What do cats perceive in people?
Many people affirm that cats have spiritual, mystical and magical capacities with which they protect their caregivers, while cleaning and repel bad energy. It is also claimed that they do this when we sleep. If your cat sleeps with you, he may have chosen you because, in addition to loving you, he notices that you need, perhaps more than the rest of his caregivers, his help to release that unwanted energy.
Although many people think that they are interested, selfish and independent beings, in reality it is not true. Although they tend to be less dependent than dogs, cats are capable of feeling our emotions, worries, changes in routine and how changes in our life are affecting us, while they can even predict certain situations.
Do cats perceive moods?
Absolutely yes. Have you noticed how your cat analyzes you throughout the day? He knows everything you do at all times and analyzes your vibe, your aura, as if each emotion were of a color and they saw it. Thanks to this, our cats can know how we are and can also be affected by our feelings.
It makes sense, because for them we are everything and their emotional stability is affected by our changes in routine, mood or feelings. In other words, they notice when we are sad, happy, excited, nervous, distressed, worried, angry, or depressed.
This has been proven through studies whose focus of research was the relationship between human and feline personalities. An example of this is the research carried out between the University of Nottingham Trent and the University of Lincoln, in which the experts analyzed more than 3,000 cat sitters in Great Britain, who answered a series of questions related to behavior, the activity, routines and health of the cats with whom they lived and compared the data with the lifestyle, personality and mood of their caregivers to see whether or not they had an impact on the cat.
Another study carried out at the University of Oakland, in Michigan, by researchers Jennifer Vonk and Moriah Galvan stated that our cats have empathy, despite what is commonly thought, and are capable of recognizing and perceiving human emotions and even do something about it. These experts in experimental, cognitive and behavioral psychology reached these conclusions by conducting a series of tests on cats with their caregivers and on these same cats with strangers to them, subjecting them to gestures of different emotions, first with visual and body language and then with sound messages.
For this reason, when your cat notices that you are sick or you are crying, they usually approach you to give you their support, some more than others according to their appreciation for you and their own personality. If you are happy, they will raise their tails next to you, purr and seek your affection, infected with your happiness. When you are angry, they tend to separate from you, and if you are stressed, it is common for you to spread stress to them as well.
Do cats know we love them?
Cats notice our affection, our care, our attention and they know the time we dedicate to them and how we do it. It is true that it can be difficult for a cat to trust us and love us, but it is achieved with perseverance, interaction and daily affection. It will be easier in young cats, not traumatized or with difficult pasts and in those that have had a good period of socialization during their first weeks of life than in more lonely, elusive, fearful cats that have had a hard time.
To know if our cat loves us, we must base ourselves on observation and analyze its behavior and body language to detect signs of love on its part. On the contrary, the main signals that indicate that your cat knows that you love him are the following:
- He comes out to greet you when you get home.
- He sleeps with you, which means he trusts you, as this is a vulnerable time for felines.
- He seeks your affection and asks for your attention.
- Squint when you say something nice.
- Purr with your caresses.
- It shows you the gut, which is a sign of confidence.
- Enjoy playing with you and ask you
- You knead.
Do Cats Know When You Are Sick?
Cats do not detect diseases in themselves, but they are capable of perceiving small changes in the body, imperceptible to us, and that may correspond to a health problem. An example is diabetes. People with this endocrine disease have a particular breath when sugar levels are altered. Cats can detect it thanks to their great sense of smell.
In addition, they perceive the behavior changes of their caregivers, who, generally, when they are unwell, present more withdrawn, weak and sad behaviors, which cats notice perfectly, interpreting that something is not right. They can also detect changes in temperature like those that occur in people with a fever. Therefore, without a doubt, your cat can notice that you are sick and his behavior will adapt to your new condition.
Do cats detect death?
Although it sounds macabre, yes, cats can possibly detect the death of people. This thinking was strengthened in 2007, when a story was published in the New England Journal of Medicine about a cat named Oscar. He lived in a sanatorium and stayed in the rooms of people who were about to die until this happened. At that moment he licked them and left. Óscar was not a friend to enter rooms except those that housed people about to die. Also, if you tried to kick them out, the cat would meow as a sign of refusal.
The explanation for this behavior is again attributed to the developed sense of smell of cats, which detect the characteristic smell of ketones that organisms produce when they are about to die. Other people argue that Óscar’s behavior was simply due to the fact that he was reproducing a behavior learned by the workers who cared for the sick until the last moment.