- cross-posted to:
- meow_irl
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Cats haven’t been around long enough to understand human pointing. https://www.psychologytoday.com/sg/blog/canine-corner/202312/dogs-get-the-point-but-cats-dont
The best i’ve gotten my own cat to understand was touching near the object i want her to pay attention to. She has no idea how to follow a finger to where it is pointing at, only the ability to find the finger itself as something i want her to pay attention to.
I consider her to be an exceptionally smart cat too.
Have you tried getting yours to follow your gaze? I’ve found that’s a way better way to indicate a “direction” to a cat. Works… Sometimes.
Also worth noting that unlike dogs, the slitted pupils mean cats are severely far-sighted, that’s why they have whiskers to feel their way around things that are in front of their face. Any kind of visual stuff is a blurry mess to them at any close distance.
She did in fact understand my eye pointing. She is also a cat, and only checks whatever I’m looking at if she feels like it. Very fun little trick.
Cats don’t point at things, so they’re not gonna understand pointing.
To “point” something out to a cat, glance/stare at it. They are pretty good at following a humans gaze.
