Cats are super cute creatures, and they always surprise us with various unpredictable acts. One such act is the winking thing your cats do, out of nowhere! Or is she doing it on purpose to send you some type of message! It can really break your heart if that’s the case.
So what does it mean after all, and you really don’t want to miss any sing your cats have been giving you! Let’s find out the surprising reasons why cats wink!
What Does It Mean When Cats Wink at You?
Any cat loves to surprise us with various tricks and act they perform in day-to-day life, very few are to please us, but most of the time they are trying to tell us something. Cat Winking is one of them, and we are pretty sure that being a cat parent, you don’t want to miss it.
Here are 5 surprising reasons why cats wink.
1. A Cat’s Nictitating Membrane
In the inner corner of the cat’s eye, they have a third eyelid, or nictitating membrane, which is likewise covered by conjunctiva.
Generally, in healthy cats, the conjunctiva of the eyelids is not visible and has a pink, pale color.
When conjunctivitis strikes, the conjunctival membranes grow red and puffy. Cats do not use their regular eyelids to blink, instead, she uses their palpebra tertia.
If the palpebra tertia gets too dry, the cats’ eyelid will wink instead of the palpebra tertia.
Heartbreaking right? While you got super happy by assuming that your cat was flirting with you, but instead she was trying to provide moisture to their eyelid. Once the requirements are met, your cat’s eyes should get back to the not-winking phase.
2. A Sign of an Eye Infection or Eye Problem
Even the healthiest cat can fall a victim to eye-related issues, corneal ulcers, bacterial infections (pink eye), and traumatic injuries.
Making it quite easy for you to understand, your cat will wink throughout the day, which clearly indicates that she’s facing an eye infection or eye problem.
So when a cat is experiencing pain in her eyes, she is more likely to blink, wink, and twitch. Let’s have a close look at why cats wink, if It’s due to an eye infection, then why types of eye infections can make your cat wink?
- Pink eye: when any type of bacteria enters the membrane lining, you will notice a white discharge coming out from cat’s eye followed with swelling.
2. Corneal ulcers: your feline can fall victim to corneal ulcers in many ways, mostly it indicates any trauma which is caused to the cat’s eyes.
To understand it in a much better way, if your cat is in the wild any sharp part or thrones of plants can hurt her eyes, if your cat is rubbing her eyes too much, mistakenly scratching her eyes with her own nails, etc.
3. Glaucoma: a serious disease caused by pressure in the eye due to excess fluid buildup, should be treated promptly to dodge blindness the symptoms include eye rubbing and squinting, eyes are runny, cloudy, and reddened.
3. Goodwill Towards You
Finally, we got you here, on at least one good reason why cats wink.
So you would be happy to know that cats wink at those whom they trust a lot, you can feel as round as you want to feel at this moment because it’s true!
To develop such a deep bond with skeptical creatures that cats are is a job of a lot of patience.
And once she starts getting involved with you, she will spend a lot of time around you, talk with you, rub against you, and will wink at you with either one or both eyes.
Cats that are not that mushy with their owners are not much likelier to wink at them.
4. Stressed Out Wink
Cats often consider themselves as a predator, little cute tigers won’t be the wrong word to their description. That’s why you will never find them displaying their vulnerability to other creatures or humans! They will always be this fierce and carefree!
So many times to hide their fear or release the stress, cats wink!
This is not going to be the case in all the situations, so when you can notice or sense that your cat has been shifted to a dissimilar atmosphere with other cats or dogs, there is a high level of chances for your cat to get into the vulnerability stage.
Where she will wink, and you should know that these are definite signs of stress.
5. I Love You, Wink
Last but not least important, one of the reasons why cats wink is they want to tell you that, hey human! I love you. This idea was produced by observing cats in the wild, as those cats were caught winking towards other cats of their groups and family!
So if the cats in the wild express their love towards other cats by winking at them, then It’s going to be the same for our pet cats! The love you wink is true and something you can cherish!
Do I Need to Worry about My Cats Blinking?
Cat winks are not just cute, but also very funny to observe! Unless and until it’s not related to any eye-related issue, you got nothing to be worried about!
Our cats and dogs are very expert in using body language to express themselves, tho winking might not be as popular as purring, but it does indicate something! A message every cat owners should learn how to read to bond well with their felines.
If it’s related to some eye infections, you need to take your cat to the vet, as it’s always better to make sure about any such health-related signs.
Conclusion
There are very few reasons why cats wink, cats might not wink at you that often, so it can actually surprise you, however you can easily detect what is the reason behind it. If it’s not due to an eye infection or eye problem, then all it means is she’s showing her affection towards you!
Since winking Is not something which cats do as frequently as they purr or lick themselves! You can encourage this behavior more.
References
- How to Read Your Cat’s Body Language — Pet WebMD
- A Kitty’s Point of View: Why Does My Cat Slow Blink and Wink? — Feliway
- Recognizing the Signs of Illness in Cats — VCA Animal Hospitals