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It's hard to know what's going
on inside the mind of a cat.

But new discoveries may finally open
the door to our most puzzling companions.

Some people don't think
cats have much to offer.

We're here to prove them wrong.

Forget everything you think
you know about cats. Cat

research is definitely lagging
behind the dog, but now we're

seeing an explosion of cat
science. A new generation of

scientists is challenging
preconceptions. We're uncovering

different aspects of our
behavior, personality, physiology,

all those things that make
a cat unique. They are

intelligent, they're curious,
and they interact socially

quite well with people. And
there is evidence to suggest

that they've evolved to
do that. Join us as we solve

the mysteries of the cat,
decode their crazy antics, and

decipher their hidden language.

It's not going to be easy. Cats
are complicated. Dasha, come

here. Yes, they have their
attitude. But if you want, you

can teach a cat to do anything.

Anyone can unlock a cat's true
potential, if you learn their secrets.

Cats are everywhere. And
yet we know so little about them.

To understand what makes a
cat a cat and how they've learned

to live with humans,
we turn to the experts.

I think people underestimate
how social cats are. Let's face

it, they're just entertaining
and sometimes just very funny.

Oddly, some of the traits that
make them so charming evolved

from their killer ancestors. If
one were asked to engineer

the perfect land predator
in terms of physical traits, in

terms of behavior, perception,
it's hard to imagine a better

one than a cat. The scientific
name of the domestic cat is

Felis catus. Felis catus is a
unique domesticated species

that was derived from the African wildcat.

All cats, big and small,
belong to the Felidae family.

Around three and a half million
years ago, the genus Felis

made up of smaller cats split
from panthera, big cats like

lions and tigers. Today,
there are 400 million Felis catus

worldwide, numbers that
make them one of the 10 most

successful mammals to ever
walk the Earth. In 10,000 years,

their DNA has changed
relatively little. Genetics-wise, you

basically have a wild animal
living in your house. A wild

animal with some amazing
physical hardware. And at the

center of it all, the cat's
remarkable spine. They actually

have more vertebrae in them
than most mammals. Their

vertebrae also have especially
elastic cushioning discs

between them, so their spines
are incredibly flexible. This

flexible design helps make
the cat the fastest animal on

land. If you look at a cheetah
running, the flexing and

contracting of that spine
stores potential energy and

releases it as kinetic energy
as the cat is bounding forward.

Your cat is basically a
tiny, flexible cheetah with the

potential to run over 30 miles
per hour and twist into some

pretty crazy yoga poses.

Cats also have an efficient
muscular system. They're one of

the few mammals that can
activate 100% of their muscles when

they jump.

They can jump between
five and six times their length

in height. That's like a
human jumping over a giraffe.

And they use their
tails to counterbalance

themselves during quick
changes in direction.

As any gymnast will tell you,
what goes up must come down.

Which brings up an age-old
question. The saying is that cats

always land on their feet.
They do have an amazing ability

to orient themselves quickly.
In order to do this, they

first have to recognize
where their body is in space

using a phenomenon
known as the writing reflex.

This reflex is a function
of the vestibular system.

Hypersensitive hair cells
in the inner ear sense body

position, movement, and
acceleration in space and transmit

this information straight into the brain.
So a cat always knows which way is up.

All mammals have this writing
reflex, including humans. But

sometimes we get disoriented.
And we call that the twisties.

You heard this thing about
Simone Biles. She felt like she

had lost the ability to sense
where her body was in space.

And she felt that to continue
would have been dangerous,

which makes sense. But,
you know, it's a difficult thing to

control. A cat's reflexes are
more than twice as fast as

ours. And faster than any
other pets. You know, if you drop

a dog from the same position, and
many times they won't land on their feet.

Pound for pound, felines
could be the fastest,

strongest, and most flexible
mammal on the planet.

But those wild talents can
also make them mysterious.

To find out why they do
what they do. Perhaps a cat

psychologist can help. Sit
back. There you go, sweetie.

Over evolution, cats have not
changed all that much. And now

they're kind of this mix between,
you know, being those wild

cats, but also being the
house cats that we want them to

be. Kristin studies the
mysteries of the feline mind. She's

trying to decode what cats
are thinking. I think that the

social capacity of cats has
really been underestimated.

