Science

I was always interested in how animals communicate with each other. I observed it in my cats at home. How they touched noses to greet, how they invited each other to play, etc. One of my cats went blind. We didn't realize at first. His litter mate had started meowing at him to play or to get him to cuddle with him on the cat beds. Cats don't usually meow at each other. We didn't know that. They were always together, too. Where Osie went, his litter mate followed. A little while later we noticed Osie, our kitty that went blind, had started bumping into things. We took Osie to the vet, who sent us immediately to an Ophthalmologist for cats. He told us Osie had untreated high blood pressure that caused him to go blind. His blood pressure was treated and Osie regained some of his sight, but mostly just movement and shadows. While Osie got along fine finding his own way in the house, Seb, his litter mate, continued to meow at him to help Osie find his way. All of this story was to say if we had known that it was unusual for cats to meow at each other we might have asked the vet what was going on earlier. Osie might have been treated sooner for high blood pressure and kept more of his sight. We'll never know, of course, but so glad scientists are researching how animals communicate with each other. Maybe we can really "talk to the animals" some day! I really enjoyed this article. Thank you!