Animals aren’t stupid, they just don’t have everything humans do. They can understand intent sometimes. The real unusual thing is how the cat cared. Most would probably understand the assignment, but choose to see how far things would go.
“I don’t know what’s happening but I don’t like it. Please fix it. You fix things.”
Rocky, is that you?
Meow
Janet‽ Dr Scott‽ Janet! Brad! Rocky!!!
Being included was fun enough to care, I suspect.
I don’t know if it’s a fluke or what, but one time I decided to bake cookies so I started the oven and walked away in typical silly goose fashion. I got distracted upstairs and my cat barged in my office screaming and acting unusually agitated. So I followed her, she led me to the kitchen where the oven has been preheating for a good 45 minutes.
She got extra dreamies this day.
😀 this is awesome. Animals know when things are out of the ordinary. On occasion my dog will stare back at our front door and refuse to leave for the walk. It usually means I forgot something inside.
Had a very intelligent German Shepard once complaining and freaking out because my circuit breaker panel had caught fire. Silly creature warning us we were all going to die.
We woke up to a burst pipe blasting hot water out in our flat once.
Only reason we woke up was thanks to our beautiful orange cat yelling at us practically in plain English
I’m imagining a cockney cat going “Meoi mate, there’s a bursting pipe 'o wa’er in yer kitchen!”
Oi! My dinner getting wet!
Got the braincell at just the right time
I’ve told people before that my old cat had actually vocalized something very close to ‘help!’ when his litter box was full, multiple times, and once when he got either one of his claws or duclaw stuck in some fabric covered furniture so well that he could not free himself from it.
I’d raised him nearly from birth, and talked to him like he was not an idiot.
But people tend to look at me like I’m an idiot when I tell them that.
My cat always yell at me when the washing machine or the dryer stops and looks so happy when I unload them.
Why would this make you fear your cat?
It alerts you to danger, potentially understands a few English words.
These are… good things, yes?
… Would you be afraid of a dog if you could get a dog to bark when a pot is about to boil over?
An animal understanding a request made in plain English is a vast departure from one’s assumptions about their language understanding, which can be quite creepy
Its creepy that your pet could understand a very simplified version of what you are saying?
How?
Why?
It’s creepy that your Alexa is always listening, and sending all that info to a giant megacorporation.
It’s creepy that people pay for that ‘privelege’.
It’s creepy that Grok can undress a woman.
What is creepy about the idea that a small animal you presumably love… can understand you a bit?
Its … not going to be able to tell anyone very much, in very specific detail.
You can’t have ‘ability to execute a command’ without ‘ability to comprehend a command’.
Dogs are commonly trained to execute a variety of complex commands in multiple specialities… the creepiness is just … the idea that cats can also do something similar?
I find that to be amazing and wonderful, I don’t find this creepy at all.
I genuinely do not understand the specific thing here that is creepy.
Its just not expected, that’s all. Not that there would be any harm caused.
Things that are not expected are surprising, maybe shocking.
For them to also be creepy, they have to also be… digusting, unsettling, off putting, remind you of some kind of tragedy or trauma, or indicate some kind of nefarious intent, something like that.
I don’t expect a strange dark figure in my house. It is creepy if I see one ominously standing there. I may find upon inspection that its actually my hat- and coat-rack and totally explainable, but it was still creepy.
So you fear the idea that you cat could understand you.
Its more than just unexpected, it causes fear, it could potentially indicate harm of some kind.
I’m just asking what this fear is.
Afraid???
(If anything, give kitty a raise, add chief soup-boiling supervisor to their many titles.)I often talk to my cat, sometimes in human language sometimes in meows, he usually answers back. In the morning he will usually wake us up when he’s hungry with a series of meows and during the day will meow until I follow him to the kitchen where he will then point out if he wants food or his water changed in the water bowl (he cleans his paws in there).
Cat tax?
(He sounds adorable)Had a very vocal and expressive feist/rat terrier mix once. One day on walkies I definitely heard him singing “signs, signs everywhere signs can’t you smell the signs” another time he came within 1/16" of catching a squirrel. He looked up with sadness after it got away and said “i bet they taste just like chicken nuggets”
I’m pretty sure cats understand human language just fine. They’re mostly just jerks about it.
All felines understand the servant’s tongue. They simply do not deign to speak it.
Bien sûr!
Isn’t there a petswithjobs com or something like that? animalswithjobs?
Smart kitty
