Knowing to start and maintain eye contact when expressing stress so it’s not taken as a joke by the parents. Naurrr 😂😂😂

she was probably saying "I don't want your later!" "I just want Dad to come back" Billie missed Dad so badly 😢

yes

Shut up, Mom. You’re not *my* Dad!🤣

Noise all done all done, mom!

It’s so you know she really means it 😹

It’s so funny, I’m sorry!

@@BilliSpeaks 🤣🤣

Billi loves eye contact pressing mad 😂

@@BilliSpeaks I don't know how you keep from laughing 😂

I remember when our kid stayed at grandparents for the first time, we came home without her, and our cat was going crazy, yelling at us and looking for her, like trying to explain that we lost our kid somewhere.

Yup you are right my dogs do the same thing until either we both come home or Boyfriend is gone and probably when I'm gone too I would assume that In an animal world and also previously and still in a human world when somebody Doesn't come back for a bit and you don't see them you start to worry And then you really worry when it takes longer I've started to tell my dogs it's OK it's OK To let them know that I already know the answer

You can read his mind

It did seem like he was a bit stressed or overly concerned like when a cat misses a kitten. At least he didn't start wailing, that always kills me.

Yes!

I know!

Ohhhh, I think you may be right!! T_T Even more sad!

Yup, this. Until that happens, Billi mad mad mad dad where hmm? all done

This.

That was my interpretation too!

And tell dad to bring Squirrel with him!

Exactly.

My mom calls my phone on Facetime and just asks for the cat when I pick up! 😆

@@laras678 OMG that's great

@@laras678 That will be me when my son leaves the nest.

I frequently text my brother when his cat, Missy, is looking for him. He is usually at work, having just headed there or about an hour before he gets home. In between those 2 times, she is calm and spends a lot of time napping. They also play their own version of Marco Polo, which we call Missy Daddy. She wanders around the house looking for my brother yelling, and my brother calls her until she "finds" him.

This reminds me of my cat. I blocked the door to a hiding spot that we didn't want him going to. When he realized it was blocked, he sat down and very slowly and deliberately looked right at me. Just like that.

The cat has no idea what these words actually mean. At best, he has a surface level of connection with certain words like 'dad' simply because of repetition of use, but there's no possible way he knows the context of words strung together, especially those involving emotional expression.

@@OnlyTwoShoes It’s good enough for communication.

@@scottbirch968 the same thing could be said about a brick wall

@@OnlyTwoShoes Wrong. There may not be a conversation in the English language here, but meaning is being conveyed.

Yes exactly 👍

My cat waits in the window for me to come back from work every night. She just sits there and as soon as she spots me walking down the street she springs up and goes nut. And I know she knows at what time I usually come back, because the few times I got home early she wasn't in the window yet. They are just as lovable as dogs, they just don't show it in the same ways!

How many wife you have sir?

@@devondetroit2529 Your question makes no sense

Cat's are unable to cry emotional tears. Sorry to burst your bubble.

@ugyboogie shut up nobody cares

I don’t want to hear any of your mess take me to Dad. Maybe you’re not clear on my feelings about this matter. 😂

I actually thought she was referring to the audiobook. She thought it was noise.

@@LFTRnow That's what I thought too, it was getting on her nerves.

"Noise. All done."

@@LFTRnow that’s what I think as well.

this is very interesting to me. getting them to pay attention and maybe even start quantifying the passing of time in terms of light and dark. i doubt they notice time passing much on their own, i doubt they pay attention to time passing enough to think to quantify it. but then the human pushes them to in order to allow them to quantify how long they'll have to wait for something, and then they have an incentive to quantify the passing of time in their mind. lowkey mindblowing.

@@fingerlickingoooood they’re such high consciousness they’re beyond time - they know there’s really no time, so the light and dark helps ground them in the 3D we have to deal with and be able to see our timelines easier.

@@aprilsvlogz so true

@@beelzebub7221 That one really made me laugh XD

Whoa! That's genius now I've just gotta teach my cat to count first

now we know 😢

I agree with you so much. I grew up with cats and every time I watch Billi's videos, I think of all the things they tried to tell me and my family, but we never understood. I'm glad that Billi is helping in research that might make these buttons available for all pets in the future....

