying to figure out how that is possible! My brain hurts from thinking up solutions on how it is only one cat and not two……AHHH!
I think they do understand mirrors. Have you seen on shows like America’s Funniest Home Video’s? I’ve seen a lot of cats that meow and growl at the mirror, yet some of them look at it and talk to the reflection. Cats are very smart.
Hope has always used the mirror for grooming.
She sees ruffled fur in the mirror. She fixes it. Very smart.
lol,Mirror,ur doing it wrong!
@AFT — Photoshop, man. The cat in the mirror is hovering over the sink–ergo, it has to be Photoshopped, or the cat would have its back end lower (in the sink).
My cat hisses at herself in the mirror. Then when we see her see walks away looking embarrassed.
My cat “Coke” age about 12 yrs pays no attention at all to a mirror when I am holding her in my arms in front of one. Quickly turns away, not frightened just not interested at all.
My cat scares herself in the mirror (not unlike me after a night out.) LOL.
But, when she doesn’t forget it’s there, she generally dismisses it. She seems very smell oriented. She will make eye contact with me, and occasionally herself in the mirror but she’s bored.
She will attempt to play with other cats on TV commercials though! She has never been around other cats and is very threatened by any other living thing than me. But she does not hiss at the TV. She just tries to play with it like a string. Once again, the lack of smell.