this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2026
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Cats not looking at you is often good! It (usually) means they trust you enough to not feel like they have to watch you. Obviously a cat that likes you will often look at you, but a cat that doesn't trust you will likely be keeping a close eye in case you do anything threatening
Somehow I can enter a room where my cat has his back to me and make noise at him or pet him or pick him up and he never even looks back.
I don't understand how he knows it's me. But also I'm not a cat.
Well we can recognise people by their voices and, if we're around someone long enough, even by the sound of their footsteps, right? And cats have far better hearing than us
The same way humans know who's who. Footsteps, voice
Cats can also smell you. Ideally, the humans cannot smell you
He can smell you better than he can see you.
'oh no, here comes the smelly human again...'
Yeah but it's their smelly human!
Wanted to say the same thing! A cat staring at someone is a pretty hostile signal - staring contests between cats are pretty much always the unfriendly type.