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Hoots : Is it possible for a deaf kitten to sense growling/hissing from another cat? I've recently adopted a deaf kitten (two days ago). She doesn't respond to any sounds, but she does respond to my senior non-deaf cat hissing and - freshhoot.com

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Is it possible for a deaf kitten to sense growling/hissing from another cat?
I've recently adopted a deaf kitten (two days ago). She doesn't respond to any sounds, but she does respond to my senior non-deaf cat hissing and growling (I'm slowly introducing them).

Is it possible that our deaf kitten can sense the growl/hissing? They don't even need to be in eye-shot of each other. The senior cat hears the kitten's bell and growls, and the kitten can pick up the growls/hissing and responds with her own growls. Could someone maybe explain this?


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She may not be able to necessarily hear the growling and hissing, but she may be responding to the non-verbal body language the older cat is using to indicate her displeasure.

For example, the older cat's face is not going to look happy - so she could be responding to the way the cat's face looks angry, or how her body is positioned - there is so much more to communication than just the sound.

It's the same as human communication - even if you can't hear my voice, the my facial expressions or my body language can often indicate my mood.

I would suspect that your kitten is picking up on the other, non-verbal communication exhibited by the other cat, such as the motion of her tail (lashing, bristled, etc), her face (she may recognize the hissing/growling face), the "puffing" of the older cat's body/fur, etc.


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