One of the things my human was told at last week’s Meet Purina Event was that physiologically, dogs and humans are very similar. Which makes sense — they are both sort of stiff and awkward, not graceful and flexible like us kitties. Plus they both need more carbs in their diet than we cats do (now, if only someone would make them eat healthier carbs…). Both are good at aerobic activity (dogs run down their prey and most humans — when they are not sitting on the couch — gravitate towards walking and the treadmill for exercise before they think of picking up dumbbells). We cats, on the other hand, excel at anaerobic activities — we sprint, leap and ambush our prey!
But what they did not mention at the Purina event (because the human talking was a dog guy) is that we cats have brains that are more similar to a human’s than a dog’s! You know what that means, right? Humans are smarter than dogs! Who knew? Plus the areas in our brains that rule emotion are identical to humans, so we feel things the same way they do. This means that cats and humans are very complex and interesting creatures when it comes to the way we think and experience emotion. I have only been able to identify three emotions in dogs: happy, unhappy and guilty. Fortunately for us cats, in spite of our colorful emotional world, we do not experience guilt.
Where am I going with all this? I think I have cracked the code to human training! Even though humans and cats have brains that are similar, humans tend to react to the physical things we do — and since their physiology is so much like a dog’s, they tend to treat us the same way they might treat a dog! That is why they are so confused! Since we cats would never make the same silly mistake, we are already pretty good at manipulating humans to do our will. But with this extra bit of knowledge at our clawtips, we can take it to the next level and train humans faster and more efficiently than ever before!
You would think I would want to keep this information Top Secret and only between us cats, but I don’t! I want to spread the word so that humans fully understand how alike we are on a mental and emotional level. You know why? Because then they will start training themselves to better serve us: when they use their brains to relate to us better, we reward them for their behavior, which encourages them to keep up the good work! So they are making most of the effort while we kitties are reaping the rewards.
Am I onto something or what? I know some of you kitties have instinctively grasped this and are already using it to your advantage. If you have some success stories, do tell!
See all of Summer’s merch at her Designercat Shop, available on Zazzle.
This actually scares me because I’ve always felt connected with cats, but I’m on the Autism Spectrum… So even with cats, I must be less connected than everybody else… I don’t have the same privilege as other cat humans… Unless… Unless the emotional areas of my brain are the same as everyone else’s…
Cats have been my constant companions, and now I learn that even my connection with them might not be as good as everyone else’s…
I want to cry…
MOL! Sparkle, you are a genius!
Purrs
Sparkle, you are a very wise feline!
Sparkle, this is BREAKTHROUGH!!! If humans are smarter than dogs, well then certainly ferrets, bunnies, birds, goats…they can’t be far behind.
; ) Katie
Dear Sparkle,
Me readed your post earlier, but me was skeptical. BUT Me has discovered that if me “pretends” to feels Mommy’s pain (she has a bad arm right now) and me rubs up against it and gives her a few kisses, me can get her to gives me the whole heating pad! (that is supposed to be on her arm)
Bonus! Thanks for the hints!
Kisses
Nellie
My head hurts from thinking about all of this. Plus, I do not want to reward my Human for anything or she will start to expect it all the time. I basically have her trained to do whatever I need her to do with no reward at all. I need to nap now.
I just want my humans to play with me more. I’m certainly not an emotional train wreck like TW.
OMC you shouldn’t have told! The doggies will be on to us!
You secret is safe with us!
ahhh ha haaa! You shoulda seen mom’s face when she read the line after ‘you know what that means’…she was totally expecting to say that *cats* were smarter than dogs!
SCORE!
You are one smart kitty Sparkle
This is good information, but remember one of the problems with training hoomans is that they are just so slow mentally!
Sparkle, our brains may be like human brains, but we’re still smarter than them!!!
We agree with Austin 🙂
I think, speaking as a cat, we have the upper paw in the intelligence stakes! I have changed the meaning of the word “no”, to “oh, all right then” 🙂
sparkle; round heer de brain oh just ONE kitteh far supazzes that of their human counterpart…
say therez a familee ree union….N ya got 20 purrsons there….all 20 purrsons R actin like compleete more ons…. til de fightin starts N dishes iz flyin……..
wears de cat….. ?????
Surveying the complete and total lunacy of the humans from an undisclosed location, not only ensuring the safety of the cat during the course of the melee, but also enabling said cat to push “enter” on the laptop keyboard; successfully submitting an order; albeit with stolen charge cards ( taken from the unsuspecting morons wallets during the disturbance ) and successfully purchasing “merchandise” in the amount of $ 255, 918.75….and just think….. they thought we only spoke…… “trout”
🙂
hay, haza grate week oh end
I can’t imagine who didn’t know that cats were smarter than dogs?!?!?! Common knowledge 🙂
Yes, but what really surprised me was that humans were smarter than dogs! That was a new one on me!
You are so wise Sparkle! We have the humans trained pretty well around here but they need a refresher course from time to time.
Harry has the daddy trained SO good when it comes to dinner time. Actually the momma too. He can always meow and paw and jump on things and basically annoy them way longer than they can hold out. They think dinner has to wait until 6. They think they need to be “consistent”. Yeah, when Harry wants to eat, he doesn’t quibble about a half hour or so, we eat NOW!
I read before that cats and humans have similar brains. You are so wise about training humans!!
Sparkle you are brilliant. I think you need a Meowbel Peace Prize or something like that!
Does it could that Morticia has MomKatt trained to wake up during the wee hours at just the right time to let her out of the bedroom? (Unless MomKatt’s in a REALLY deep sleep: then Morticia has to bang on the blinds next to MomKatt’s side of the bed and sometimes, she’s SO deeply asleep even THAT doesn’t work! DadKatt then gets up.)
Hummm … I’ve trained her (I think?) to play “Teaser” with me when I’m sitting waiting next to her chair at the dining room table. She knows what I want when I do that …
You’re so smart, Sparkle!! 🙂 🙂
PURRS!
Selina
Interesting info. Of course we always knew that WE were smarter than humans!
The Florida Furkids
good one – we will have to start working on the mom training….
We are not letting Grete woofie read this….we have her believing she is in control. Ha! That’s how good we are.
Thank you for that excellent advice Sparkle – we must start to be stricter with Mum as she sometimes forgets the training programme we have got for her.
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
You nailed that one Sparkle! My Dad learns quickly if treats are close at paw. Maybe I will try clicker training with him!
That is really good stuff to know. Thank you for telling us, Miss S.
That is such good info Sparkle. We do have our Person trained pretty well, but she could learn a few more things. She does know that we are a lot alike especially all the good stuff about us kitties. Hope all of you have a great week end.
Sparkle, you are so wise! Thank you fur teaching hoomans so they may serve us better! Have a great weekend!
Very interesting… Has your human read Temple Grandin’s book “Animals in Translation”?
Purrs,
The Chans
The humans here know how smart we are. Rumblemum has a song she sings:
“Smarter than the average Daddy – it’s the pussycats!”
Daddy doesn’t think the song is so funny, but it’s true that we are very, very smart.