• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

Can cats sense spirits?

<SARCASM>

-

Yes.

How do I know?

Because my cat told me, and I believe everything she says, except when it's about how she's starving to death, and she needs food now.

</SARCASM>

Cats may be weird, but it's why I love them.

-
 
Ethan Thane Athen said:
Assuming you've changed the covers so she can't smell the other cat..
Click to expand...
Changing the covers won't prevent the cat from smelling the other cat. Cats have a very acute olfactory sense (though not as acute as that of dogs) and can probably smell the other cat on the mattress.

ETA: In fact I'm pretty sure that when a cat (or a dog) seems to stare at nothing, it's because they have smelled something that is imperceptible to us.
 
Gord_in_Toronto said:
This seems to be the very thread for this most curious tale (or tail) that demonstrates that cats know things we don't know.

3 Vancouver Island cats hold owners' blender hostage — for a month

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/langford-cats-vitamix-battle-1.6311910



Anyone have a clue as to what the cats are thinking? :boggled:
Click to expand...
Curiously we've had something similar here. An acquaintance of C's dropped over a box containing a piece of apparatus and it's accessories. Leonard was immediately suspicious and clawed at it. After the contents were removed he insisted on lying out on the box, and occasionally clawing at it.
We think it may have the scent of a dog on it.
 
arthwollipot said:
Changing the covers won't prevent the cat from smelling the other cat. Cats have a very acute olfactory sense (though not as acute as that of dogs) and can probably smell the other cat on the mattress.

ETA: In fact I'm pretty sure that when a cat (or a dog) seems to stare at nothing, it's because they have smelled something that is imperceptible to us.
Click to expand...

Agreed - I was trying to forestall an 'Impossible I've changed the sheets argument' but I shouldn't have been so definitive.
 
Scorpion said:
https://twitter.com/dajjal_dd/status/1481974126835343362/photo/1
Click to expand...

Mr Miyagi does that reasonably often... its usually a mouse in the ceiling or a bird on the roof that he can hear, but I can't.

Do not discount the possibility that the cats might be hearing something rather than seeing it. Cats have an incredible range and sensitivity of hearing, as low as 40Hz and as high as 85 kHZ, that is four octaves above the range of a human with good hearing. They are also incredibly good at localising sounds... they can determine the source of a sound within 5° either side - about three inches at three feet.

While cats cannot hear the 50/60Hz of electricity, if you have a bad insultator or connection in your home, electrical current passing through it can cause a sound at 50/60Hz that the cat can hear and you can't. Same applies to incandescent light bulbs with a dodgy filament
 
Last edited:
smartcooky said:
While cats cannot hear the 50/60Hz of electricity, if you have a bad insultator or connection in your home, electrical current passing through it can cause a sound at 50/60Hz that the cat can hear and you can't. Same applies to incandescent light bulbs with a dodgy filament
Click to expand...
My cat goes completely berserk whenever I get a cell phone call. Which is unfortunate (painful) when she is sleeping on or against me.
 
To support that view, I have a totally deaf cat and she's been deaf from birth, and she doesn't do that "staring into the corner of a ceiling" thing. (Don't worry - she has plenty of other ways of unnerving me so she is keeping up the cats' code.)
 
Thanks for all your thoughts, folks. I think the reason she won't explore the front bed is simply that cats are cats, and they all have their little quirks.
 
If they could sense spirits, you'd play hell getting anyone to admit it around here.

We need to reproduce this under lab conditions, you see. And we don't have a test spirit to volunteer.
 
Last edited:
Warp12 said:
If they could sense spirits, you'd play hell getting anyone to admit it around here.

We need to reproduce this under lab conditions, you see. And we don't have a test spirit to volunteer.
Click to expand...

I know imagine people wanting evidence of something!
 
Scorpion said:
https://twitter.com/dajjal_dd/status/1481974126835343362/photo/1
Click to expand...

I have many, many cats and they often do this sort of thing, but I have never imagined that it was spirits that captured their attention. Moths, geckos, maybe a mouse in the ceiling. One thing that took me a while to realise is that cats' perceptions (hearing and smell particularly) are much better than we give them credit for.

eta: ok, virtually my entire post was covered by other posters.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom