Human breeding of cats has made them look like they are always in pain - Salon

The researchers studied cats of different facial types and concluded that while someone analyzing a cat's face would be able to distinguish between facial expressions indicating "pain" or "no pain" when look at domestic short-haired cats, people could not recognize "pain" expressions in the neutral faces of other breeds, even those with similar facial structures to one another. The scientists also wrote that neutral expressions on the average feline face that is unusually flat and round "suggested greater pain-like features" when compared to those whose faces have medium proportions or are longer than average.

For instance, Scottish folds cats had faces that indicated they were in pain even when their expressions were neutral; and several breeds of cats with longer faces, including the Devon Rex cats, also had neutral faces which "indicated a greater absence of pain-like features, compared to the neutral landmarks of various other breeds.".

 As Finka wrote to Salon, these findings have important implications for people who love their cats and whose cats have faces that seem to indicate they are in pain.

In terms of the evolutionary implications, Finka was direct: "When we heavily (artificially) select animals for certain traits that we find appealing, we potentially limit their abilities to clearly express themselves using these features.".

"These issues are unlikely to be limited to just cats, given that other domesticated species, particularly dogs, exhibit similar types of selection for extreme features," Finka wrote.

"This isn't something that we tested but it's logical to assume that other cats would also struggle to effectively communicate with each other via their faces," Finka wrote to Salon.

When it comes to the very brachycephalic breeds, It's probably more likely that rather than other cats thinking these cats are in pain, they might just not be able to extract much useful information from their faces at all.".