Original subtitles

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

- [WOMAN] Dasha, come here. Come here. - [MEOWS]

[UPBEAT ROCK MUSIC PLAYS]

[NARRATOR] But new discoveries may finally open the door

to our most puzzling companions.

- [TENSE MUSIC PLAYS] - [AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING]

[WOMAN] Aw.

[MEOWS]

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

We're here to prove them wrong.

[AUDIENCE GASPS]

[AUDIENCE APPLAUDING]

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.

[CAT PURRS, MEOWS]

[NARRATOR] A new generation of scientists is challenging preconceptions.

We're uncovering different aspects of their behavior,

personality, physiology,

- all those things that make a cat unique. - [MEOWS]

[MAN] They're 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.

[CAT MEOWS]

[NARRATOR] Join us as we solve the mysteries of the cat...

[CAT SHRIEKS]

...decode their crazy antics,

and decipher their hidden language.

[MEOWS LOUDLY]

It's not gonna be easy.

Cats are complicated.

- [WOMAN] Dasha, come here. - [MEOWS]

Yes, they have their attitude.

But if you want, you can teach a cat to do anything.

[AUDIENCE GASPS]

[AUDIENCE APPLAUDING, CHEERING]

[NARRATOR] Anyone can unlock a cat's true potential

if you learn their secrets.

[CAT PURRS]

[MEOWS]

[MEOWS]

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...

- [PURRS] - ...we turn to the experts.

[DR. KORNRIECH] I think people underestimate

how social cats are.

Let's face it. They're just entertaining

and sometimes just very funny.

[NARRATOR] Oddly, some of the traits that make them so charming

evolved from their killer ancestors.

[DR. KORNRIECH] 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 the cat.

[MEOWS]

The scientific name of the domestic cat is Felis catus.

Felis catus is a unique domesticated species

that was derived from the African wildcat.

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

[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]

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 ten most successful mammals

to ever walk the earth.

[DR. KORNRIECH] In ten thousand years, their DNA has changed relatively little.

Genetics-wise, you basically have a wild animal living in your house.

- [BELL RINGING] - [CAT PURRS]

[NARRATOR] A wild animal with some amazing physical hardware.

And at the center of it all, the cat's remarkable spine.

[DR. KORNRIECH] 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.

[NARRATOR] This flexible design helps make the cat

the fastest animal on land.

[DR. KORNRIECH] 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.

[UP-TEMPO ROCK MUSIC PLAYS]

[NARRATOR] 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.

[PURRS]

Cats also have an efficient muscular system.

They're one of the few mammals that can activate 100%

of their muscles when they jump.

[MAN] Ignition sequence start.

Three, two, one, liftoff.

We have a liftoff.

[DR. KORNRIECH] They can jump between five and six times their length in height.

[NARRATOR] That's like a human jumping over a giraffe.

[TRIUMPHANT MUSIC PLAYS]

[DR. KORNRIECH] And they use their tails to counterbalance themselves

during quick changes in direction.

[NARRATOR] 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 righting reflex.

[CAT MEOWS]

[NARRATOR] This reflex is a function of the vestibular system.

Hypersensitive hair cells in the inner ears

sense body position, movement, and acceleration in space

and transmit this information straight into the brain.

[DR. KORNRIECH] So a cat always knows which way is up.

[GENTLE MUSIC PLAYS]

[NARRATOR] All mammals have this righting reflex, including humans.

But sometimes, we get disoriented.

And we call that the twisties.

- [CAT MEOWS] - 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've been dangerous,

which makes sense.

But, uh, you know, it's a difficult thing to control.

[NARRATOR] A cat's reflexes are more than twice as fast as ours...

and faster than any other pet's.

You know, if you drop a dog from the same position, and many times,

they won't land on their feet. [LAUGHS]

[COMMENTATOR SHOUTS INDISTINCTLY]

[LAUGHS]

[NARRATOR] 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.

- [MEOWS, PURRS] - [WOMAN LAUGHS]

- To find out why they do what they do... - [CAT MEOWS]

...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.

[NARRATOR] Kristyn 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.

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

[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS]

People say dogs are superior on a lot of these socio-cognitive traits.

[NARRATOR] Canines are often thought of as the more intuitive pet.

[DOG BARKS]

They know their name and as many as 160 or so words.

They can understand human facial expressions

and maybe even problem-solve.

[DOG GROWLS]

But Kristyn believes cats just haven't had the chance to prove themselves.

[WOMAN] Be nice.

What we're seeing more and more is the research hadn't been done in cats.

[NARRATOR] So she set out to determine once and for all

just how cats stack up against their canine rivals.

[DOG YELPS]

So we're just gonna place him up here.

[NARRATOR] 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.

[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]

[NARRATOR] Kristyn starts with four one-syllable words.

[DR. VITALE] Boot!

[NARRATOR] Carl reacts to the first word,

a new sound in his environment.

[DR. VITALE] Sock!

[NARRATOR] But he soon loses interest in the audio.

[DR. VITALE] Day!

[NARRATOR] Kristyn then adds a word very close to his name.

[DR. VITALE] Girl!

[NARRATOR] Still nothing.

But then, the moment of truth.

[DR. VITALE] Carl!

[MEOWS]

Good!

[NARRATOR] This test has been run hundreds of times

with many different cats.

And it's clear most cats do know their own name.

- [BELL CHIMES] - [LAUGHS]

Whether they choose to respond is a different story.

Go ahead.

[NARRATOR] But we'll talk about that later.

Kristyn's research led her to the epicenter

of a modern-day cat revolution.

["KEEP MOVIN' ON" BY MYLK PLAYS]

[NARRATOR] 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 JAPANESE] Compared with the research on dogs,

the research on cats is approximately 15 years behind.

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] Kristyn 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 proved 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.

[NARRATOR] 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.

[NARRATOR] The trick is knowing how to tap into that potential.

[CATS MEOW]

[MAN] Maryna and Svitlana interview, ABC mark.

[WOMAN WHISPERS INDISTINCTLY]

[WOMAN KEEPS WHISPERING INDISTINCTLY]

- My name is Maryna. - And my name is Svitlana.

And we're the Savitsky Cats.

We are family of super-trained cats and humans.

Come here.

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

And it's not an easy one. [EXHALES]

[NARRATOR] The amazing Savitsky Cats are Ukrainian celebrities.

They tour the world, entertaining millions.

- [MARYNA WHISPERS] - [MEOWS]

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.

[PANTS]

"I will do anything for you! I will do... just... just say me."

And the cats just kind of, "Make me." [CHUCKLES]

[NARRATOR] The Savitskys know the key

to getting the most out of their performers.

[IN RUSSIAN] First of all, you need to become friends with the kitty.

It's important that the cat trusts you completely.

The cat shouldn't expect any surprises from you.

[UP-TEMPO ELECTRONIC MUSIC PLAYS]

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] For the past four years,

Dasha has been their breakout star.

Oh, Dasha.

[BOTH GIGGLE]

Dasha is an actress.

[CROWD CHEERING, APPLAUDING]

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

and like, "The camera is the only thing I need."

- [CAMERA CLICKS] - [CROWD CHEERS]

[NARRATOR] Dasha performs many of the team's hardest tricks...

including the Mission Impossible...

and the high jump.

[UP-TEMPO ELECTRONIC MUSIC ENDS]

[DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS]

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.

[CATS PURR]

Each cat is kind of our own child,

and we cannot imagine our life without it.

[NARRATOR] 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.

[GENTLE MUSIC PLAYS]

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 'cause you're adding a valuable family member.

Adding a cat is a huge deal.

[NARRATOR] 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 a 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... - [CAT MEOWS]

...make yourself look small, kind of move sideways, stand sideways.

And, you know, you can look over and do a blink.

[NARRATOR] 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."

[NARRATOR] If the slow blink works, you can try to get a little closer.

[DR. SUNG] 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 wanna 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.

[NARRATOR] 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.

[NARRATOR] Low and slow is the way to go.

[DR. SUNG] 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 the chin, neutral territory, right?

And if they like chin rubs or neck rubs, right,

then you got the cat eating out of the palm of your hand.

[NARRATOR] Some cats, wary of contact, need a little extra convincing.

[DR. SUNG] A lot of cats are very fearful,

so what we do is we have, uh... 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.

