The best i’ve gotten my own cat to understand was touching near the object i want her to pay attention to. She has no idea how to follow a finger to where it is pointing at, only the ability to find the finger itself as something i want her to pay attention to.
I consider her to be an exceptionally smart cat too.
Have you tried getting yours to follow your gaze? I’ve found that’s a way better way to indicate a “direction” to a cat. Works… Sometimes.
Also worth noting that unlike dogs, the slitted pupils mean cats are severely far-sighted, that’s why they have whiskers to feel their way around things that are in front of their face. Any kind of visual stuff is a blurry mess to them at any close distance.
Cats haven’t been around long enough to understand human pointing. https://www.psychologytoday.com/sg/blog/canine-corner/202312/dogs-get-the-point-but-cats-dont
The best i’ve gotten my own cat to understand was touching near the object i want her to pay attention to. She has no idea how to follow a finger to where it is pointing at, only the ability to find the finger itself as something i want her to pay attention to.
I consider her to be an exceptionally smart cat too.
Have you tried getting yours to follow your gaze? I’ve found that’s a way better way to indicate a “direction” to a cat. Works… Sometimes.
Also worth noting that unlike dogs, the slitted pupils mean cats are severely far-sighted, that’s why they have whiskers to feel their way around things that are in front of their face. Any kind of visual stuff is a blurry mess to them at any close distance.
She did in fact understand my eye pointing. She is also a cat, and only checks whatever I’m looking at if she feels like it. Very fun little trick.