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Unlike dogs, cats don't have entire portions of their brains devoted to reading humans and don't start with a convenient instinctual package on how to communicate with us. They have to work out how to interact meaningfully with us. They're not less loving, just harder to read.
Your cat loves you so much that they create a private, individual language just to communicate with you.
A lot of my non-cat-owning friends tell me my cats have so much personality. But all cats have personalities, just like all humans do. The difference is that some cats don't learn to *express* their personality in ways that humans pick up on.
Cats that seem to have a lot of personality have learned to show their feelings and moods and wants in ways that humans can read.
And that's usually the result of humans paying attention and giving them feedback.
And that's usually the result of humans paying attention and giving them feedback.
I've raised four kitties from kittenhood and one from young adulthood, and in each case, if I noticed and responded to a type of body language, they'd exaggerate it. If I responded to a particular sound, they made it more often.
Young cats are just like young humans: they're watching you for cues on how to communicate. And the more you respond to them, the more feedback you give them, the more adept and sophisticated they become at doing it. (Dogs too, but dogs have an evolutionary advantage.)
And you can learn to read a lot of their moods just by actually paying *attention* to what they're doing. The set of their ears, their posture, when and how they make eye contact--again, if they notice you responding, they usually start exaggerating these things.
Anyway, your cat loves you a lot and is actually trying hard to communicate with you. So do them a solid by giving them feedback, especially if they're young.
