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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 5565089" data-attributes="member: 177">Perhaps not the ability to read facial expressions, specifically, but let us not overstate the case by being too specific.  Cats can interpret human emotional states to some degree - but it is based more off body posture and vocal tone than upon facial expression.  They aren't as good at it as dogs, and the frequency at which the cat cares about human emotional state is probably less than that you typically see in dogs.  They aren't as social a species.Anedcotal, but demonstrative - One of our cats, for example, can tell with nigh-unerring accuracy when my wife is having a nightmare.  He can tell better than I can.  And he responds with what, to a cat, is comforting behavior - he curls up next to her, and purrs his little heart out, and kneads.  She rarely wakes up at the time, so it isn't like he's getting a payoff in attention.  He can simply tell she's distressed, and does something about it.Domestic house cats are not exactly the same as other cat species, or even feral house cats.  There's a socialization step that, if undertaken when the cat is a kitten, allows them to cue into humans in ways that wild species cannot (even when given similar exposure to humans) and ferals that didn't have the exposure when young don't.</blockquote>