You may want to back away – slowly – from your mid-catastrophe kitty. Turns out, a new poll reveals you're doing it all wrong when it comes to scratching away feline stress.

The UK's leading feline welfare charity, Cat's Protection, recently released the results of a survey that revealed cat owners don't understand the deepest needs of their pets.

“Being held or stroked for too long can be very stressful for some cats," said Cat’s Protection’s Behaviour Manager Nicky Trevorrow. "Space and peace is often what they need – they’re not small furry humans, so what would comfort us won’t necessarily comfort them.”

As for the argument that our befuzzed friends aren't simply miniature people masquerading in cat suits, we'd like to present evidence in the form of Taylor Swift's kitty Meredith:

#NAILEDIT

Regardless of our totally air-tight defense, it seems more than half of the cat owners questioned said they calm their stressed out feline with a snuggle or hug – which is apparently the exact opposite of what they should do.

We're thinking it's only a matter of time before our feline overlords team up with the world's particularly ornery swan population to form a united front of hands-offery. We'll just be waaaay over there, deciphering the morse code of our tabby's purrs.