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Thread: Little big miracles
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14th August 2010, 07:26 PM #1Happy Kitten
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Little big miracles
Little, because they're only 3mo. old. Big because even with all the cats I've owned or known, nothing like what happened today has ever happened.
I've seen in the past when you take a kitten or new cat, pick it up, drop it in it's litter box, and then the cat recognizes "hey, this is the bathroom!".
Well, the kittens did that, as expected. What was not expected was what happened 15minutes ago.
I bought some sisel rope (3/8") and wrapped it around a 2' length of 2x4. Then attached said 2x4 piece to a 1.5' x 1.5' shelf left over from an entertainment center we had. Covered that and the top of the post with carpet, and presto, scratching post.
well, after having it sitting there for a couple days, James & Penny decided to investigate it. They were sniffing at it, looking at it with as much a puzzled expression as a kitten can have.
So I walked up, talking to them calmly, and then roughly shaped my hand so that my finger tips were kinda like paw.
I then rubbed it in a downward motion on the sisel rope.
*Simultaneously*, as if taught, they both stood up on their haunches and began clawing the sisel!!
Cindel and I were in shock. One of the more amazing things I've seen out of cats. And yet another reason why I prefer cats over dogs.
I have another 150feet of sisel, and am drawing up plans for a cat-tree complex for them. Am excited to see how they take to it, after seeing this.
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15th August 2010, 02:04 PM #2Moderator
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The whole question of communication with a cat (or any animal) is very interesting. We clearly do speak different languages and we have to learn not only their sounds, but also their body signals, and we get very good at this with our own pets. I do wonder though, sometimes, to what extent we are projecting our human responses or interpretations onto the cat? I sometimes have to remind myself that it's a cat, not a human.
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15th August 2010, 03:27 PM #3Happy Kitten
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We may do some projecting, but as both species, cat and human, are capable of vocalizing things, it is not impossible that one could mimic the other in situations to try and communicate.
At the very minimum there are vocal inflections that some cats I've had have picked up on, and then have learned to use back. Such as "no" meaning a negative desire for a certain situation, however cats can't really make the "n" sound, so it comes out more of an "oh".
After enough time, however, I think they also pick up on a similarity between the languages, and that is the phonetic up-tick in the vocal inflection when a question is asked. As well as the exclamation.
It's more difficult for humans to learn to speak cat, because they have limited phonetic ability compared to us, and so use body language cues, as well as probably pitch variation and shape.
Us humans are easier to mimic, because other than emotion behind words, our words, to the cats, are often repeated. "Good boy/girl", "No", "In?", "out?", their names, etc. do not have to involve body language, but a cat can certainly associate "out" with the humans hand moving to the door handle.
We may project some, yes, but I think that cats live up to their intelligence at times too.
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