Do they understand me gushing over them?

Both of my girls are sitting in my lap right now (they make room, lol). I was scratching both of them profusely and telling them what good girls they are and how beautiful and wonderful and so on. They had that eyes rolling back squinty looks of bliss.

I have to wonder though. Do they understand when I babytalk and gush over them? I know they don't know English and stuff, but perhaps they might get some positive vibe?

Silly question. I have a lap full of felines and I just wondered.

Some say that cats are psychic, so they probably knew before you said a word!

Originally Posted by prairienights

telling them what good girls they are and how beautiful and wonderful and so on.

Click to expand...

in my opinion, this is in the Top 10 ways to keep "good cats" "good"!

although they can't speak English, i thnk they sense stuff and they have an understanding that good behavior = massages and compliments (well, my cats seem to anyways). if you can carry a tune, you might try singing a little to them, just to see their reactions or non-reactions

When snuggling with Cindy (Fawn does not snuggle) I often find myself saying to her "I know you know you are loved. Do you know how MUCH you are loved?" Funny how often the very next thing that happens is she snuggles in even closer and holds on tighter. No, I don't for a minute believe she understands all the words in the way that we do, but I do believe that she gets the message and is responding to it.

When I gush over my girl Chloe and talk to her like she is a 2 year old, she will roll around and in a sense kind of show off for me how pretty she is. It is adorable to watch. I think she knows she is my little princess!!!!

I don't think that they really understand the words and what they mean. So far as I understand it, animals respond to tone and pitch. Why do cats come when you call their names? Because they get to know the sound of their name. Which is why it's best to name an animal with either a hard sound to either the beginning or end of their names.

When you are angry or upset your voices tone/inflection reflects that and the animal cowers. When you are happy/loving it's noticed in your voice and the animal associates that with good things, hence the trust enough to approach you and/or cuddle more.

^It's definitely tone. But it's also body language, too. Petting and scratching a cat is going to make it pretty darn happy (unless it absolutely hates being touched).

I know I confuse my poor cats. Most of the time I speak in monotone - flat, no emotion. Lucky for them I'll make little clicking noises and wiggle my fingers at them to know I'm wanting to pet them, play, or pick them up.

I dont think they understand your words but they can sense the meaning behind them.

I talk to my boys all the time and they understand the feelings I am passing on no matter what I say. Sometimes I tell them how handsome and wonderful they are, others I tell them they are ugly and smell funny (jokingly and in a loving tone). They respond the same way.

But they respond differently no matter what I say when I am stressed or upset. Its like they can tell.

I think while they don't understand human speech, they do understand the meaning behind the words and the emotion. They're very intuitive.