Robynn Harris, CCFT, The Wandering Shepherd

💜🐈‍⬛❤️

🐾🐾🤍

Did cats domesticate humans? 😜
~RH

Thirty-one Japanese house cats recently participated in an experiment. Animal behavior researcher Saho Takagi recruited 23 of them from cat cafés near Tokyo, and eight friends volunteered their pets: 20 tomcats and 11 queens, most of them roughly around the age of 4.

Takagi traveled from one cat’s home to the next. In a room familiar to each cat, she placed the feline gently onto her lap, then watched where the cats directed their attention as a monitor played back a videoclip Takagi had carefully composed. In the clip, a cartoon of a smiling red sun, complete with eyebrows, shrank and expanded into view, accompanied by the word keraru spoken loud and clear by the cat’s owner.

Keraru is meaningless in Japanese, but Tagaki believes the results of her experiment show that cats can understand human speech to a certain extent. When presented with the sun, the cats paid attention to the video for 3 to 5 seconds. The researchers repeated this pairing of the sun and the word keraru several times, to encourage habituation. But when cat owners later spoke the word keraru alongside a drawing of a blue unicorn smashing through a building, Takagi found that cats stared at the screen for longer than usual, as if surprised that “keraru” had so dramatically changed appearance. She believes they had learned to associate the word keraru with the image of the sun.

The study borrows its lively methodology from experiments probing cognition in human babies, who at 14 months appear to be able to make associations between words and objects, and, much like the cats, also pay closer attention to a screen when these associations are challenged during the course of a study.

A behavioral scientist researching animal cognition at Azabu University in Japan, Takagi is convinced that domestic cats are adapting to life with their human companions in surprising ways. The results from her study, published recently in Scientific Reports, also show a difference in attention that cats pay to the videos depending on whether the accompanying words are narrated by their human owners, or produced electronically. The cats paid closer attention to incongruent image-sound pairings when humans spoke the words.

“Cats may have acquired the ability to associate objects or images with spoken words through their cohabitation with humans,” says Tagaki. “Humans, among animal species, have a particularly rich capacity for vocal communication, especially symbolic communication through language. Being in close contact with such a species … cats that were better at symbolic communication may have been more favored” over time, she explains.

Part of her hypothesis is that domestication played a role in pushing for the evolution of this behavior in cats. Similar findings exist for pet dogs, who on average understand 89 spoken words, but they are less surprising since dogs are thought to have been domesticated specifically to respond to human commands. Cats are a more enigmatic case, since their domestication would have brought few clear benefits to humans beyond a fondness for snacking on snakes and mice.

The new findings build on previous research that suggests cats are adept at deciphering human communication. Takagi’s studies have shown that cats can differentiate between their own name and similar-sounding nouns, whereas other groups have shown that cats follow human pointing, look for emotional cues from their familiar humans when confronted with novelty, and can tell when their owner is angry or happy.

“I think the way cats have adapted to living with humans is very unique,” says Jennifer Vonk, professor of comparative cognitive psychology at Oakland University, who was not involved in the study. But Vonk is less convinced by the approach scientists are taking to understand the evolutionary changes that may have occurred through domestication. For Vonk, the inferences made are too reliant on a human-centric projection of what may be happening in our pets’ minds. “Even if we can get the [cats] to perform in the test the way we want them to, they could be using completely different thought processes,” says Vonk, “and I don't know how good we are at deciphering what's really going on internally.”

A better test perhaps would be to compare domesticated cats with their feral brothers and sisters, Vonk says. Better still, the most rigorous study would see cats separated from their mothers at birth, with some siblings exposed to humans and the rest forced to live without such contact. “But there are ethical issues with doing the study,” says Vonk.

That’s not to say that Vonk doubts the power of cat intelligence. “I think that cats and most animals are much better at reading our cues than we are theirs,” she says, “so I am guessing they are more skilled at understanding our language and our emotional tones and posture than we are at reading their behavior.”

Could it be that cats domesticated humans, rather than the other way around?

-Story by Elena Kazamia

😱Link is in the comments. If you have a dog, this is a MUST READ.
~RH

Heartworm is spreading into new parts of the U.S., and vets say many dog owners are still unprepared.

Share this awesome advice with anyone thinking about adding a dog to their family. 💜
~RH

Their world completely changed.
And they don’t know why.

We see their quietness as coping or relaxing so we can accidentally expect too much, far too soon.

One of the hardest parts with newly rehomed dogs is their stress doesn’t always look dramatic.
We would recognise that easily, but some dogs become extremely still and quiet.

Some follow people constantly.
Some sleep more.
Some avoid all interactions.
Others become busy, mouthy, overexcited or unsettled.

We have a job to do from the second they arrive and it’s not about training.
It should be far more about observation.

We should be watching.
Learning who they are.
Recognising patterns.
Seeing what changes their emotional state.

What startles them?
What helps them relax?
What environments suddenly change their body language?
When do they seek distance?
What happens around food, visitors, handling or rest?

They are telling us who they are and how they are coping, often as clearly as they can and we have a duty to listen.

One thing nearly all rehomed dogs share? It’s incredibly easy to unintentionally overwhelm them.

And it’s usually done with the very best of intentions.

Humans are basically hardwired for justice. We love fairness, balance, and the idea that if something “bad” happens, there must be a consequence. Someone must be held accountable. Order must be restored. Research even shows we’ll go out of our way to punish someone, even if it costs us, just so things feel fair again. It makes us feel morally correct, emotionally satisfied, and like we’ve done something productive.

Dogs… are not part of this system.

Your dog is not sitting there reflecting on his actions thinking, “I have violated a social norm and must now accept the consequences.” He’s thinking, “There was chicken. I ate the chicken. That worked. I will try that again.” Or “That thing was scary so I barked and it went away. Excellent strategy, will reuse.” That’s the entire thought process.