I wish my cat could 'talk' like Billie. I spent a lot of $$ just to find out she has arthritis. No surprise she's almost 18.

@Sharon Gagnist my cats went through the same. At their last years of life they were taking gabapentin, steroids, cbd oil and collagen for arthritis. Not to mention physical therapy and acupuncture when they developed herniated lumbar disks... we spent so much money but at least they were able to walk until their last days 😔

Silliaek - I was thinking the same thing. I remember hearing people say that cats don't think of you when you're not around. That sure turned out to be a false assumption! I think it was Bunny the dog who asked one time where grandma was... or was that also Billi? It's clear that our animals have image memories of us that get triggered just like ours do. It will be interesting to see the consequences and insights we find as these animals continue to grow in their communication abilities. Will having the mental tool of words foster a greater mental ability? What are the limits?

Anyone who doesn't think cats can tell the difference between people hasn't spent a lot of time with them. My chickens learned my calls as well.

Cat people have always known. I don't know why everyone else can't see that.😏

Anyone who had at least one cat for o long period of time and established a relationship with it clearly knows that....

It’s easier to know that cats clearly distinguish between people, than to prove that their interest is coming more from heart than from stomach. (common arguments about this exist) Anyway I believe my cat really loves me ... and cares for his stomach at the same time 😂

@@petrskupa6292 These days, my husband feeds the cats more often than I do because he's in the house more, but my lap is still their favorite. They definitely love me.

He doesn't. And you're delusional if you think that.

@@BlameNate He does, Actually.

@@TheRlzzardOfOz No, actually, lol. he doesn't. i'm sorry you're this ignorant

​@@BlameNateimagine being upset that a cat is more intelligent than you

@@BlameNate Are you a telepath? Can you read the thoughts of a cat?

Watching this is like "Yup, this is EXACTLY what I imagine a talking cat would say" 😂

Exactly!

"So why are you doing NOTHING?? Mad-mad-mad-mad-mad."

What I got from "then friend" was "Okay clearly you don't remember. We used to have a friend called Dad, remember? Remember Dad?"

@@MyFireElf (Soundtrack builds; slow zoom on human's face.)

Or she downgraded "Mom" to "friend" status 😅 like "Then look for him, FRIEND"

😢

I’m so sorry for your loss! 😢 I’m glad you have some pets for tangible company though. God loves you very much.

My dad just passed in April, and “his” cat (out of SEVEN freaking cats!) - she is an Old Lady Cat. Her name is Momma Kitty, bc she was the mother of ALL the other cats but 1… she was SO sad when he never came home from Hospice 😭…. But! Then, once I started visiting my Mom every day, MK immediately adopted ME as Her human. ♥️ I have, in the last four weeks, taught her to use the bedstairs to get into & out of bed… to come to my bed when she wants snuggles… to go meow (loudly) at the fridge when she wants food (she’s special needs & can’t eat dry food, & has to eat every 2-4 hours, around the clock)… AND- what “kisses” are… see, my Dad never kissed her, so this was foreign to her 😢 but she has since learnt to press her cheek into my face when I kiss her. Needless to say, I am thrilled & feel very special. Ok that is all, ty for reading this Comment.

Also, Person: I am sorry for your loss. * Imaginary Hugs *

My cat has not been the same since her biological mother died. They knew each other nine years. It's been a year and you can't tell how stressed she is. She constantly asks to go to the living room, which is the last place she saw her mother go before she died. I try to keep her comforted, but it doesn't always work.

What a wonderful thing that our pets can learn another language to communicate with us. I have seen dogs do this but Billi is the first cat I have seen do this. I only wish we had this ability sooner. When I had my weimaraner, Kristina ❤, used to look me in my eyes because she wanted to tell me something and I used to guess what she wanted but the buttons would have been so much better than guessing.

