Do cats mimic each other?

[EricaGriswoldAuthor]

So this one cat has been coming around for the past couple of morning because it knows I feed my cat.

This morning I gave my cat catnip. I put it on the ground by his food bowl. He rubbed his face around in the catnip and ate it! Then, the other cat came and sniffed the spot where the catnip was and started rolling around on the ground. My cat saw him do it and he rolled around on the ground a few feet away, so he wasn't in the catnip at the time. The cat got up and a few minutes later he rolled around in the catnip spot again, and my cat rolled around again! This time, my cat swatted the other cat and scared him away.

 

[Azazel]

Your cat may have taken the other cat's behavior as an invitation to play.

 

[ArtNJ]

Cute. I believe cats do follow each other cues, yes. For example, I've had several pairs of non-biologically related cats and they always like and hate the same flavors of cat food as each other (whereas my human children rarely do).

 

[vince]

I have two males that didn't make much noise. After I adopted a little female talker, they started meowing more. Not a whole lot, but definitely more. I guess they figured out that she got more attention because she was meowing.

 

[DreamerRose]

Yes, they certainly can teach each other. I had Mingo a year before I got Lily. Mingo was a stand-offish cat, although I knew he loved me. He wouldn't lie in my lap or let me pet him very much. Lily, on the other hand, was a very outgoing and affectionate cat. She hopped up in my lap and curled up asleep there. She slept in bed with me. Mingo watched all this, and soon began doing the same things. He had never slept in bed with me, but now was there first and chasing Lily off. His behavior in general became different because he had seen Lily doing these things. I've had to type this with one hand because he is a purring loaf on the other arm. All because of Lily.

 

[Jem]

Chester definitely learned some behaviors from my other two. And one in particular, lap time. He had never experienced a home before and only grew up in the shelter. At first his only form of affection was sitting at someone's feet and them bending to pet him (he did NOT like being picked up - that's getting better though). Anyway, I could see him watching the other two as they would jump up on us to get some attention. Then one day, after one of my kitties jumped down off of me, Chester came walking over. He jumped up on the couch, and very tentatively took a few steps closer to me and looked at me. Then one slow paw at a time, he climbed onto my lap. It was so cute, it took forever! Then, of course, I started petting him, calling him a good boy, etc...I'd never heard him purr so loud. It took a few more tentative lap crawls, but now he's right up in there like the other two when he wants his cuddles.

 

[Jemima Lucca]

They do take on characteristics of each other! For instance, Jemima was an only kitten until I got Lucca. They’re 3 months apart. Jemima hardly ever meowed, mostly she trilled. Lucca however, meowed. It actually startled me when Jemima meowed because she never really did it. Soon Lucca began trilling when he wanted attention or was excited just like Jemima! I think it’s adorable but sort of like a survival tool animals use.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

And not only do they learn from each other by observation, I think there is a certain amount of actual mimicing going on in some cases. I feed a group of ferals at my back door. Hekitty has become accustomed to them, and watches them closely. She has one special buddy, a little tabby queen, very shy and sweet. The two of them play a mimicking game. One will put their paw on the glass pane of the door, and the other will raise their paw to the glass, as well, and they "hold hands" through the glass. They'll move their paws to different spots, each time following each other. Sometimes for as much as 10 minutes at a time!