Why do cats not obey commands?

Training cats is possible and rewarding and it happens all the time informally

It’s actually incorrect to say that cats do not obey commands although in comparison to dogs they are less ready to do so. I think that’s a better way of putting it. And the reason is because dogs are descended from gray wolves and gray wolves are pack animals and pack animals look to …

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What are the smartest things that a domestic cat has done?

Intelligent domestic cat

Cats have their own type of intelligence. Of course, is different to ours but in their own way they are intuitively and instinctively smart. And it must be said that they are good learners by observation. They learn by observing us and indeed copying us sometimes. Their lives are so integrated into ours that …

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Flat-faced dogs and cats’ helplessness makes them more attractive

Flat faced brachycephalic dogs and cats behave like toddlers which attracts the nurturing desire in their human caregiver which in turn makes the animals more attractive as companions.

STUDY RESULT PLUS COMMENT: Dorottya Ujfalussy from the Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary, has decided in her study that flat-faced dogs (and I’m going to include flat-faced cats) are more attractive to their owners because they are more helpless. And in being more helpless they are more like human toddlers who are themselves helpless …

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Domestic cats haven’t yet worked out many aspects of human activity

Cats have not yet sussed out human manipulations of human objects

This is an interesting illustration from Dr John Bradshaw’s book Cat Sense (which you can download to Kindle by the way which allows you to search for keywords) on the topic of how well or not so well domestic cats understand what is going on around them in the human world. As cat owners, …

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Language is the biggest communication barrier between human and cat, not the cat’s intelligence

Language is the biggest barrier in the human-to-cat relationship not intelligence

I’ve been thinking about the fact that people relate to their domestic cat companion as a child and as a member of the family but accept the fact that they can’t communicate with their cat as they would a child. If only we could communicate with language to our cats, how much better the …

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Can someone explain to me why my cat just sits and stares at me for a long time?

The full question from Reddit.com is: “Can someone explain to me why my cat will just sit and stare at me for minutes at a time? What does this mean in a cat’s world?” It accompanied the photograph below that they took from their bed. This is an extended version of the response that …

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Can cats and dogs sense human intentions?

Dog recognises the good intentions of this man who wants to help

Yes, is the answer to the question in the title and that assessment comes from scientific studies which have shown that cats and dogs can read humans through their body language and voice and from personal experience and anecdotal evidence. The video on this page is an example. A good one and a good …

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Can domestic cats try and deceive each other?

Can and do domestic cats deceive each other?

Before answering the question, we have to define the word ‘deceive’. Definition: to deliberately cause (someone) to believe something that is not true, especially for personal gain. I have never seen any cat behaviourists try to work out if domestic cats try to deceive each other. The activity of deception as carried out by …

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Note: Some older videos on this page were hosted on Vimeo. That account has now been retired, so a few video blocks may appear blank. Thanks for understanding — there’s still plenty of cat content to enjoy!