[NARRATOR] When a cat is comfortable, they let you know.

[DR. VITALE] Allorubbing is an important bond-building social behavior.

- [PURRS] - We saw that 83% of cats

rubbed on their owner when they returned to the room.

We are seeing that allorubbing seems to serve

an important stress-relieving purpose for cats as well.

[NARRATOR] This friendly gesture might just mean you've been accepted.

[PURRS]

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.

[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]

[NARRATOR] If Carl chooses Kristyn, his owner,

over the stranger more than half the time,

it'll show there's a preference.

[TENSE MUSIC CONTINUES]

Carl basically chose me every time.

And so he seems to have a preference for me, his owner,

over a stranger.

[NARRATOR] 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.

[DR. VITALE] The human-cat attachment bond may be an extension

of that attachment bond they have with their mother as kittens.

[NARRATOR] 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.

- [MEOWS] - [UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS]

It's definitely a leftover trait from when they were wild cats, right?

This is... Those are instinctive behavior. You don't need to teach a cat to climb.

He's gonna tell you, "I'm gonna climb," and if you don't provide him

with cat furniture that's appropriate for him to use,

he's gonna make his own little perch.

[MAN] No, you haven't. You haven't!

[NARRATOR] Cats also like tight spaces,

which helps explain their obsession with boxes.

[DR. SUNG] 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.

[UP-TEMPO ROCK MUSIC PLAYS]

[DR. VITALE] 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.

- [MEOWS] - They're navigating obstacles.

A predator that is able to navigate obstacles

is probably gonna do better.

Clearly, that's gonna be a survival benefit.

[NARRATOR] Cats have specialized assets

that help them squeeze where few animals can.

[UP-TEMPO ROCK MUSIC ENDS]

[DR. KORNRIECH] 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.

[SLOW JAZZ MUSIC PLAYS]

[UP-TEMPO INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC PLAYS]

[NARRATOR] 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.

As most people know them, they look like hairs.

They're long, hairlike 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 that there are whiskers

behind, uh, the backs of the front paws.

So these have evolved to provide tactile or touching information

regarding the environment.

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS]

[NARRATOR] 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.

[NARRATOR] It's like being double-jointed everywhere.

[DR. KORNRIECH] 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.

[NARRATOR] 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,

and many cats are obese, uh, and it's a big problem.

The whiskers will not grow

to accommodate the increased girth of a cat that is overweight.

[NARRATOR] Fifty-nine percent of cats in the US are overweight.

So finding the right diet is crucial.

[TENSE MUSIC PLAYS]

Our cats' wild relatives

have to work for their food.

They have no trouble staying slim.

Our cats, not so much.

[WOMAN] Do you wanna set him on the scale?

No cheating.

[DR. SUNG] 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, too much." Right?

So we wanna do the same for cats. We wanna give them something to do.

So, either a cat toy, uh,

feeding... interactive feeder, but something they can work on

so they know there's food in there.

Dude, you got to work for it.

[NARRATOR] Also, regardless of what their owners eat,

cats need to eat meat.

[DR. KORNRIECH] Cats are obligate carnivores.

They... 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.

[SWALLOWS]

[NARRATOR] 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.

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS]

[IN JAPANESE] Cats are sensitive animals.

People who do not like cats often say

that they don't understand what cats are thinking.

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] Dr. Yuki has spent tens of thousands of hours studying cats.

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

[DR. YUKI IN JAPANESE] If you look at a cat, at their eyes, their ears,

the way they are wagging their tails, if you observe them,

you can start understanding how a cat feels.

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] 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, it means they're ready for an attack.

Reading a cat's face can be intuitive.

The tail is more of a mystery.

[IN JAPANESE] Movements of the tail have various meanings.

When a dog is wagging his tail, people say that it is happy.

That's not the case for a cat.

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] When a cat thrashes its tail, it's annoyed.

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

[DR. YUKI IN JAPANESE] When I come home, and a cat is coming towards me,

holding its tail straight up, it is in a good mood.

It's saying, "Welcome home. Where have you been? I missed you."

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] When the tip of their 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.

[HISSES]

[IN JAPANESE] When its tail is fluffed up, that is true fear!

