Feline Ear Movements

Basically there are five differing movements of a cats external ears as they rotate to provide better hearing and indicate its emotional condition:

RELAXED: The ears are pointed forward and slightly outward. In this position the cat is listening over a very wide range, for any interesting sounds.

ALERT:  Upon hearing an interesting sound the ears become fully erect with the apertures pointing forward. The cat will remain staring in the direction of the sound, if there is another sound to the side or rear it may rotate one ear in that direction without shifting its gaze.

AGITATED:  A cat under stress will often display a twitching of the ears, although this is more common in wild cats.

DEFENSIVE:  When a cat is getting ready to protect itself or to attack during a fight it will flatten its ears tightly against the head, protecting the delicate tissue from the razor sharp claws of other cats.

AGGRESSIVE:  This is a position where the back of the ears are visible from the front, a posture halfway between alert and defensive. The tiger which has a large white spot ringed with black on the back of each ear, leaves no doubt as to its mood.

[ Feline Hearing ]