Especially, you know, a lot of time
cats are being compared to dogs.

People say dogs are
superior on a lot of these socio

-cognitive traits. Canines are
often thought of as the more

intuitive pet. They know their
name and as many as 160 or

so words. They can understand
human facial expressions and

maybe even problem solve.
But Kristin believes cats just

haven't had the chance to
prove themselves. Be nice. What

we're seeing more and more
is that the research just hadn't

been done in cats. So she set
out to determine once and for

all just how cats stack up
against their canine rivals. So

we're just going to place
him up here. First things first,

do cats know their own
name? For this test, we're

trying to figure out if
Carl recognizes his name.

So we've got this Bluetooth speaker and
we're going to play my voice through it.

Kristin starts with four
one-syllable words. Boo! Carl

reacts to the first word, a
new sound in his environment.

Suck! But he soon loses
interest in the audio. Day!

Kristin then adds a word
very close to his name. Girl!

Still nothing.

But then, the moment of
truth. Carl! Good! This test has

been run hundreds of times
with many different cats. And

it's clear, most cats do know
their own name. Whether they

choose to respond is a
different story. But we'll talk about

that later.

Kristin's research led her to the
epicenter of a modern-day cat revolution.

In 2017, cats overtook canines
as the most popular pet in Japan.

Today, it's home to nine million pet cats.
And one of the world's top cat scientists.

In my research, cats are
the most popular pet in

Japan. I've been doing cat
research for about 15 years.

Kristin and Saho have published
37 studies combined. They've

helped prove that cats recognize
both the face and the voice

of their people, not to mention
other cats. They prove that

cats do know what a point
means. They understand object

permanence. They are able to
understand that when an object

disappears from sight, it
doesn't mean it's gone from

existence. Bottom line, they
understand way more than we

thought they did. Now that
the research is being conducted,

we're seeing cats are behaving
and performing roughly the

same as dogs. The trick is
knowing how to tap into that

potential. Marina and
Svetlana, interview, ABC Mark.

My name is Marina. My name
is Svetlana. And we are the

Savitsky Cats. We are a
family of super trained cats and

humans.

Training the cats, it's kind
of a magic of some sort.

And it's not an easy one.
The amazing Savitsky Cats are

Ukrainian celebrities. They
tour the world, entertaining

millions. They made it to the
quarterfinals of America's Got

Talent, by the way. Not bad
for an animal often considered

untrainable. The difference
between training a cat and

training a dog is the dogs
want to please you. I will do

anything for you. I will do
just, just, just say me. And the

cats just kind of make
me. The Savitsky's know the

key to getting the most
out of their performers.

For the past four years, Dasha
has been their breakout star.

Dasha is an actress.

Whenever she sees a
camera, it's kind of like the whole

world stops. And like the
camera is the only thing I need.

Dasha performs many of
the team's hardest tricks.

Including the mission impossible.

And the high jump.

Dasha is the undisputed
captain of the Savitsky Cats. But

there are three other candidates
vying to take her spot. And

any one of them could be the
next big star. Each cat is kind

of our own child. And we
cannot imagine our life without

them. The only way to bring
out the best in a feline is to

establish a bond. Some
doctors dedicate their lives to this

art form.

Before a person adopts a cat
or purchases a cat, you want

them to do some homework,
right? You want them to kind of

look at what to expect when
you bring home a cat. It's a

big decision because you're
adding a valuable family member.

Adding a cat is a huge deal.
The learning curve can be steep

for beginners. If you want
your cat to like you, one of the

very first things you can do
is the slow blink. Eye contact

in the animal world is very
important. Direct eye contact, a

hard stare, non-blinking is
scary. If you want to interact

with a cat, make yourself look
small, kind of move sideways,

stand sideways. And, you
know, you can look over and do

a blink. To cats, this is like
smiling, spreading happy,

positive emotions. And they
will often respond. So they do

the slow blink to tell you,
hey, it's okay, I'm friendly.

You know, I like you. I'm
not, I'm not being threatening.

And when cats do that, like,
I think of it as a compliment.

Oh, that cat likes me. Yeah.
If the slow blink works, you

can try to get a little closer.
Cats, when they greet each

other, cats that are friendly
to each other will do nose

touches. They will literally
come up and touch noses. If you

want to get to know your
cat, you can offer your finger

to them and let them kind of
do like a nose boop. They're

sniffing your finger, getting
your scent, getting to know

you. And that's kind of like
for me, like a handshake. But

if they like you, what
frequently happens is they'll rub

along your finger. Just don't
come in hot from above. Going

back to, you know, their wild
ancestors, they are part prey.

So what attacks them from
above? Things that come out with

claws, you know, large
raptors, owls, eagles, things like

that. So when you come
over with your hand like this, it's

kind of scary, very intimidating.
Low and slow is the way to

go. I usually put the finger
out and let them sniff. And if

they start rubbing, then I
go and pet along the side of

their face, underneath their
chin, neutral territory. And if

they like chin rubs or neck
rubs, then you got the cat

eating out of the palm of
your hand. Some cats, wary of

contact, need a little extra
convincing. A lot of cats are

very fearful. So what we do
is we have a pom-pom. It's a

little ball of yarn stuck to a
long dowel. We use that to

initiate interactions with
the cat and let them interact

with that first to see how
the cat feels. When a cat is

comfortable, they let you
know. Owl rubbing is an important

bond building social behavior.
We saw that 83% of cats rub

down their owner when they
return to the room. We are seeing

that owl rubbing seems to
serve an important stress

relieving purpose for cats
as well. This friendly gesture

might just mean you've
been accepted. But do cats like

all humans? Or do they play
favorites? This test is called

paired attachment, and in
it what we do is look at how

much time the cat spends
with their owner and a stranger.

If Carl chooses Kristin,
his owner, over the stranger

more than half the time, it'll
show there's a preference.

Carl basically chose me every
time, and so he seems to have

a preference for me, his owner,
over a stranger. They've run

this experiment, and others
like it, thousands of times. And

there's no doubt cats form
strong attachment bonds to their

owners. The human-cat
attachment bond may be an extension

of that attachment bond that
they have with their mother as

kittens. Yes, we have a
connection, and we certainly love

them. But do cats actually
love us? We'll explore that more

in a bit. First, another key
to unlocking the feline mind

is to make them feel at home.
And just like their ancestors,

cats like to get high. Cats
like high places because they

want to know what's going
on, and if they're uncomfortable,

they can go to high places
to hide out. It's definitely a

leftover trait from when they're
wild cats, right? Those are

all instinctive behavior. You
don't need to teach a cat to

climb. He's going to tell
you, I'm going to climb, and if

you don't provide him with
cat furniture that's appropriate

for him to use, he's going
to make his own little perch.

Cats also like tight spaces,
which helps explain their

obsession with boxes. Those
enclosed sides makes us feel

safe. I think that's why
cats really like boxes, and it's

kind of cool to hide and jump
out and attack your owners.

Cats are ambush predators,
which means that they typically

hide in order to get their
prey. So having a box is

something that's going to
kind of help the cat complete

their predatory motor pattern.
Cardboard boxes actually have

a stress-relieving effect for them.

Cats occupy kind of an
interesting niche in ecology because

when they're hunting, they
may be going into holes in trees.

They're navigating obstacles.
A predator that is able to

navigate obstacles is probably
going to do better. Clearly

that's going to be a survival
benefit. Cats have specialized

assets that help them squeeze
where few animals can. One way

we can demonstrate this
ability is to see how small a hole

a cat can get through, and we
can entice them to go through

holes with things like food
and toys and treats like that.

Large holes are no problem.

But as Bruce shrinks the
size of the hole, they begin

to show their true mastery
of their environment.

And it all starts with the
whiskers. Now, whiskers are a

very interesting adaptation of
cats. They're, as most people

know them, they look like
hairs. They're long hair-like

structures, each of which is
connected to a bundle of nerves

that then sends information
regarding what that whisker

touches to the brain. Most
people are aware of whiskers on

the chin, but there are also
whiskers on the eyebrows. And

people aren't aware, for
example, that there are whiskers

behind the backs of the front
paws. So these have evolved

to provide tactile or touching
information regarding the

environment. One benefit
of whiskers? They tell

a cat how small a
hole she can fit through.

Their flexible skeleton
does the rest. Their clavicles

or their collarbones are not
anchored in bone, they're in

muscles. It's like being
double-jointed everywhere. As you

can see in this experiment,
as we gradually make the hole

smaller and smaller, it's
really pretty surprising that

these cats, which are pretty
large, can make it through.

