If Your Pet Does This, Big Trouble's Coming!

It would be cool to understand your pet's language. Imagine you're walking your dog, and suddenly he says, "Hey owner, look at that guy. I feel like he's a bad person. Let's go away. Woof." Or you leave the house, and your cat, lying on the couch, says, "Buddy, yo, take the umbrella. My tail says it'll be raining. And food, get me some more food." In general, our pets could tell us a lot because they have a superpower—their sense organs (eyes, ears, feet or paws, and hair, whiskers, and fur) are much more developed than those of people. Our pets get a bunch of information from the outside world. Pets can see and hear what we can't. Animals also have a super intuition; they can anticipate dangerous situations and, moreover, help their beloved person.

But here's the problem: they can't speak the human language, so behavior is their primary way to communicate. There's a whole science that studies animal behavior—zoo psychology. Of course, it's different from human psychology; after all, such specialists can only observe behavior and draw conclusions. What if a zoo psychologist could talk to your pet? Just imagine a gray cat comes into a zoo psychologist's office for a consultation.

"Hi Simba, how are you? Take a seat on the sofa."

The cat jumps onto the table.

"No doc, I'm more comfortable here. Anyway, I decide where to sit."

"Okay, tell me what problems you have."

"None. I eat, sleep, play, and run around the yard. Sometimes I flip something over, but it doesn't bother me. I don't like the weather, especially the autumn rain. I have to sleep a lot."

"By the way, Simba, do you really feel weather changes? People don't. Well, sometimes when the atmospheric pressure goes down or up, we have a headache, but without a window or a weather forecast, we don't know what the weather's like."

"Well, doc, it's as easy as always landing on your feet. Just look to us. If we sleep with our backs to the fireplace or radiator, it'll be severe frost or snow. If a thunderstorm is approaching, I usually rush around the house, but sometimes I do that just for fun. If I look out the window for a long time, it'll rain, although I might just be watching the neighbor's dog. I really don't like him."

"Interesting. Could you feel something more serious, like an earthquake or other natural disaster?"

"Sure. We live in a calm seismic zone, but I've heard stories. My great-great-great grandparents were from Italy, and they told me that in 1944, in a small town near Naples, an elderly couple was going to bed. Their cat Toto started acting strangely. Toto nervously ran around, searching for a place to hide. He even refused dinner. In bed, Toto woke the man up by pawing at his cheeks. His wife told the man that Toto was trying to warn them. 'I beg you, let's go to my sister's place.' They quickly packed up and left. Mount Vesuvius erupted that night, and lava completely covered their town. Meanwhile, the couple and their cat were in a safe place."

"That's a fantastic story, Simba, but I really don't understand how Toto felt the danger."

"I'll explain it. Before a natural disaster, many changes happen in the environment. Before an earthquake, various chemicals are released from the layers of the earth. They come into contact with air and form positively charged ions. They, in turn, change the composition of air, water, and soil. Cats, with our senses, catch these changes. Animals can detect even minor changes in the earth's magnetic and electric fields, and people can't determine such cataclysms."

"A person, at a subconscious level, may feel danger approaching. Our pulse may become more frequent, and our nervous system may become excited, but people switch on their logic and typically ignore their feelings. We have many devices that detect fluctuations in the earth's crust, but they don't determine the exact time. Animals begin to behave unusually long before the start of an earthquake. Over 40 years ago in China, seismologists suggested a strong earthquake would occur in about a year, but no one knew the exact date. So, they decided to keep their eyes on animals. In a few months, people started reporting strange animal behavior. Dogs howled, cats hid and left the house, and chickens and ducks flew to the rooftops. Even snakes woke up and crawled out into the snow. Scientists raised the alarm and took the locals to a safe place. A 7.3 earthquake occurred eight hours later. Since then, Asian scientists have been closely studying animal behavior. They discovered that when danger approaches, cats meow loudly, their fur stands on end, and their ears flatten. Often, they try to leave home with their kittens. Dogs whine, bark, and may even bite. That's why I always keep away from dogs, doc."

"What about fish and birds?"

"Residents of dangerous zones often keep canaries at home. When they feel an earthquake is close, the birds start to chirp fearfully and flap their wings. In Japan, where earthquakes are frequent, many people keep goldfish. When danger is coming, their fish start to behave restlessly. Humans are often inattentive. You know, sometimes I admire beautiful things for a long time, and my owners think there's a ghost. They just don't know the structure of a cat's eye. It can catch the tiniest things, like a ray of light on a speck of dust. To us, it seems like you're looking at empty space. Cats can also see ultraviolet light, and our field of vision is 295 degrees. With this vision, cats have helped people more than once. Hey, have you heard this story?"

"In Malaysia, an elderly woman was at home with her cat. The cat was acting strangely. It stubbornly looked first at its owner and then at the ceiling. The woman followed the cat's gaze and saw a man on the roof. It was probably a burglar who made his way to the attic to get into the house. The man realized he was discovered and fled. Oh, and here's another one. A girl returned from school and went to the garden with her cat. They settled comfortably at a table, the cat on her knees. Suddenly, it jumped on the table, its fur standing on end, and it began to hiss loudly. The girl looked up and saw a dangling snake. The cat pulled the snake from the tree in one leap and grabbed it with its teeth. The cat defeated the viper."

"Wow, how could a person not notice a snake?"

"Well, it's because in the modern world, people have lost their self-preservation instinct. We don't need to get food or hide from dangerous animals. We're too busy with routine mental activity and logic."

"Yeah, sometimes it seems to me I might feel something is amiss. I hear vibrations, even in people. I often wonder if it's an illness."

"And by the way, I can smell many things, of course, because a cat's sense of smell is many times stronger than a person's. In fact, you're not sniffing with your nose but with Jacobson's organ. This is located behind the front teeth on your palate."

"A cat's sense of smell has also saved people more than once. In New Zealand, your namesake saved a teenager. He was in his garage in the evening. He lit a candle and fell asleep. The candle started a fire. The boy's parents were sleeping in the house and didn't notice any smoke. Their cat Simba reacted instantly. It meowed and ran around, banging against the garage door. The adults rushed to the garage and called the firefighters."

"Yeah, we cats are truly amazing. You know, I can sense bad people. If I hiss at someone, I don't like them. It might be my intuition. Scientists also don't fully understand it because we're one of the most mysterious creatures in the world. Ah, but very cute. Meow."