Apog, I have to agree.
And remember: You bring dogs food, they think of you as god. You bring cats food, it confirms that they are god. Cats are in charge.
Do You Think That Animals Truly Understand Human Language?
by minimus 35 Replies latest jw friends
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minimus
i'm not a cat lover.
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Apognophos
The key to understanding cats is to realize that, just because you bought them from a store, that doesn't mean they agreed to be your pet. They didn't sign any contract to that effect, stamping their little paw on the dotted line, as it were. But as a consequence, when they befriend you, it means a lot more than when a dog does it.
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minimus
cats are users
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Apognophos
and dogs are sycophants
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sparky1
I'm a cat lover.
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Magnum
Something happened to me a few years ago concerning animal intellgence, understanding, and emotion that still has me astonished. I have vast experience with animals and was aware that they have more intelligence and feelings than most people give them credit for, but I would not have believed this had I not experienced it myself.
My wife and I had raised some orphaned raccoons. We built them a nice facility and were planning on keeping them. However, one of the females went into heat before we could have her spayed, and she escaped. We didn't see her for months. Then one day at about 10:00am my wife and I were both out in our yard. Bandit (not her real name) came into the yard out of a large overgrown field on the edge of our yard. The way she walked around the yard just seemed odd; also, it was odd for her to be out that time of day.
My wife finally said "she wants something." So I kneeled down, held out my and said "Bandit, what do you want"? This is the part that, to me, is unbelievable. She walked up to me, gently took my hand in her mouth, and tugged toward the field. I looked at my wife and said "she wants me to go with her." My wife agreed. For any of you who remember the old Lassie TV show, it was just like when Lassie would tug on Timmie and want Timmie to follow her.
I started following her through the field. The grass was up to my chest. I could only tell where she was by watching the tall grass move. I lost her several times and said "Bandit, I can't see you. Where are you?" I swear she would be about twenty feet ahead and turn around and come to my feet so I could see her and then proceed again to lead me. Now I don't believe she understood my words, but I think she knew the concept; she knew I couldn't find her and she came back to get me.
We finally made it to the other side of the field (about the length of an American football field) into the woods on the other side of the field. For two hours, I followed her around the woods as she searched every hole in the ground, climbed trees and searched in them, searched in holes in fallen trees, etc. I could only figure that she had babies and something happened to them. It broke my heart to not be able to help her - especially since she came to us for help. Finally, I just lay (yes, "lay" is the correct word) on the forest floor for about 45 minutes and she lay there with me. After that, I put her on my shoulder and I walked across the field back to our house.
Some months later she came back home, went into our attic and down into a wall and had babies in the wall space. We could hear the babies in the wall. One morning at 5:30, we heard a horrible growling, fighting sound in the wall, so I jumped out of bed and beat on the wall and ran outside. I saw a grown raccoon climb down the side of our house and run off into the woods. I ran and got a saw and cut the wall open and found Bandit's babies all mauled to death (I took pictures of them). Bandit was frantic. She stood on the rail of our deck and put her paws on my chest and looked at me as if pleading with me to help. It was horrible. There was nothing I could do. That whole day she wandered around with a look in her eyes that I never want to again in the eyes of any living being.
After that incident, we were certain about what happened on the occasion when she led me across the field; something took her babies and she came to us for help. Fortunately, my wife witnessed both incidents; otherwise, I would refrain from relating the accounts - especially the first one because it seems unbelievable. To me, it shows a high level of intelligence. How did she know to come to us for help? How did she know to pull on my hand and lead me across the field? I still don't understand it.
Those raccoons turned out to be far smarter and to have more feeling than I would have originally thought. They are all gone now. I have hundreds of photos and hours of video of them. They were a wonderful pleasure - very smart, playful, and affectionate.
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LoisLane looking for Superman
The question: Do you think that animals truly understand human language?
-----> I know my rescue cat Romeo does.
My #1 cat, Sir Gaylord was a tiny 5 pound runt long hair Persian. At more than 14 years, he died. Though he was tiny, and usually because of his long fur, never considered an outdoor cat, he went outside with his newly acquired friends, Romeo and Holstein. You would never think it, but Sir Gaylord was the boss. He was the little General that was the leader of the pack.
Romeo is a sleek, black, 16 pound, muscular, short hair guy, that knows how to get what he wants. He demands petting and stomach and head rubs which I am happy to supply.
Holstein is a Turkish Van. White with black spots. Big at 20 pounds, but gentle. He is an older cat, that showed up here lost and crying loudly in the winter rain. He had a cough and did a lot of silent farts. He is very loveable except he talked all the time and those silent farts of his were rather deadly. By giving Holstein lots of love, attention, food, and healthy yogurt, it cleared up his major problems.
This is what happened two weeks after my precious Sir Gaylord died. Out on the front porch, as I was petting Romeo. I was sad and missing the sweetest kitty anyone ever had, and said out loud in a beseeching voice to Romeo, "Romeo, where is Sir Gaylord? Where is he?" Romeo, without any hesitation took off, trotting through the garden and went to the far corner where Sir Gaylord was buried and laid beside his grave. He stayed there for a bit, and then came back to me for validation, some petting, and then went off to play.
LoisLane
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LisaRose
My daughter says she told her cat "Zoey, go upstairs and lick Joel in the ear". Zoey goes upstairs. a little while later, Joel's comes downstairs and says "The weirdest thing just happened, Zoey came up and licked my ear!"
I think my cat Lizzie knows quite a few words, she can do three tricks on command (well, if she wants treats and is in the mood). She has a lot of different sounds that she makes, sometimes it sounds like human speech, or at least the cadence of it. She makes a sound like "mip, mip, mip" that I know means she has found something interesting and wants to show me. She has another sound she makes when coming in or out, it's like thanks or good by. She says. Hmm? Hmm? Hmm? Which I think means "what's up?" She uses body language as well. If she wants cat nip she puts one paw on the tub of it. If we don't catch that she starts shoving it. If we don't see that she either shoves it off the table or, if she is showing off, picks it up with her teeth and flings it off the table. She did that in front of guests last time. She likes me to talk about her and knows when I am, if I am on the phone she will head butt me until I say "Lizzie says to say hi". She does this sort of pantomime to ask me to come outside with her. She will look in the window, which is her way of a asking to be let in. But she won't come in, she drops to the ground and does the flirty cat roll, looking at me intently as she does. She will repeat this three or four times until I give up and go outside.
When I got her at the shelter, I had the feeling that she wanted me to pick her with every fiber of her being. I had to leave her to get fixed. She was heartbroken when I walked away and made the most mournful sound, then they were giving her a shot and she got away, I think she was trying to find me. When I picked her up, the shelter worker put on these long leather gloves, grabbed her and got her out of the cage, but she got away and just immediately jumped into the cat carrier and then just sat down and waited clamly. The worker said "that's never happened before" .I think she wasn't taking any chances of me getting away again.