But whiskers don't grow if a
cat puts on a few extra pounds.

The whiskers have evolved
to be about the width of a cat

that is a normal, healthy
body condition. And this gets to

another issue of being overweight
and obesity in cats. Many

cats are obese, and it's a
big problem. The whiskers will

not grow to accommodate the
increased girth of a cat that is

overweight. Fifty-nine
percent of cats in the U.S.

are overweight. So finding
the right diet is crucial.

Our cat's wild relatives have
to work for their food. They

have no trouble staying slim.
Our cats? Not so much. Do you

want to say them on the
scale real quick? No cheating. If

you're eating and eating and
eating and you eat quickly, you

know, you can get a lot of food
down your throat before your

stomach goes, oh wait, it's
too much. So we want to do the

same thing for cats. We want
to give them something to do.

So either a cat toy, a
feeding, interactive feeder, but

something they can work on
so they know there's food in

there. Dude, you gotta work
for it. Also, regardless of what

their owners eat, cats need
to eat meat. Cats are obligate

carnivores. They must eat
meat because they are unable to

synthesize certain amino
acids that are found only in meat.

So please, make sure that
you feed your cat a meat-based

diet. It has to be
nutritionally complete and

balanced, but please
don't make it vegetarian.

Keeping your cat healthy and happy
can quickly become a way of life.

One doctor in Japan spends so much time
around felines. They call him the cat guru.

Cats are very emotional
animals. People who don't like cats

are often told that they don't
know what a cat is thinking.

Dr. Yuki has spent tens of
thousands of hours studying cats.

He's working to decode the
subtle nuance of their language.

When a cat's eyes are open
and their ears are up, they're

relaxed. If they narrow their
eyes and lower their ears,

they're becoming aggressive.
Eyes open, but ears back means

they're preparing to defend
themselves. And, if they bare

their teeth, they become
aggressive. It means they're ready

for an attack. Reading a
cat's face can be intuitive. The

tail is more of a mystery.

When a cat thrashes
its tail, it's annoyed. But

when they hold it straight
up, they're pretty happy.

When the tail is twitching,
it means they're intrigued.

When a cat tucks its tail
between its legs, it's afraid and

trying to look submissive.
When all their hair stands on

end, it means they're downright
terrified. But when a cat's

eyes are open and their ears
are up, they become aggressive.

If you understand these
coded messages, anyone can

read a cat. And sometimes,
it helps just to listen.

There are sounds a cat makes when it wants
something. And sounds when a cat is happy.

These are warning sounds.
Don't get too close. And this is

the sound of an attack. But
cats talk to humans far more

than they do other cats.

The most mysterious coded
messages are found in the purr.

A surprising new study has
found that when a cat purrs,

they use their purr to
tap into our subconscious.

They seem to be able to
insert frequencies that overlap

with the frequencies that a
human baby makes when it cries.

When a human baby cries, the
frequency, or the length of the

sound waves, is between 400
and 600 Hz. A sound designed to

get our attention. Modern cats
have developed a special high

-pitched meow embedded
within their purr that mimics this

frequency.

Cats have evolved a
way to make a sound that

humans have a lot
of difficulty ignoring.

And so it seems that that's
really tapping into either the

maternal or paternal instinct
of the owner to care for the

cat. They've evolved to make
us care for them. But there

are still things we can do to
get them to listen to us. The

first and the basic command
that we teach cats to do is

following us. So we can run
off from them and say, come to

me, and they will come.
Teaching simple commands through

repetition is known as
classical conditioning. So the

classical example of classical
conditioning is from Pavlov.

Dr. Ivan Pavlov won the Nobel
Prize for Physiology in 1904

for his discovery. What he
learned was that if you ring a

bell and you offer the dog
food, after repeated pairings,

the sound of the bell will
start causing the dog to

salivate. So the dog got
conditioned that hearing the bell

means food's going to
come, so that's classical

conditioning. For cats, clicker
training is a good place to

start. You want to offer
the click sound, and within a

second or two offer the cat
the treat, so the cat goes, oh,

hey, every time I hear the
click, I get to eat my special

treat. So then that click becomes
meaningful. Cats get bored

easily, so keep training
sessions short. I would aim

anywhere between one to
five minutes. I would be, it would

be like exceedingly
awesome if we get five minutes.