They already have an “I don’t understand” button, hopefully there will be more complex buttons like that in the future

Maybe there's a philosophical set too, pretty soon the conversations with her will be quite deep 🤔

I've said that

I will donate my life energy to this cat to see to her communicating everything she wants to stg 😂😭-

We need to give Billi a button that says “An atom is a particle that consists of a nucleus of protons and neutrons surrounded by a cloud of electrons. The atom is the basic particle of the chemical elements, and the chemical elements are distinguished from each other by the number of protons that are in their atoms. For example, any atom that contains 11 protons is sodium, and any atom that contains 29 protons is copper. The number of neutrons defines the isotope of the element. Atoms are extremely small, typically around 100 picometers across. A human hair is about a million carbon atoms wide. This is smaller than the shortest wavelength of visible light, which means humans cannot see atoms with conventional microscopes. Atoms are so small that accurately predicting their behavior using classical physics is not possible due to quantum effects. More than 99.94% of an atom's mass is in the nucleus. The protons have a positive electric charge, the electrons have a negative electric charge, and the neutrons have no electric charge. If the number of protons and electrons are equal, then the atom is electrically neutral. If an atom has more or fewer electrons than protons, then it has an overall negative or positive charge, respectively - such atoms are called ions. The electrons of an atom are attracted to the protons in an atomic nucleus by the electromagnetic force. The protons and neutrons in the nucleus are attracted to each other by the nuclear force. This force is usually stronger than the electromagnetic force that repels the positively charged protons from one another. Under certain circumstances, the repelling electromagnetic force becomes stronger than the nuclear force. In this case, the nucleus splits and leaves behind different elements. This is a form of nuclear decay. Atoms can attach to one or more other atoms by chemical bonds to form chemical compounds such as molecules or crystals. The ability of atoms to attach and detach is responsible for most of the physical changes observed in nature. Chemistry is the discipline that studies these changes.”

4:40 Billi really sat down and thought long and hard for that

I interpreted it as Billi saying that if mom tells her where to look for dad, then they can be friends again

look for a new friend since dad is dead.

With toddlers sometimes it helps to look all around the house to show them their parent isn't there, then reassure them their parent is coming back soon

I interpreted it as, "I won't be friends with you until you look for Dad".

I have been day dreaming of getting one of these things and having great chats with my choc. Lab, but you just reality checked me. What on earth was I thinking?

@@rotkatzeredcat4284 haha got to love them though ! They are one of the best , I also have a golden retriever who's awesome as well .

Billi’s like “WHY AREN’T YOU PANICKING DAD IS MISSING!”

Yeah that’s exactly what it seemed.

Wich honestly kinda makes sense no? I'd wager if a cat is missing from a wild pack they would go looking for it too, no? So the cat maybe doesn't understand humans have to go further away from their terretory from time to time.

Ascension

The cat might also be saying that the dad is her friend. “Look where then for my friend.”

Actually I thought about this and wondered something different. Have you ever bern trying to explain something to someone and they keep giving you and answer you either don’t understand or don’t like so you rephrase the question hoping fir more elaboration or a different answer. I was wondering if when dad didn’t show up even much later she was trying to use different words to ask where dad was? She doesn’t have enough buttons to put it clearly another way, hence “where then friend?” Followed by lots of wants which we know she’s been using in conjunction with missing dad lots? Just a thought?

@@SquirrelThis this makes so much sense

@@SquirrelThis I thought the same, seemed more like a kid hardly trying to rephrase something after they weren't understood.

If you think about it, isn't that all language? Like how babies learn. They don't know 'dad' means "father' they just know it makes the hairy one happy, and it makes him show up

@@TheDapperDragon exactly, i mean shit i didnt even know what most words really meant until i was basically an adult

it seems like he can associate a word to a concept, just no understanding of the larger structures of language like grammer or word order. He can understand words like "food, mom, and dad" just fine, but even if he had all the buttons in the world he still couldn't use them in a sentence.

@@Charles-hq7ce yeah. like a toddler. of which a cat's brain is comparable.

​@@Charles-hq7ceNo one has delved much into grammar from what I've seen, but a grammar does evolve naturally with most of these fluent pets. Need to be aware of various languages to understand. For example, Billi uses Japanese word order.

All living beings. Not just Cats and Dogs. There's amazing research that proves it in Ants, Bees, Insects in general, Arachnids and Spiders, Fish, Reptiles, Mammals, Birds and so on.

There's nothing here to prove it's not random.

@@JamesGower-ch5zj Exactly. Cats are pretty smart, it's possible Billi figured out that these buttons are a good way of getting attention and all meaning is interpretation on the owner's side. We don't see every interaction, only the ones the owners feel are interesting or funny and even in these 'conversations' we get random word strings like "Look Where Then Friend"

​@@TheTykeThank you so much for your comment! You are the first person to confirm exactly what I have been experiencing. It is just so awesome and fills me with wonder. I never used to think about this, but now I see God working in ways to bring about that new creation where we are all one. Lions will lie down with lambs and eat straw. You have made my day by you comment. Thank you 🎉

​@@TheTykecan you please let me know what research if you can remember?