[COW MOOS]

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] If you understand these coded messages,

anyone can read a cat.

And sometimes, it helps just to listen.

[MEOWS]

[IN JAPANESE] A cat has 20 different sounds

to express its emotions.

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] There are sounds a cat makes when it wants something...

[MEOWING]

...and sounds when a cat is happy.

[MEOWS]

[YOWLS]

These are warning sounds. "Don't get too close."

[GROWLS]

And this...

[HISSES]

...is the sound of an attack.

But cats talk to humans far more than they do other cats.

[MEOWING]

[DR. YUKI IN JAPANESE] Cats that live with humans meow a lot.

When a cat meows loudly and clearly once,

it often means that the cat is demanding something.

"I'm hungry, but there's no food in my bowl."

"I want water," or, "Please open this door."

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] The most mysterious coded messages

are found in the purr.

[PURRS]

[IN JAPANESE] When a cat makes sounds with its throat,

it's feeling really great...

[PURRS]

...a little bit enchanted or mesmerized.

That is the sound it makes.

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] A surprising new study has found

they use their purr to tap into our subconscious.

- [CAT PURRS] - [OWNER SMACKING LIPS]

They seem to be able to insert frequencies

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

[CRYING]

[NARRATOR] When a human baby cries, the frequency,

or the length of the sound waves,

is between 400 and 600 hertz...

[BABY CRIES]

...a sound designed to get our attention.

Modern cats have developed a special high-pitched meow

embedded within their purr that mimics this frequency.

- [CAT PURRING] - [CROWD] Aw.

[PURRING]

[DR. KORNRIECH] Cats have evolved a way to make

a sound that humans have a lot of difficulty ignoring.

[HIP-HOP MUSIC PLAYS]

And so it seems

that that's really tapping into either the maternal or paternal instinct

of the owner to care for the cat.

[NARRATOR] 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.

[CAT MEOWS]

[NARRATOR] Teaching simple commands through repetition

is known as classical conditioning.

So the classical example of classical conditioning is from Pavlov.

[DOG BARKS]

[NARRATOR] Dr. Ivan Pavlov won the Nobel Prize

for physiology in 1904 for his discovery.

[DR. SUNG] What he learned was that

if you ring a bell when you offer a 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 gonna come.

So that's classical conditioning.

[NARRATOR] For cats, clicker training is a good place to start.

[DR. SUNG] You wanna offer a click sound,

and within a second or two, offer the cat a 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.

[NARRATOR] Cats get bored easily, so keep training sessions short.

I would aim anywhere between one to five minutes.

I... 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!" You know?

If your cat can do more than that, that's great.

[NARRATOR] 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.

[NARRATOR] Not all cats are superstars.

Dasha got to where she is through years of training.

[PURRING]

The other Savitsky Cats are still a work in progress.

[SVITLANA SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

[IN RUSSIAN] Not every cat can do special tricks.

You must observe the cat to understand what she is capable of

and teach them things based on their strengths.

[IN ENGLISH] When animals are born, they're born with a temperament.

[MEOWS]

That temperament is the initial building blocks

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

[MARYNA] 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.

[CAT GROANS]

[SVITLANA IN RUSSIAN] It's like with humans. Some are great at computers.

Some can be great ballerinas.

You wouldn't teach computers to a ballerina.

[HIP-HOP MUSIC PLAYS]

[MARYNA IN ENGLISH] Eddy, come here! Eddy! [SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] The Savitskys 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 Asia. She is a diva.

Come on, come on.

You never know, will she perform or not?

Yet 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.

[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

[NARRATOR] At 13, the senior member of the team is a fan favorite.

[MARYNA] 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 is a great student.

You definitely can teach old cats to do tricks.

[NARRATOR] Their newest recruit, Eddy, had a slightly different upbringing.

[MARYNA] Eddy, it's a girl name.

Uh, and she grew up with the dogs,

so most of her life, she has the doglike 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.

[NARRATOR] Because of her background,

the Savitskys train Eddy a bit differently.

[MARYNA] She's doing everything backwards.

So she's doing, like, really crazy stuff

that other cats can't do

just because their brain is not wired to do that.

[NARRATOR] Eddy 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.

