Do female cats not like making eye contact?

[jessica smith]

So I have a boy and a girl, littermates raised together as tiny kittens, and they are both very comfortable with me but one thing they have always done since young is that the boy will make direct eye contact with me all the time, but the female refuses. If she really wants attention, she'll place her face in the way of what I'm looking at like the TV or laptop, but she'll only stare at my forehead. She doesn't mind if I look into her pretty eyes, but she won't even glance directly back at mine.

Comically, if I slowly raise my head higher so that her eyes would meet mine, she'll just adjust her gaze and keep staring at my forehead but never let eyes meet even for a second. I heard its supposedly rude in cat world to stare into eyes, but the boy I can even have a staring contest while petting him and he purrs and will always maintain eye contact no problemo.

I thought it was just my two, but talking about adopting two more kitties the topic somehow came up when we were talking girls vs boys and she said the same thing with her (she has FIVE after having some family's cats dumped on her lol), none of the female cats will make eye contact. Coincidence, or y'all notice that too?

 

[Biomehanika]

My girl stares at me from a distance and slow blinks at me, and will make close eye contact with me while we cuddle and she’s cradled in my arm like a baby, staring up at me, she’s 12 and a half and has only gotten more affectionate with age but I don’t recall her ever being uncomfortable with eye contact. My oldest boy who passed would stare at me CONSTANTLY if he wasn’t already in my lap and facing the other way, don’t recall when that started but it went on for a long time, the majority of his life for sure. He was obsessed with me and only got more affectionate with age. My young 10 month old boy who I’ve only had for a few months would get *terrified* if I even looked at him when I first got him. If he felt he was being watched he would go and hide where I couldn’t see him anymore. He has now settled in and trusts me so he will make short eye contact sometimes, but not for long…. So maybe it’s more of a trust/age thing as opposed to sex thing? Since in cat world staring is usually a no no, maybe it just takes some of them a long time to realize that it can mean love/endearment too.

 

[Caspers Human]

Direct eye contact between cats, be they male or female, is often a sign of aggression.

Even in cats that know each other well, staring is not usually taken well. If another cat (or even a human) walks into a room and the cat goes all eyes, that means the cat is trying to tell if there is a threat. If the cat looks then goes back about it’s business, that means “You’re cool,” in cat lingo.

Casper, our older cat, rules the house while Elliot, the young upstart, obeys. If Elliot is doing something that Casper doesn’t like, all he needs to do is give Elliot “the look” and he falls right into line.

If Elliot doesn’t do what Casper wants, a second look often means that Casper is about to bop Elliot on the head.

 

[catloverfromwayback]

My two are happy to make eye contact with me, but when they do it to each other, it's definitely aggressive!

 

[Alldara]

Animals don't generally like making eye contact. It's unnatural and invasive to most. It's considered very intimate.

Cats will, when they very much trust someone, make eye contact and slow blink. They will watch one another and their human family members but otherwise staring usually only happens during play and when they are displeased with one another.

 

[Kat0121]

My girls make eye contact with me all the time. Not really with each other though.

 

[FeebysOwner]

I've had 3 cats, 1 male and 2 females. They all make/made direct eye contact with me - no difference in terms of gender from my experience. My neighbor had two female strays she took care of and both of them would look me in the eyes too.

I think it is more along the lines of having to do with each cat's own personality, regardless of gender.

 

[Allison.Mau]

Both my female and male cats look at me in the eyes. The female slow blinks more often than the male and is way more affectionate than him

 

[KittyCat_chitchat]

I'm with FeebysOwner . I can't say I've ever noticed a big difference between female cats I've known vs. male ones. Of my current cats, neither Ozzie nor Cleo directly avoids eye contact that much. They'll typically either just ignore you and get on with whatever they're doing or you'll see their heads following you around the room (especially if it's coming up for teatime...!). They both like to slow blink at me, especially Cleo. I call it blowing cat kisses. They also don't seem to mind eye contact with each other, as long as it isn't prolonged and stary.

 

[Kwik]

I've had 3 cats, 1 male and 2 females. They all make/made direct eye contact with me - no difference in terms of gender from my experience. My neighbor had two female strays she took care of and both of them would look me in the eyes too.

I think it is more along the lines of having to do with each cat's own personality, regardless of gender.

FeebysOwner is exactly right,it has to do with the individual cats personality ,regardless of gender- there's been plenty of studies conducted to know that regardless of gender there is nothing to indicate that one gender is more social,more or less engaging etc etc compared to the other

Now the topic of eye contact is a very interesting one because eye contact inter species is quite different that it is between felines and humans- we can do our best to imitate a cat to communicate that we pose no threat but this is not the whole of a cats language

There are many other "signs" in body language that must accompany a certain wide eyed stare or a squint and so on to truly speak" cat".For example: your cat stares you in the eye ( are his pupils dilated?) ,is he leaning forward,center of gravity or weight on his haunches - from one cat to another that could be 5 different signals - staring at a human can simply be curiosity or looking for more " info" by studying your facial expressions and stance..... The view from a cats eye has a lot more going on than" meets the eye"

Anyway,your cat not making direct eye contact but facing her body towards you is the direction she's highly likely to go and receptive - facing sideways they positioned themselves to leave if they feel the need and depending on tail placement you can see if it's a " need" to leave or a crouched body for a quick exit or just preoccupied with something else

Cats that face there owners are interested in their person - so in context ,for a human it's much easier to look at the more telling postures and tail position than eye contact which means little to a cat in of itself