So when your dog counter surfs, pulls on the lead, barks at a dog, or ignores you, your brain immediately goes, “There needs to be a consequence for that.” Because in human world, consequences equal learning, justice, and emotional closure. But your dog’s brain is just asking, “Did that work?” and “Was I safe?” Completely different conversation.

The problem is, a lot of the time, consequences don’t teach dogs what we think they do. They might teach them to stop in the moment, sure, but often they’re actually learning things like “people are unpredictable,” or “that situation is even scarier now,” or “I need to do that behaviour faster next time before I get caught.”

Also, sometimes consequences are more for us than for the dog. There’s a little emotional release in it. That feeling of “well, that’ll teach him.” It scratches that human itch for fairness and control. Meanwhile your dog is just standing there like, “I’m not entirely sure what just happened but I will remember the feeling.”

Dogs don’t need consequences in the way we think. They need clarity. Your dog isn’t trying to get away with anything. He’s just running a very simple system in a very complicated human world. They just want to feel safe and eat chicken.

They’re often our best friends, and we should do our best for them - always.
~RH

Why are we so disconnected?

Why is it that humans can suffer chronic pain quietly, and we recognise it, empathise with it, yet we don’t always extend that same understanding to dogs living in chronic pain?

Why do we reach for pain relief when we need it, but hesitate, question, or even resist the idea that our dogs might need the same kind of support?

Why would we resent a teacher who used fear, intimidation, or punishment , yet still accept those methods as “training” when it comes to dogs?

Dogs aren’t human. But they are emotional. They are sentient. They feel discomfort, stress, fear, and relief, just like we do.

When and why dont we extend REAL empathy across species?

Be still. Observe. Listen.
Your dog is always speaking in a silent language.

Calming signals are subtle but meaningful; take time to learn them. 🌿✨

While pugs, bulldogs, and similar flat-faced dogs are adored by many for their snubbed-nose look, their undeniable cuteness comes at a steep cost. Generations of selective breeding have shortened the bones in the skull, blocking airflow and leading to a condition called BOAS (brachycephalic obstructive airway syndrome). This chronic upper airway obstruction condition is responsible for the breeds’ notoriously beleaguered breathing. A study published in the journal PLOS One in February, found that nearly 90 percent of flat-faced dogs studied had at least some difficulty breathing. More than half (54 percent) fell into the more concerning category “clinically significant.” The issue, which limits the dogs’ ability to sleep and exercise, has even prompted some countries including Norway and The Netherlands to ban the breeds altogether.

After over 15 years of research, a team of scientists from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Australia and biotechnology company Snoretox have created a new treatment they say can ease breathing in flat-faced dogs. Called Snoretox-1, the new injectable treatment uses a modified version of tetanus toxin. It is placed directly into the dog’s geniohyoid muscle—in the inside of the mouth, on top of the throat area. Snoretox-1 works to improve muscle tone in the mouth, which helps keep the airway open, and could potentially be an alternative to invasive surgery.

Pugs and Frenchies could find breathing relief for squishy faces with new treatment Snoretox-1 uses inactive tetanus to help keep airways open.

"Cannabis edibles are products that contain the psychoactive component of ma*****na called delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). A variety of products are available as cannabis edibles, including gummies and other candies, mints, chocolates and chocolate bars, beverages, potato chips, and baked goods such as brownies and cookies. Unfortunately, many of these sweet or savory options are also attractive to our dogs. While we may have more self-control regarding how many edibles we consume at one time, dogs are more likely to ingest an entire package of any edibles they can reach because they taste delicious."

What to Do If Your Dog Eats Ma*****na (Edibles, W**d, V**e Cartridges, etc.) - Whole Dog Journal The amount and type of THC-containing product consumed will determine the seriousness of this event for your dog, and dictate the level of your emergency response.

How’s your dog doing? Any unusual stuff going on? New behavior should always be paid attention to!
~RH

Red flag behaviours in dogs are often dismissed as “quirks” or training issues, but many of them can point to underlying medical discomfort. One of the most overlooked is sudden behaviour change but behaviour does not change without reason.

Some of the more unusual behaviours can be especially telling. Repetitive floor licking, wall licking, or eating non-food items (pica) is commonly linked to gastrointestinal discomfort such as acid reflux, nausea, or food sensitivities.

Dental pain is another major but often missed factor. Dogs with oral discomfort may drop food, chew on one side, show reluctance to eat hard food, or display sudden irritability, particularly when touched around the face. Some will paw at their mouth, rub their face on furniture, foot biting or reactive when approached.

Dogs with musculoskeletal pain may become reluctant to jump, hesitate on stairs, or show “stubborn” behaviour on walks. More subtle signs include sitting crookedly, shifting weight, bunny hopping, or suddenly becoming reactive on lead.

Noise sensitivity is another significant red flag. Dogs that become increasingly reactive to everyday sounds such as doors, traffic, or household noise may be experiencing underlying pain. Research and clinical experience consistently show a strong association between chronic pain and sound sensitivity.

Some behaviours seem almost “quirky” but are worth paying attention to. Excessive tail chasing, sudden spinning, flank sucking, or episodes of agitation without an obvious trigger can be linked to neurological discomfort, pain syndromes, or conditions like canine compulsive disorders, often with a medical component. Similarly, dogs who suddenly become clingy, unable to settle, or follow their owners constantly may be experiencing underlying discomfort or anxiety driven by internal changes.

Dogs who struggle to settle, frequently reposition, or seem restless at night may be uncomfortable. Conversely, dogs who are sleeping significantly more than usual may be conserving energy due to pain or illness.

Behaviour is communication.