Quite honestly, I tell my
owners like 30 to 60 seconds,

hallelujah, we got it. If your
cat can do more than that,

that's great. It's important
to be patient. Not all cats

respond the same way.
Because all cats are different. In

our research, one thing that
we're seeing in a lot of cat

behavior is that there's a
lot of individual variability.

So cats really differ on their
response to people and their

sociability. Not all cats are superstars.

Dasha got to where she
is through years of training.

The other Savitsky cats
are still a work in progress.

When animals are born,
they're born with a temperament.

That temperament is the
initial building blocks for that

personality that's going to
develop over their lifetime. All

of our cats have different
personalities and you need to

adjust to them. So you cannot
make them adjust to you. It's

kind of not their job, it's
yours. So you need to pick

what works for them better.
We see actually in kittens that

already by the age of
three days old, they're

showing differences
within their litter.

The Savitsky's don't force
their performers to do these

amazing stunts. Like a
sculptor who finds the sculpture

within the rock, they let each
cat's potential reveal itself.

This is Isam. She is a diva.
You never know will she perform

or not. Yeah, you never
know. She's kind of like really,

really difficult. But the
tricks she's doing, they are

really amazing. So it's worth
the risk. At 13, the senior

member of the team is a fan
favorite. This is Chupa. She was

very hard to train in the
beginning, like very challenging.

She didn't get it, like at all.
But a few months passed and

like just it clicked. And now
she's a great student. You

definitely can teach old
cats to do tricks. Their newest

recruit, Eddie, had a slightly
different upbringing. Eddie,

it's a girl name. And she grew
up with the dog, so most of

her life she has the dog-like
habits and behavior. We do

know that life experience
really does impact the cat's

behavior. And that also
impacts how social the cat is.

Because of her background, the
Savitskis train Eddie a bit differently.

She's doing everything
backwards. She's doing like really

crazy stuff that other cats
can't do just because their

brain is not wired to do
that. Eddie also loves to jump.

So they're teaching her one
of their hardest tricks. She's

currently working on a
jump through the paper hoop.

I would say like it's the
next more challenging trick

that you can do after like
socializing them. Because you

basically teach a cat how
to jump into a wall. It takes

time, time, time and a lot of
practice, a lot of like wasted

paper. It's still kind of still in process.

It's gonna take some practice.

But the Savitskis are
learning how to motivate Eddie.

Different cats are motivated
by different rewards. This

might seem simple enough,
but many new cat owners get it

wrong. I think part of it is
that they're using the wrong

items to motivate the cats.
Cats are more discerning than

many other pets. Food is
not always the great motivator.

We found that the majority
of cats actually prefer social

rewards. Kristen has done
extensive research on what cats

want. She gives cats a choice
between their favorite toy,

their favorite smell, their
favorite food or their owner.

And more than half the time,
they choose their people. I

think he loves you. It seems
the heart trumps the stomach.

So is this proof that cats
love us? I get asked a lot

whether cats love us or
not. Love is a really complex

emotion. And even in humans,
you know, someone might tell

you that they love you, but
they behave very differently.

To answer that question and
understand the true nature of

the human-cat relationship,
we need to go all the way back

to the beginning.

For years, historians believed
our friendship began in Egypt

around 4,000 years ago. But
a recent breakthrough changed

everything.

10,000 years ago, so before
the Neolithic, there were

no cats in Cyprus. Cyprus
is a small island in the

Mediterranean near the
cradle of civilization, where

archaeologists recently
unearthed a huge discovery. They

found a Neolithic burial of
a child. And in this burial,

there was also a cat skeleton.
Dr. Eva Maria used DNA to

date this find. And it
would become the earliest

known evidence of the
human-cat relationship.

Proving we've been together
for at least 10,000 years. This

cat did not swim over the sea.
It means that the people took

this cat on their ships to
Cyprus. So something happened

around this time in this area.
What happened was the farm.

Humans began to grow crops
and store grains, and wild cats

saw an opportunity. These
granaries must have attracted

rodents, which was a disaster
for the early farmers. And so

the cats jumped on these
rodents and thrived on the rodents.

