Posted to X on Oct. 10, a video of a kitten taking part in on its proprietor’s mattress, messing up the covers, has gone viral — with over 2.7 million views. Its mother comes over to the kitten and appears to reprimand it, smacking it till it scampers away. The cat then pulls the covers again in place with its mouth.
In a ProtectaPet weblog article titled “What Is My Cat Thinking?” Rebecca Owens writes, “It may disappoint cat owners to know that the small amount of scientific research out there on cats’ brains leads us to believe that cats can only think subconsciously. They can draw upon memories to guide future behavior, however they do not come up with their own thoughts or ideas about a situation.
“Therefore, cats can obtain learnt behaviors and can be taught, drawing upon their past experiences, feelings and the outcomes following.”
In this example, the cat might have skilled its proprietor’s disapproval when coming home to an unmade mattress. It might have understood that adverse emotion beforehand, and to keep away from it once more when the proprietor got here home this time, might have tried to make the mattress.
Owens concludes, “Cats are super intelligent animals, and learning how they think can help us to understand them a little bit better.”