431 likes and no replies?? lemme fix that

Cats are very misunderstood

Eh I’m still a dog person

​@@emmanolan1250so are most animals that aren't homo sapiens sapiens.

​@@PLAGUEONLYRICS yes dog people have dog mentality, and dogs are a slang for a reason

She loves him so much 🥹

@@BilliSpeaks and you. She just wants the full-set. lol

oh ya.. they do ...all the time.. i cant even come out of bathroom once without finding one of my cats standing outside the bathroom door waiting for the me... they are so loving!! and cute!!

@@preethimohan7830 In the wild, cats are most vulnerable when they eat, sleep and "go to the toilet", so they will watch each other's back when doing one of these things. So your cats watching out for you when you are in the bathroom is a sign that they are considering you to be part of their "tribe", and I guess you can call it an act of love.

@@DolphinsPlayingInAquaMoonlight lol then m a proud kitty tribe member!! :D

I know I was like Does Billie remember where the buttons are or is this a step even further where she actually reads/recognizes the pictures on the buttons?

@@SupHapCak Or maybe she just presses any button, because that gets her attention?

​@@Hugh.ManateeThen she would be hitting completely random buttons

@@WhiteWolf-lm7gj @WhiteWolf-lm7gj I kind of think she is hitting random buttons. And the owners interpret whatever comes out. "Mad" "Mad" "Noise" "All done" "All done" Is that random buttons (All of the are within reach from where she's sitting, in fact these 3 buttons are next to each other in a row)? Or is the cat really angrily telling the lady to STFU? Especially since the cat is showing non of the body language cats use when angry or annoyed.

@@Hugh.Manatee Like a lot of other people have said, she seems to use "mad" as a catch all for things she can't express. Also, she chose to walk over there before hitting those buttons, why wouldn't she just hit buttons closer to her?

He sure is 💜

@@winter9703you say that like humans come out of the womb with pre-installed dictionaries in their brains, like adults don't have to babble exaggerated mouth sounds for years to get the tiny savages to mimic the right ones at the right times no two human languages are one to one either, so give Billi a break for not having good grammar, she's learning a new language man if you lived with a cat you'd know they don't walk on weird things unless it's deliberate

@@winter9703 she definitely is using specific buttons, even avoiding others. That doesn’t mean she knows what they mean probably.

@@winter9703 You can clearly see the cat looking at there owner for there reaction based on certain button presses as if waiting for a reaction or reply do this enough and the cat will definately understand what certain words mean, give them the abillity to express that themselves an teach them to use it definately possible, for cats to learn simple fraises that reflect what they want they don't even have to understand the word just know it's a gateway to something that correlates with that noise or sound that they want, it's a pretty simple concept quite complex for a animal but damn if this is interesting to see

@@breezybee777 This! Obviously the nuance is going to be lost on the cat, but they have the ability to make dozens of sounds to communicate with their own species, there is no reason it cannot learn a few specific noises for another creature. Words are no more complicated than any other kind of sound like ticks.

That's actually a solid point, hadn't thought of that tbh. +1

probaby had a background frequency that bothered her, my cat couldn't stand sound coming out of my phone but didn't mind loud music or anything

That’s what I thought too.

Yes! My cat hates it when I play audiobooks or podcasts over the speaker.

To tell him/remind him she was here, still here, waiting for him - her 'calling card', so that he would know when he returned that she was still around and could be found. Scent means so much to animals 😢

Lovely story.

When my husband died, two of his girl cats stopped interacting with me. Only saw them at meal time. This lasted a few years.

I was given mind blowing advice once & I'm very thankful for it 🙏 I know it's not always possible but it helps so much to let pets SEE deceased loved ones, whether human or animal, if AT ALL possible. After that, I was always diligent to bring bonded pets to the vet whenever I had to put another down. Also once brought a friends cat to see her dead mom at the hospice facility. They definitely understand death & then they mourn. It seems to help them compared to a bonded animal/human just vanishing 😳 & the animal always searching/waiting for their beloveds return 🥺

Ah what more proof do we need...Billie you are so smart and you represent all our cats with all their personalities... Dad is lucky to be so loved by Billie.