And this was probably the
beginning of this relationship

between the wild cats and
humans. And from here, the

relationship grew. Egyptian
worship cats. You had millions

of cats mummified. And
from the Egyptian iconography,

statues, all kinds of depictions
of cats. And there you see

chairs of noble people, very
often women, and a little cat

under the chair. So this shows
us that the cat had entered

the house. It was on the way to
become a house cat. Wherever

we went, cats followed. Often
by boat. Ships are probably

the predominant means of
spreading of the cat. The rodents

went on the ships and the
cats followed. And so there was

not a single ship probably
that went out of the port without

cats. So this is how Felis Catus made
its way to every continent on Earth.

It was so important on ships
that until 1975 in the British

Navy, it was still compulsory
to have a cat on the ship. It

wasn't just the British.

Attention Mr. Coast Guardsman,
Herman the cat is on the

prowl. In Baltimore, Herman
is fingerprinted, or is it paw

-printed, so he can get an
official Coast Guard pass. This

is real. Herman the cat was
actually in the US Coast Guard.

But history hasn't always
been this kind of felines.

Stories of black cats and dark
magic, witches and cauldrons

did not begin in Salem or
even Transylvania. But with a

rogue pup named Gregory
the Ninth. Cats in the Middle

Ages were associated to
witches. Witches were actually

intelligent women, wise women
who knew a lot about nature.

These wise women knew that
keeping the house clean would

keep you healthy. So they
cleaned the house with a broom and

they had cats to get rid of
rodents. There came a time when

the church, dominated by
males, considered them to be a

danger. So the church tried
to get rid of them. Demonized

during this papal inquisition,
Europe's cat population was

decimated. Which some believe
may have contributed to the

Black Plague.

Black Death, the plague,
was transmitted by rodents,

by fleas actually. And the
fleas were in the fur of the

rodents. With fewer cats,
the plague was out of control.

Thankfully, even during
these dark times, some

people continued to
nurture a bond with cats.

A relationship that's
still evolving to this day.

There's a history of cats
in distilleries. It's quite a

traditional thing in Scotland.
There was a very famous cat

over at a distillery in Perthshire
called Tauza. And he's

probably the most famous
distillery cat ever. He or she is

led by a cat. The legendary, I
think, is the most famous distillery cat.

Five years ago, Helen and
Drew McKenzie adopted

two working cats to carry
on an age-old tradition.

The Abbey was founded in 1191.

We have William Wallace
coming here after his victory

of the English at the
Battle of Black Ironside.

So it's got a huge history. I
suppose we're continuing the

tradition. All the cats that
have been here over the years.

They named the black male
Friar John Claw. And the calico

female Vespers. A nod to the
medieval monks that lived here.

And just like those monks, these
cats begin their services at night.

The eyes of cats are very
large compared to the size of the

skull. They also have something
called a tapetum lucidum,

which is a layer of cells
at the back of the eye that

reflects light back to the
retina. So it allows it to see

very well in low-light conditions.
What they're looking for

poses a very real danger to
the health of the cats. Mice are

always present in a distillery
because of the huge amounts

of barley. And grain obviously
attracts mice. Unfortunately,

without giving too technical,
mice kind of weep all the

time. So for want of a better
expression. And that's not a

good thing. To find these
vermin, the cats need to get

ultrasonic. The ears of cats
can rotate about 180 degrees.

They can hear very high
frequencies. This is because the

prey that they seek vocalizes
in this auditory range. So

this allows them to kind of localize
and kind of triangulate on prey.

The cats do their job well.

But Helen and Drew were
curious what exactly they were

up to. So Helen put on GPS
trackers to find out. The GPS

collars reveal that each night
Vesper's travels more than a

mile. But she never strays too
far from home. Vesper, who is

officially the chief mouser, is
busy getting on with the day

job and night job. And she's
most active just before dawn,

prime rodent time. Cats
are crepuscular animals.

Crepuscular animals means
that they're active early dawn and

at dusk. Which may explain
why cats are so crazy in the wee

hours of the night. My cats
tend to have the zoomies after

we go to bed. The zoomies, you
know, when cats have a sudden

burst of energy. We call it FRAP. F-R-A-P.

You can see them, like,
make little chirping noises and

they get low to the ground
and they dart from here to there.

