Espy understands a pointed finger

On Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:57:10 -0230, Cheryl wrote:
A friend of mine had a cat who spent months living in the back of a
closet after his preferred human left the home and the province to
attend university. He came out for food, water and litter box, but that
was it.

Poor boy. Did he at least come back home between semesters?

dgk wrote:
Very weird. When I point at something and say "over there", my other
cats just stare at the finger. Espy goes to where I'm pointing. Almost
always it's because some kitty crack (Tempations) have fallen over
there, so he does have great incentive, being the best treat hunter.
But still, the concept of a finger pointing out where to go rather
than just something hanging in the air is not something that most cats
figure out. It's a bit too abstract I think.

He is one very smart cat. That's probably why he does a lot of things
that are quite annoying.

Apparently understanding the meaning of a pointed finger is one of hte
intelligence tests for dogs.

Pepper would fail miserably, although I think the Fluffy may have got the
gist of it. But then again, Fluffy being a border collie cross was bred to
have that working interaction with human beings, whereas a terrier-type dog
was to work down rat & rabbit burrows by themselves with little or no human
instruction to guide them whilst htey worked.

Still, it does suggest that Espy is one very smart cat - and yes, t hats
exactly why he can be quite annoying. He's got your number!

Yowie

On Sep 7, 1:22*pm, dgk wrote:
Very weird. When I point at something and say "over there", my other
cats just stare at the finger. Espy goes to where I'm pointing. Almost
always it's because some kitty crack (Tempations) have fallen over
there, so he does have great incentive, being the best treat hunter.
But still, the concept of a finger pointing out where to go rather
than just something hanging in the air is not something that most cats
figure out. It's a bit too abstract I think.

He is one very smart cat. That's probably why he does a lot of things
that are quite annoying.

That's quite impressive. I've never met a cat who understood a pointed
finger, but to be fair, I'm too stupid to remember all the time that
they don't get it, so I do keep trying.

Jeanette

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 08 Sep 2011 12:57:10 -0230, Cheryl wrote:
A friend of mine had a cat who spent months living in the back of a
closet after his preferred human left the home and the province to
attend university. He came out for food, water and litter box, but that
was it.

Poor boy. Did he at least come back home between semesters?

ROFL. Bad lad, Tak! g

Tweed

On Fri, 09 Sep 2011 01:39:22 -0400, Takayuki
wrote:

On Wed, 07 Sep 2011 08:22:32 -0400, dgk wrote:
He is one very smart cat. That's probably why he does a lot of things
that are quite annoying.

Dot says: Of course cats are smart. But hoomins are dumb and don't
understand what a pointed finger means. It means, "I love you."

I just tried sticking daddy with my pointed finger, but he just said,
"Ow" and clipped my claw.

Ah yes, the sharp pointed finger. That is generally an attention
getter.