@@animeaunty This is a really good idea. I always wondered if that would help somehow, as they obviously know what death looks like. But they won't necessarily understand that just vanishing means the same thing. Now to convince people it's definitely necessary for me to have the cat at the funeral. LOL.

I agree. I'm not sure how many different buttons there are for negative emotion but I don't think even single words can really encompass the full breadth of emotion.

I WAS THINKING THAT TOO!!!! My word with the "want x 5" and looking around was "emptiness." Poor Billi.

It reminds me of the enneagram personality test saying people will have different emotional expressions to the same underlying cause. For my type the (mad) button sends me into anxious and sad thought patterns, but for other people the same discomfort will trigger anger and hostility. The (mad) button points not to the angry reaction per se, but to that deeper disturbance that could be "angering" or "scary" or "saddening" depending on how you react to it.

I want to know how the cat reacted when She called him

How come it took that long to call though?

Yes.

Yes, that’s how I understood it. I think she think mom is not seeing how serious it is 😂

i thought that too but more as in "look for him, who knows he might be stuck under the sofa" kinda way lol

This blows Rudyard Kipling's "The Cat that Walks by Himself" out of the water.

My friend has a cat that will legit greet me at the door like a dog and won't leave me alone for at least 30 minutes into my visiting with my friend. Not that I mind since he's a big old cuddle bug. And I've had many cats that were just as friendly. I don't know where the "aloof and indifferent" thing came from, honestly!

The people who say that don't understand cat language. Cats have the same emotions, but they just express it differently. If a cat is ignoring you, depending on context it can mean either "I'm not interested in you" or "I trust you enough that I don't feel the need to be on guard around you."

Cats lack the facial muscles that humans and dogs have that we easily recognize in the expression of emotion. I don't know why there's a painting called "Dog's Playing Poker" when it really should be cats.

I think it’s partly because some people expect cats to interact with them on demand, like dogs will, but cats often choose whether to interact or not.

I want you to know, that I'm not angry with you, I'm just disappointed. -Billi, probably.

Lol, when cats are angry they have no problem showing it

@@Romns1513 Today I learned... my father might actually be a cat.

Yeah, I think she just uses it to indicate that some aspect of the current state of affairs is undesired. I definitely don't think she's using it as narrowly as we would to indicate anger.

I have a dumb theory, that what Billi means by "mad" is "I don't have a button for what I want to say."

I hope your day got better.

@@macklinillustration thanks. I am a bit better indeed

@@worldpeace6322how are you feeling now, rainbow smiley face pfper?

@@childeofepickness much better, thanks

I started crying too but tried not to fall apart. Sad 😢

The sign of a true fan! 😂😂

I’m always waiting for her to press mad each time I watch lol

@@ComedorDelrico Apparently! I don't even watch every video, & I'm horribly unobservant, but my brain obviously decided this detail should be filed for future reference 🤷‍♀

@@jmiller3579 Same- like, I definitely don't want Billi to be mad, but it's just too hilarious 😂 The first Billi video I watched was "no words, only rage", where she went absolutely nuclear on the "mad" button- I dunno what horrible sin Kendra had committed, but Billi was NOT having it.

That and "fan toy", hahaha! Oh, and "hmm?" but that's because Kendra is constantly using it.

Billi is a female, but yeah. Language barriers are so hard to get across, but I think Billi is nailing it.

@@sunnywhite196 silly me, I knew she was a lady. I've corrected my post. Thanks for noticing. And I agree, Billi nails it every time!

@@kathyjohnson2043 It's all good. 🙂 I don't know why it bugs me that people think Billi is a boy. Probably because I go through something similar only instead of misgendering me, they misspell my name, using the male spelling instead of the female spelling. 😅

@@sunnywhite196 LOL. Don't even get me started on Cathy, Catherine...

@@kathyjohnson2043 But have you heard of Qatherine.....