They're chasing each other,
they're vocalizing, just having

a grand time when the rest
of us are sleeping. This is all

instinctive behavior. It goes
back to the circadian rhythm.

This is an internal clock in
our body that we got from our

ancestors. Some cats have
another peculiar nighttime ritual.

Vesp in particular, she is
a big present giver. I reckon

Vesp probably catches four
or five things a day. But why do

cats bring their owners gifts?
We know that when a mother

cat has kittens that she will
basically bring the prey back

for the kittens so they can
learn what kinds of prey are

suitable and kind of let
them play with it in kind of

a morbid sense to get
practice trying to get the prey.

Whatever the reason, it's a
compliment. It means your

family. And there's few things
less pleasant when you're

walking without slippers on
in the morning. While Vespers

performs the traditional duties,
friar John Claw has a more

modern approach. He's very
laid back, you know, loves the

public, spends a huge amount
of time in the actual visitor

center itself just being
stroked. FJC realized his sister

is all over the mice. His talents
are better used elsewhere.

FJC's role, it could be said,
is more of an ambassador.

He's front of house. She's
back of house doing the hard

work. Vespers uses instinct.
Friar John Claw uses Instagram.

What started 10,000
years ago as a working

relationship has evolved
into a global obsession.

The way the cats have
gone viral on the Internet is, I

think, really exceeds anything
that anyone would have

expected. I believe the second
most common reason people go

to the Internet is to watch cat
videos. Cats are the number

one family-friendly thing on
the Internet. With more than

25 billion views, a new study
found that cat videos actually

boost positive emotions. And
decrease negative feelings.

In other words, they provide
a big old shot of dopamine. I

think that the Internet has kind
of become a space where cat

lovers can all kind of unite
and just love cats and laugh at

them. And kind of bond over
the silly things that our cats

do. It kind of gives us a
space to do that. Bad behavior

makes for a fun video. But
it's not always funny when it's

happening in your own home.
When we have unwanted behavior,

keep in mind that cats are
being cats. They don't know you

don't want them on top of
your counter. Rule number one,

never punish a cat. When
your cat is doing something

you don't want, and you punish
him, he sometimes doesn't

understand why you don't
like it. It also makes you feel

unpredictable. All of a sudden
you're yelling and screaming

at me and I don't understand
what happened. The key is positivity.

And your cat is doing something
you don't want, you want to

be able to distract the cat
and then tell him, tell him what

you want. Hey, let's do this.
Come over here and touch my

hand. Go to your bed. What a
smart kitty. Yay. And your cat

goes, yeah, I'm the best cat ever.

For really bad habits, classical
conditioning is not enough.

Counter conditioning is the
process of changing an emotional

response. This is when you
pull out the good stuff, their

favorite, most irresistible
treat. Offering something so

highly valuable, rewarding,
that the animal goes, oh, that

wasn't so bad. I like this. I
always give the example to my

clients of, what if every time
you walk out of the house you

had a snarky neighbor and he
always says something mean to

you? So you try to avoid going
out when he's out there. But

what if every time you went
out there I gave you a thousand

dollars? Huh? Then you're
like, that's not so bad, right? I

don't mind seeing that guy.
What if you saw him four times

today and you got four thousand
dollars? You're going to be

like, yeah, bring it on. Where
is he? You're going to want

to see that guy all the time,
right? So that's what counter

conditioning is. You can
change a situation from being

negative to more neutral to then positive.

Like any relationship, it can
take patience. But it's worth

it. You get the sense sometimes
that they might not need

you, but they still want you.
And that's this very unique

and mystical and deep-seated
relationship. A cat's true

motivation isn't as easy to
interpret as some other pets.

Don't mistake independence
for indifference. If you kind of

have that perception that
cats are aloof, they don't care

about social interaction, so
you don't go out of your way to

interact with them, you're
basically shaping the cat to then

also be aloof because that was
what you expected of them. In

our work, we found that how
the person behaves really does

impact the cat's behavior.
Kristen's research is proving how

a cat treats you directly
reflects how you treat them. One

step further, her work is showing
they might even pick up on how we feel.