[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

[MARYNA IN ENGLISH] I would say, like, it's the next more challenging trick

that you can do after, like, uh, socializing them,

because you basically teach a cat how to jump into a wall.

Eddy.

[MARYNA] It takes time, time, time and a lot of practice,

a lot of, like, wasted paper.

It's still kind of still in process.

Eddy, leap.

[SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

[SUSPENSEFUL MUSIC PLAYS]

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] It's gonna take some practice.

But the Savitskys are learning how to motivate Eddy.

Good boy!

[NARRATOR] Different cats are motivated by different rewards.

[SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY]

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

My new love.

I think part of it is that they're using the wrong items to motivate the cats.

[NARRATOR] 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.

[NARRATOR] Kristyn 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.

[MAN WHISPERING] I think he loves you.

[NARRATOR] It seems the heart trumps the stomach.

So is this proof that cats love us?

[DR. VITALE] 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.

[NARRATOR] 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.

Ten thousand years ago,

so before the Neolithic, there were no cats in Cyprus.

[NARRATOR] Cyprus is a small island in the Mediterranean

near the cradle of civilization

where archaeologists recently unearthed a huge discovery.

[DR. GIEGL] They found a Neolithic burial of a child.

And in this burial, there was also a cat skeleton.

[NARRATOR] Dr. Eva Maria used DNA to date this find.

And it would become the earliest known evidence

of a human-cat relationship...

[CAT MEOWS]

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

[CAT MEOWS]

This cat did not swim over the sea.

It means that people took this cat on their ships to Cyprus.

So something happened around this time in this area.

[NARRATOR] What happened was the farm.

Humans began to grow crops and store grains,

and wildcats saw an opportunity.

[CAT PURRING]

[DR. GIEGL] 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 wildcats and humans.

[NARRATOR] And from here, the relationship grew.

[DR. GIEGL] Egyptians worship cats.

You had millions of cats mummified,

and from the Egyptian iconography, statues, all kind 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.

[NARRATOR] Wherever we went, cats followed...

often by boat.

[DR. GIEGL] 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.

[NARRATOR] So this is how Felis catus made its way to every continent on Earth.

[CAT YOWLS]

[DR. GIEGL] It was so important on ships that until 1975 in the British Navy,

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

[NARRATOR] It wasn't just the British.

[BUGLE PLAYS]

[MAN] Attention, Mr. Coast Guardsman. Herman the cat is on the prowl.

In Baltimore, Herman is fingerprinted, or is it, uh, paw-printed,

so he can get an official Coast Guard pass.

[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS]

[NARRATOR] This is real.

Herman the cat was actually in the US Coast Guard.

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

[THUNDER RUMBLING]

[SINISTER LAUGHING]

[PIPE ORGAN MUSIC PLAYS]

[YOWLS]

Stories of black cats and dark magic,

witches and cauldrons did not begin in Salem

or even Transylvania

but with a rogue pope named Gregory IX.

[DR. GIEGL] 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 the time when the Church,

dominated by males,

considered them to be a danger.

So the Church tried to get rid of them.

[DOGS BARKING]

[NARRATOR] 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.

[NARRATOR] 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.

[WOMAN] It's quite a traditional thing in Scotland.

There was a very famous cat over at a distillery in Perthshire

called Towser, and he's probably the most famous distillery cat ever.

- [MAN] Yeah, he or she is legendary. - [WOMAN] Yeah.

[MAN] I think he is the most famous distillery cat.

[NARRATOR] Five years ago, Helen and Drew Mckenzie

adopted two working cats

to carry on an age-old tradition.

[DREW] The abbey was founded in 1191.

We have William Wallace coming here after his victory over the English

at the Battle of Black Earnside.

[BAGPIPES PLAYING]

So it's got a huge history.

I suppose we're continuing the tradition.

You know, all the cats that have been here over the years.

[NARRATOR] 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 the tapetum lucidum,

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

that reflects light back to the retina,

so it allows them to see very well in low-light conditions.

[NARRATOR] What they're looking for poses a very real danger

to the health of the distillery.

[HELEN] Mice are always present in a distillery

because of the huge amounts of barely, and grain obviously attracts mice.

