# Can pets “catch” a yawn from a human? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 13, 2024, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499 "2024-02-13T01:05:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/1 "2024-02-13T01:05:20Z")
We’ve all yawned after seeing another person also yawn. Can a cat or dog likewise be influenced to yawn, or is it strictly a human thing? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/2 "2024-02-13T01:21:21Z")
Apparently so. > **[Dogs catch human yawns - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18682357/#)** > > This study is the first to demonstrate that human yawns are possibly contagious to domestic dogs (Canis familiaris). Twenty-nine dogs observed a human yawning or making control mouth movements. Twenty-one dogs yawned when they observed a human... ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/3 "2024-02-13T01:37:41Z")
Hmm. Not that I don’t appreciate weird science, but why is this a useful thing to study? I’m curious, not disdainful. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/4 "2024-02-13T02:16:46Z")
For cats, probably not: [https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1492&context=hc\_sas\_etds](https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1492&context=hc_sas_etds) > twenty-six owner-cat dyads were tested in two conditions: in the first, the owners yawned in the presence of the cat; in the second, a control condition, the owner made a gaping open mouth face in the cat’s presence. Results showed no significant difference in yawning between conditions. This study suggests that cats do not yawn contagiously in response to human yawning. Still, a fairly small sample. So it’s possible there is a small or rare effect that wasn’t caught by the study. ---
**Author:** ![Karen\_Lingel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karen_lingel/32/18649_2.png) [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/5 "2024-02-13T02:23:53Z")
Cecil Adams: [Why are yawns contagious? - The Straight Dope](https://www.straightdope.com/21344460/why-are-yawns-contagious) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/6 "2024-02-13T02:52:38Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Hmm. Not that I don’t appreciate weird science, but why is this a useful thing to study? I’m curious, not disdainful. Because interpersonal psychology is the most complicated subject known in the Universe, so what better thing to study? And seeing how we’re like or unlike other animals is a good place to start on such a huge body of knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/7 "2024-02-13T03:28:35Z")
I swear my cats do. Dogs? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/8 "2024-02-13T03:41:03Z")
Desmond Morris, in his book Catwatching, opined that cats interpret yawning as an expression of non-aggression and general contentment. So if a person yawns, they will interpret this as signalling a safe zone. If you come across a skittish cat, a big yawn with closed eyes, may calm the critter down a little. Miming a cleaning action may also help. Same deal. Do this and a cat may decide to reciprocate. So it isn’t the same a catching a yawn, but may have a similar effect. Of course, as famous as Desmond was for his social anthropology, this is just conjecture. Probably with some reasonable justification, but not exactly fact. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/9 "2024-02-13T04:00:23Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Hmm. Not that I don’t appreciate weird science, but why is this a useful thing to study? I’m curious, not disdainful. Why is it useful to know that a proton is made up of two “up” quarks and one “down” quark? Being curious and wanting to know things is in the nature of who we are, whether or not that knowledge has any immediately obvious “usefulness”. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/10 "2024-02-13T04:07:09Z")
I have successfully calmed skittish dogs by yawning at them ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/11 "2024-02-13T08:37:48Z")
Just an anecdote, but when I had a girlfriend who owned a dog, we sometimes used to amuse ourselves by yawning at the dog and provoking her to yawn back. Worked every time. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/12 "2024-02-13T09:16:40Z")
And I had a cat who did that with me. 🥱 Which, looking at our respective avatars, maybe is not so strange 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/13 "2024-02-13T13:30:48Z")
> **[Yawn | Relation to empathy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yawn#Relation_to_empathy)** > > In a study involving gelada baboons, yawning was contagious between individuals, especially those that were socially close. This suggests that emotional proximity rather than spatial proximity is an indicator of yawn contagion. > Evidence for the occurrence of contagious yawning linked to empathy is rare outside of primates. It has been studied in Canidae species, such as the domestic dog and wolf. Domestic dogs have shown the ability to yawn contagiously in response to human yawns. Domestic dogs ... ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/14 "2024-02-13T13:51:22Z")
My dogs can make me yawn (heck, reading this thread has made me yawn. I’m either very impressionable or always tired), but I can’t make them yawn. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/15 "2024-02-13T15:09:13Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > heck, reading this thread has made me yawn. I’m very susceptible to yawning. One night I was stoned (imagine that). I went to bed and yawned. Then I thought about yawning and yawned again. And again. I started getting a bit freaked out after the tenth or twelfth yawn, so I got up and walked around a bit. My gf woke up and asked me what was wrong. I told her I couldn’t stop yawning. She told me to go to sleep, which I did! - I yawned four times typing this. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/16 "2024-02-13T16:13:32Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Not that I don’t appreciate weird science, but why is this a useful thing to study? How would you expect a factual answer to your question without a study? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/17 "2024-02-13T17:40:10Z")
Before opening the thread my WAG was going to be that dogs do catch yawns while cats do not. Happy to see that validated! Yawn contagion is a social function and requires Theory of Mind, in this case imaging the state of the other that induced the yawn, empathizing with that state, and then responding to it. Similar to how laughter is contagious even when we don’t know what’s funny. Dogs have evolved to be highly skilled at monitoring their humans’ states and intentions, reacting to them, and likely have mirror neurons that respond to us. Catching yawns from us may be part of why and how they have co-evolved with our species for so long? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/18 "2024-02-13T18:09:42Z")
> [@Pardel-Lux](#): > > And I had a cat who did that with me. 🥱 Which, looking at our respective avatars, maybe is not so strange 😃 At least our avatars are not yawning or yawn-inducing (I hope). ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/19 "2024-02-13T18:10:43Z")
True, and getting paid to yawn at cats and dogs does sound fun. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499/20 "2024-02-13T18:12:22Z")
We’ve had a number of dogs over the years, and I think all of them could catch our yawns. Our last dog, Max, was especially good at it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-pets-catch-a-yawn-from-a-human/997499.md?page=2)