So this is known as the
social referencing test. And the

whole idea is that this fan
with streamers is totally novel

to the cat. So he doesn't
know if it's something scary or if

it's something fun. So the
whole idea is that the person can

put off emotional cues and
see how the cat responds. Carl,

that's scary! Carl, that's
scary, isn't it? Oh no! Oh no! Oh

my gosh! Look at that! When
Kristen acts scared of the fan,

Carl tries to hide. Is the fan
scary? A quick reset and an

attitude adjustment,
and it's time for round two.

So if I'm happy towards the fan, we should
see if the cat can pick up on my emotions.

Look! Look at what a nice fan!
Look at what a good fan! When

she speaks nicely to the fan
and is not scared, Carl seems

more confident. Look
at those streamers! Look!

The fan is no longer
a threat. No more fear!

It's not just Carl. 79% of
cats look to their owners for

emotional advice. For scientists,
it's another breakthrough.

It seems cats are experts
at feeling our feelings.

Good and bad. If you even
have a bad mood and you go into

training cats, just walk away.
Do not go there. They feel

everything and they make
it worse. Asya, come here.

Cats have learned to be empaths,
to adapt and survive. There

is an evolutionary advantage
to being able to look at social

partners in your environment
and gather information. So

if you're unable to read
anybody's response, then you have

really cut yourself off from
a whole lot of information

about how to react to something
potentially dangerous. This

revelation that cats pick
up on our feelings then

took a much bigger turn
than anyone ever expected.

Back in Japan, Dr. Saho
Tagaki noticed something. He

realized that cats in the
US and in Japan can see the

difference in behavior.

In Japan, cats are animals
that know where to go. But in the

US, even in a place you don't
know, cats are very normal. I

think cats in Japan and the
US have different personalities.

Kristin and Saho decided to
run the same experiments in the

US and in Japan. And they're
finding the cats are different.

We're seeing social differences
between cats in Japan and

the US. I realized that
there is a cultural influence in

cats.

Is human culture changing
cat culture? Japan is a small

island country. It's a completely
indoor city, which is the

mainstream. We don't have
a lot of home parties. The

frequency of meeting strangers
is very low. That may have

affected the differences
between cats in the US and in

Japan. Their research suggests
these cultural differences

might actually be handed down
from generation to generation.

And in one culture, it's bringing
our species even closer together.

Even before Istanbul was
Constantinople, it was the city of

cats. These streets are home
to more than 100,000 community

cats, perfectly suited
to an urban lifestyle.

Nowadays, when you go to
Istanbul, you find these cats

around. They are cats that
belong to the neighborhood. They

are not owned by a specific
person. People provide the

infrastructure for cats so
that they can survive, but they

do not belong to somebody
specifically. In 2021, Istanbul

introduced new laws protecting
these cats, some of the most

progressive legislation in
the world. Treating a cat as an

equal and seeing things from
their point of view is the best

way to strengthen the relationship. Hi.

The whole reason my specialty
exists is because people

recognize they have this
deep bond with this animal, this

deep love. We do it for
the love of animals. We do it

because we recognize the
human-animal bond. And I don't know

why I'm crying. It's not making
me cry. Yeah, this is why

we do it, because we love
animals. It's clear we love cats,

which leads us to the
biggest cat question of all. Do I

think cats love us? It's really
hard to measure emotions in

cats, but I do feel like based
on their behavior, based on

their relationship, that cats
can form such a deep bond with

someone that it is akin to love.

It's pretty clear that cats
provide emotional support, a

feeling of wellness, happiness.
This notion that you can

come home and have unconditional love
from your cat is something that's vital.

With all the devotion of
her family, Eti is perfectly

positioned to become the
next big superstar. All she needs

to do is complete the paper hoop.

We're only beginning to
realize the potential of cats.

The more we learn, the more we
realize just how deep our connection is.

They feel the love that you're
giving to them, and they are

kind of feeding on it. Love
is going both ways. If we can

learn how to bring
out the best in our

felines, they will
bring out the best in us.

When everything comes
together, the results can be magical.

It's all about the love that
you're giving to them, and the

love that you're giving to
Eti. It's all about the love that

you're giving to Eti.
It's all about the love

that you're giving to Eti. We
never dance in the dark. It's

all clear to see. Up with
the sky, like it's our reality.

One boy is still another. I
want my heart beat. Sisters and

brothers, we are the remedy.
We are golden, yes we are. Here

we come to see the stars. We are golden
for all to see. We are golden, believe.