[MOUSE SQUEAKING]

Unfortunately, without getting too technical,

mice kind of wee all the time, so... [LAUGHS]

For want of a better expression. Um, and that's not a good thing.

[NARRATOR] To find these vermin, the cats need to get ultrasonic.

[DR. KORNRIECH] The ears of cats can rotate about 180 degrees.

And they can hear very high frequencies.

This is because the prey that they seek vocalizes in this auditory range.

[MOUSE SQUEAKING]

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

[MOUSE SQUEALS]

[NARRATOR] 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 revealed that each night,

Vespers travels more than a mile,

but she never strays too far from home.

Vespers, who is officially the chief mouser,

is busy getting on with the day job and night job.

[NARRATOR] And she's most active just before dawn,

prime rodent time.

Cats are crepuscular animals, okay?

Crespuc... Crep... [LAUGHS] Crepuscular animals

means that they're active early dawn and at dusk.

[NARRATOR] 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.

[ROCK MUSIC PLAYS]

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 jump 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... to the circadian rhythm.

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

[NARRATOR] Some cats have another peculiar nighttime ritual.

[HELEN] Vespers, in particular, she is a big present giver.

I reckon Ves probably catches... four or five things a day.

[NARRATOR] 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, uh,

and in kind of a morbid sense, to get practice trying to get the prey.

[NARRATOR] Whatever the reason, it's a compliment.

It means you're family.

And there's few things less pleasant

when you're walking without slippers on in the morning.

[UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYS]

[NARRATOR] While Vespers performs the traditional duties,

Friar John Claw has a more modern approach.

[HELEN] 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.

[NARRATOR] 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.

[UPBEAT MUSIC CONTINUES]

[DREW] He's front of house.

- [HELEN] She's back of house. - She's back of house, doing the hard work.

[NARRATOR] Vespers uses instinct.

Friar John Claw uses Instagram.

What started 10,000 years ago as a working relationship

has evolved into a global obsession.

[CAT MEOWS]

[MEOWING]

The way that 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.

[NARRATOR] Cats are the number one family-friendly thing

on the Internet...

[WOMAN LAUGHING]

...with more than 25 billion views.

Oh-ho-ho!

[NARRATOR] A new study found that cat videos

actually boost positive emotions

and decrease negative feelings.

[LAUGHS]

In other words, they provide a big ol' shot of dopamine.

[LAUGHS]

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.

[NARRATOR] 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, you know, cats are being cats.

They don't know you don't want them on top of your counter.

[NARRATOR] Rule number one, never punish a cat.

[POT CLANGING]

When your cat is doing something you don't want,

right, and you punish him,

he sometimes doesn't understand why you don't like it, right?

It also makes you feel unpredictable.

"All of a sudden, you're yelling and screaming."

"I don't understand what happened."

[NARRATOR] The key is positivity.

[SVITLANA SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

[IN ENGLISH] If your cat is doing something you don't want,

you wanna be able to distract the cat and then tell him. Tell him what you want.

"Hey, let's do this. Come over and touch my hand."

"Go to your bed. [GASPS] What a smart kitty, yay!"

And your cat goes, "Yeah, I'm the best cat ever!"

[NARRATOR] For really bad habits, classical conditioning is not enough.

Counterconditioning is the process of changing an emotional response.

[NARRATOR] This is when you pull out the good stuff,

their favorite, most irresistible treat.

[DR. SUNG] Offering something so highly valuable or 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 walked out of the house,

you had a snarky neighbor, and he always said 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 $1,000?

Huh?

Then you're like, "That's not so bad. I don't mind seeing that guy."

What if you saw him four times a day, and you got $4,000?

You're gonna be like, "Yeah! Bring it on!"

"Where is he?" You're gonna wanna see that guy all the time, right?

So that's what counterconditioning is.

You can change a situation

from being negative, to more neutral, to then positive.

[NARRATOR] 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.

[NARRATOR] A cat's true motivation

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

[DOG BARKS]

[IN JAPANESE] Dogs see their owners as gods.

But cats think of themselves as gods.

Cats don't want to do what they don't like.

They want to sleep when they want to sleep,

eat when they want to eat, play when they want to play.

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] 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.

[NARRATOR] Kristyn'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!