"Mad" pressed continously for hours

I left for college and my cat, then 12, formerly aloof and very grumpy, slept on my bed all day every day while I was gone, got super listless and depressed, no interest in toys, or the other cats. That first summer, I returned to a cat who for the first time since he was under 16 weeks, began snuggling against me on his own. Totally wild to me, since while I was very much His Person he'd only ever occassionally slept at my feet, on top of the covers. Every summer after, then every day after graduating he slept under my covers, cuddled to my side. In his last few months, he even began sleeping on my chest/belly at night. Cats definitely miss their people.

@@Miyori999 Great story! 🥲

back when I was 7 I found a abandoned stray cat that was friendly she was already fully grown , I took her home and we quickly formed a strong bond she was absolutely my favorite thing in the world but I sometimes wonder does she think about her previous owners , or where they so bad she forgot them , beacuse she never showed any signs of that . she just kept loving me everytime I went out yeh we had to keep her outside since eh can't explain but the house situation is complicated and we can't keep pets indoor , anyway as a cat she obviously climbed and explored the neighborhood often , killed tons of rats and later had kittens which she fully trusted me with and wanted to introduce ne to her 6 babies, I didn't wanna build a bond with all of them tho so they became neighborhood that would come around at night to sleep but usually wouldn't be home all day. so that was fun

Look where there friend?

my cat is super clingy, n chirps really happy when the family comes home. however, whenever i am gone for more than a day she actually seems really disinterested and dejected. can’t tell if its because she’s mad at me for being gone or what lol

Dogs vs cats! 😂😂😂

more likely the human was only capable of simple words like 'mad', instead of a range, like 'frustrated', 'sad', 'anger' etc.

#BecauseCat 😂😂😂

I say definitely frustrated; and panicking because why isn't he here right now...what is happening!?

Makes sense. When a cat that is part of a group doesn't return for afew days, something bad has usually happened to that cat, and the other cats notice the absense of it. So basically, I'm fairly certain that Billi thinks that something horrible has happened to "Dad", like getting eaten by a predator or something like that. She is gonna be over the moon when "Dad" comes home... At least after she has ignored him for a few hours for leaving her.

As do many humans

Oh my goodness that means she was trying to really make sure Mom understood whom she was talking about. Like the one friend who used to come by more 😢

Hahahah we have a guinea pig that want our attention the same way your cat does 😂 she comes to us and stares until we talk to her or rub her head 😅

@@kat-fm1ng aww, that’s sweet ❤️

Same! It mostly happens at night, when he's cozy on the couch. He likes to engage in other people's conversations too. He used to talk to us like he would to a bird he's trying to catch, but over the years it has morphed into a more normal meowing. I love cats

Agree the "noise" was most likely the audiobook.

My thought to. Though Mom is in a better place to judge (also her interpretation is funnier ;) )

@@jdm314 😁😁😁

I was thinking that as well, about the audiobook. Since cats' hearing is so much better than ours, and Billie has expressed distaste for music before. My cat also doesn't like it when I have an audiobook on. He'll leave the room the instant I push play every time.

Just like when she doesnt like mum playing musicals 😂😂

My family moved about a year and a half ago. Our cat (who was around Billi's age then) handled the repeated changes in housing in a shortish time (about three changes in location over the course of just over two months after spending roughly a decade in our old home) nowhere near as well as Billi. She spent all her time either hiding out somewhere or on my dad's lap with very few exceptions. These days she's settled in about as well as she ever will, but she still spends the majority of her time hiding out in one of the two boxes she claimed (and we haven't got the heart to throw out despite her literally wearing a hole through one of them) or hanging out with my mom.

My fur babies grieved the loss of my parents, so I am so happy Billi can talk to her dad.

@@clarissae4447 I know they grieve the loss of other pets profoundly as well. I'm so glad, too, that we have the technology now for Biili to at least talk to Dad a little bit. (And condolences on the loss of your parents. Our animal companions can be such a comfort in times of sorrow, and it doesn't surprise me at all that they grieve right along with us.)