[NARRATOR] When Kristyn acts scared of the fan,

Carl tries to hide.

[OMINOUS MUSIC PLAYS]

[DR. VITALE] Is the fan scary?

[NARRATOR] A quick reset and an attitude adjustment,

and it's time for round two.

[DR. VITALE] So if I'm happy towards the fan,

we should see if the cat can pick up on my emotions.

[CALM MUSIC PLAYS]

Look. Look at what a nice fan.

Look at what a good fan.

[NARRATOR] When she speaks nicely to the fan and is not scared,

Carl seems more confident.

Look at those streamers.

Look.

[NARRATOR] The fan is no longer a threat.

No more fear!

[NARRATOR] It's not just Carl.

Seventy-nine percent 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.

[MARYNA] If you even have a bad mood and you go into training cats,

just walk away.

Do not go... Do not go there.

They feel everything, and they make it worse.

Asia, come here.

[CAT GROWLS]

[NARRATOR] Cats have learned to be empaths to adapt and survive.

[DR. VITALE] 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.

[NARRATOR] This revelation that cats pick up on our feelings

then took a much bigger turn than anyone ever expected.

Back in Japan, Dr. Saho Takagi noticed something.

[HISSES]

[IN JAPANESE] I realized that we can observe different behaviors

in cats in the US and the ones in Japan.

In Japan, cats have a hard time with unfamiliar places.

However, cats I saw in the US...

["THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER" PLAYS]

...act normal even in unfamiliar places.

So Japanese and American cats might have different personalities.

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] Kristyn 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.

[IN JAPANESE] I realized that our cultural differences affect cats.

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] Is human culture changing cat culture?

[DR. SAHO IN JAPANESE] Japan is an island nation.

Most cat owners keep their cats completely indoors.

People in Japan rarely have a party at home.

Therefore, for cats in Japan, the frequency of meeting strangers

is much less than for cats in the US.

These might be factors contributing to the differences between cats in Japan

and cats in the US.

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] Their research suggests these cultural differences

might actually be handed down from generation to generation.

[SEAGULLS CAWING]

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

[UPBEAT FOLK MUSIC PLAYS]

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 are not... They do not belong to somebody specifically.

[NARRATOR] 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.

[CAT PURRING]

[DR. SUNG] 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. Stop making me cry.

Um... yeah, this is why we do it, because we love animals.

[CAT PURRING]

[NARRATOR] 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.

[CAT MEOWS]

[IN JAPANESE] Cats love their owners very much.

I believe that my cats definitely love me.

[CAT PURRING]

[IN ENGLISH] 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.

[CAT PURRING]

[NARRATOR] With all the devotion of her family,

Eddy is perfectly positioned to become the next big superstar.

[SVITLANA AND MARYNA SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] All she needs to do is complete the paper hoop.

[SVITLANA SPEAKING RUSSIAN]

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] We're only beginning to realize the potential of cats.

[IN JAPANESE] There is still so much we don't know about cats.

The future will bring more discoveries bit by bit.

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] The more we learn,

the more we realize just how deep our connection is.

[MARYNA] They feel the love that you giving to them.

And they are kind of, like, feeding on it.

Love is going both ways.

[NARRATOR] If we can learn how to bring out the best in our felines,

they will bring out the best in us.

[IN RUSSIAN] I can't imagine my life without cats.

They are my animals. I feel them.

And I hope they love me as much as I love them.

[NARRATOR IN ENGLISH] When everything comes together,

the results can be magical.

[TRIUMPHANT MUSIC PLAYS]

["WE ARE GOLDEN" BY RAPHAEL LAKE & AARON LEVY PLAYS]

[MEOWING IN SLOW MOTION]

♪ We never danced in the dark ♪

♪ It's all clear to see ♪

♪ Up with the skylark is our reality ♪

♪ One voice to another ♪

♪ One heartbeat ♪

♪ Sisters and brothers ♪

♪ We are the remedy, the remedy ♪

♪ We are golden ♪

♪ Yes, we are ♪

♪ Hear the thunder, see the stars ♪

♪ We are golden for all to see ♪

♪ We are golden, believe ♪

♪ We are golden for all to see ♪

♪ We are golden, believe ♪

♪ Believe ♪