@@tamaradelsohn5493 Aww, poor kitty! Mine can be so skittish, but they can be troopers, too. I got hurt a couple years ago and could no longer work. I had to move out of my expensive apartment, and didn't find a new place for 3 months. (It was right at the start of the pandemic, too, which only made things more awful!) We stayed on various friends' or family's sofas, though most could only have us there for a few weeks. So we moved around a bunch, which I know was traumatic for them both. But they were so brave (except for the car rides, which they have always hated). After a few hours in a new place they'd come out and explore, and charm their hosts. Now we've been settled for a couple years, and I'm so proud of them. They adapt, but they let us know they're not happy about it! And I've had some of those boxes before that are so loved and worn, and covered in toenail marks and fur, but I just don't have the heart to take them away. My black cat has an Emotional Support Skunk. It's one of those long, "unstuffed" dog toys. It's longer than him, but when he's upset (mainly when everyone is asleep and he's lonely, or when there are no humans at home), he will carry the skunk around in his mouth and howl mournfully until someone comforts him. If I'm out of the house, I always come home to that skunk in a new spot, laid out in a long, straight line. It's what we call a "lovey"--a toy that is not for playing, but for loving on. It gets washed by kitty, and slept with, but never chased. I have only been honored once to have the skunk left in my bed as a gift, though he brings me other gifts like a crow. (He brought me a sneaker once!) Once, the skunk had gotten really matted and dirty, and I put it in the washing machine. I didn't want to risk the dryer, so I hung it up on a hanger from a hook in the ceiling. He. Was. Horrified! It took me a while to figure out that all of his jumping and climbing was an attempt to get his "friend" down from where I'd hung him. And they say cats don't have personalities or thoughts...

I wonder if a big part of it aside from her sweet personality is that she's able to express herself and her feelings

Love this story. Cats will tell you how they feel, sometimes just refuse to forgive.

I shouldn’t laugh but I did 😹🥰

Oh I laughed too. But it was heartbreaking hearing him yelling for dad to come inside.

How I agree with you!

It's absolutely fascinating. Poor baby though.

They are

Lively Stones I agree!

because she cried?

@@jeanhopman5659 this and also it's kinda private.

@@jeanhopman5659 IDK I'm sure they both miss him.

Generally Dad appears only as legs or body, no face so showing us an actual video call is very unlikely. Pretty sure Billi wants to see Dad's face on the call, not his legs. 😀

Me too! 😭

She's so hopeful! 🥲

Omg that's incredible how much information they understand and intuit. That whole "patiently waiting" thing I've definitely witnessed. Our Russian blue will clearly be upset or wanting something then when he knows you're looking he'll lick his leg to deflect and act cool. 😆

Awwwwww, I love this anecdote. 😊

It was a rough week 😹

In case nobody else has told you Kendra, esp Billi, she would be beyond upset if she were parted from you for more than a day or two. Us Mom’s always get the worst deal 😢

Look for, as in search, is a completely seperate thing from look. The cat doesn't know about the word "look", so it isn't closer to "look for" than any of the other buttons. From what we can see the button seems to be pretty directly linked to just look, or see.

Cat logic. Look now

@@Gabriel64468 I think cats do understand certain words.

@@tizzas1232 They can recognize the specific sounds you make that mean one thing yes. But that's where it ends - your cat might recognize a "sheet" as a bedsheet, but expecting it to then understand that a sheet can also refer to paper is unrealistic. And that is the exact kind of abstraction you are expecting of a cat here. It is also pretty similar to how humans learn foreign languages - so many words have multiple meanings, and just because you learned that "Birne" means pear in german doesn't mean you immediately understand that a "Lichtbirne" is a lightbulb.

@@Gabriel64468 Because language is so instinctive for humans, I think we easily forget how messy, complex, and contextual it is. There were people in the 1950s who thought reliable, automated translation by computer was right around the corner. It's 2023 and it still basically sucks unless you're converting between related European languages. What this cat is doing is already incredible. We definitely don't need and shouldn't assume that she understands everything we're telling her exactly the way we meant it.

Yes, there was already such a suggestion once, to teach Billi the calendar. It would have to be huge though and with yellow and blue markings, as someone mentioned the cats have poorer eyesight and have partial color blindness. How about arranging yellow or orange and blue sticky notes on the wall in the shape of the calendar and point at each note saying word "later". And remove one sticky note every day counting one "later" less every day?

@@dwsel Probably shouldn't use "later" to describe each day, since that might confuse her. But since she has a concept of morning/afternoon/night, they might be able to do the same thing using one of those words

@@mikkurzhal7390 Or just call it "day" (no pun intended) like we normally do. I.e. calendar has days, each day = 1x morning + 1x afternoon + 1x night

Love you loops. xD