# Has your cat/dog ever sensed something you didn't? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 11, 2004, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045 "2004-01-11T21:03:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/41 "2004-01-14T17:34:23Z")
[Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home : And Other Unexplained Powers of Animals](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0609600923/102-5681516-3992144?v=glance) Interesting book. There was also a PBS show about this same phenomenon. [Rupert Sheldrake](http://www.salon.com/people/feature/1999/11/23/sheldrake/) About the author. Also interesting. And this is JMO, but I think we very much underestimate the abilities of animals. Perhaps to make ourselves feel better about our own capabilities? ---
**Author:** ![sultana\_of\_slash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@sultana\_of\_slash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sultana_of_slash)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/42 "2004-01-14T18:09:44Z")
Our medicolegal investigator’s police dog, back when he used to be on the K-9 unit, would howl its freakin’ head off from the back seat of his cruiser, whenever he was trying to expedite to a scene with his siren on. Couldn’t hear a damn thing except the dog. Sometimes he hadda face a choice: have a siren on, or listen to the police radio with the dog off. Oh, that was totally off topic? Oh. Sorry. But it was funny. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/43 "2004-01-14T18:11:09Z")
[Earthquake Prediction In Animals](http://www.gps.caltech.edu/users/jkirschvink/pdfs/earthquakeprediction.pdf) [Etho-geological Forecasting](http://www.levity.com/mavericks/quake.htm) [Alaska Science Forum](http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF2/295.html) Here’s a few from about 10 pages of hits on the subject. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/44 "2004-01-14T18:14:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Observations of fish jumping out of water, rabbits refusing to go into their burrows, nervousness in pets, etc were made immediately prior (hours to days) before earthquakes. I’ll try and come back with a cite later (busy w/ work) but MaryEFoo’s assertion may have some validity to it. Oh, I agree that some animals possess senses that are more acute than humans - if that’s what you’re saying. I credited that in one of my earlier posts and I don’t think there’s any argument with it. I also agree that perhaps Mary’s cat _could_ have sensed a seismic event prior to its intensity reaching a threshold detectable by humans. However, there’s no way in hell this animal did such a thing from over 600 miles away. And, as I said the activities on Mount St. Helen’s occurred over a period of about 10 days. Just which of these discrete events did the cat predict? And I’d like to see demonstrated the chain of logic that Mary used to connect these seemingly unrelated things. She also needs to demonstrate that the cat wasn’t responding to a stimulus other than the seismic activity on Mount St. Helen’s. > [@](#): > > We’ve built a world of carpet and insulation, shock absorbers and stereos that filter out sensations that animals in burrows and water are much more exposed to. While the signals might not be quantifiable, I’d be inclined to think they are to an unknown degree valid. Mebbe. Except that Mary’s cat was in that same artificially insulated environment. > [@](#): > > Rupert Sheldrake > About the author. Also interesting. Sheldrake’s a quack. He also believes that you can detect when people are staring at you. Several scientific studies have shown this to be false. Another thing Sheldrake believes is that animals have psychic powers. More crap. He’s a nut. [http://www.csicop.org/si/2000-09/staring.html](http://www.csicop.org/si/2000-09/staring.html) [http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-03/stare.html](http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-03/stare.html) [http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-03/stare-reply.html](http://www.csicop.org/si/2001-03/stare-reply.html) ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/45 "2004-01-14T18:14:07Z")
> [@unixrat](#): > > I use our cats as mystery-sound validators. If I think I hear something, I will look at the cats to see if they show any interest or even acknowledgement that there was a sound. If the cats are ignoring it, I ignore it. If they’re turned towards it or fleeing the room, it’s time to check it out. Agree with you completely. Our stupid ginger tabby is afraid of all life forms in creation. If he’s staring at a wall & crying, its surely because there’s a molecule of dust won’t play with him. Of course, there are those other times…times when he gets strange and in a sheer panic. This is when he walks back & forth on the bed, trying to rouse either my wife or myself with his wet nose & tuna breath. And of course, it always does turn out to be an emergancy: we obviously did not leave enough of his Special Crunchy Treats ("Crunch! Chomp-chomp-chomp. Crunch! Chomp-chomp-chomp…) on the floor before we went to sleep and he’s simply Sta-a-a-a-rving…! (you can tell by that bulging orange-furred carpet bag he wears about his midrift) Then again, there are times when I hear sounds downstairs. If the cat is asleep at the foot of the bed, there’s a very good chance its just the house settling. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/46 "2004-01-14T18:36:21Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > Another thing Sheldrake believes is that animals have psychic powers. More crap. He’s a nut. Well, in your opinion. I don’t understand why you want to turn a nice little MPSIMS thread into a debate. ---
**Author:** ![cards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@cards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cards)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/47 "2004-01-14T18:52:33Z")
> [@MaryEFoo](#): > > There wasn’t anything we could do about it anyway, and she had more false positives, say 20, during her lifetime at that place. And a number of false negatives, ie she missed quakes that did happen. > > So we told her that, and she did stop predicting earthquakes. Good kitty. If I read this right, I thnk Mary whooshed you **UncleBeer**. By citing all the false readings, I think she is saying the two “predictions” were strictly happenstance. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/48 "2004-01-14T19:23:47Z")
I have a partial complex seizure disorder/epilepsy (my doctor hasn’t been able to figure out what it is, but it’s often easier to describe as epilepsy). I think dogs must be more aware of seizures than cats, or cats are just designed not to give a shit. The only reaction I ever got from my felines after a seizure (which I fortunately have not had in about 2 years) was for them to get the hell out of the way afterwards. Neither has ever been present for a seizure, so I think that has more to do with the smell of blood from biting through my tongue and the fact that I always wind up barfing afterwards. Plus, it takes me a while to figure out who and where I am, or to have much feeling in my extremities (though I do have basic motor control) so they probably avoid me because it’s more than likely that I’d step on them and not notice at all. Anyway, according to this [article](http://www.accessibility.com.au/news/internat/seize_dog.htm), not every dog can detect a seizure. Apparently some breeds are more sensitive to them than others. Lhaso Apsos (sp?) are supposed to be very sensitive to them, as well as labs & golden retrievers, but not all dogs from even those few breeds are able to detect seizures. From what Queen Tonya said, it sounds like some huskies might also be sensitive. I wonder how that works? According to this article, dogs are able to sense the change in smell that may precede a seizure, and some doctors think that dogs can also sense a change in brain activity. On another vein, some of the accusations of stupidity in this thread seem a little harsh, particularly in reference to potential psychic occurrences. Has anyone actually stated, “my dog/cat sees ghosts” or “my dog/cat is psychic?” A lot of the people who have even mentioned ghosts in their post have said “well, it was probably something else, but…”, myself included. Frankly, I don’t think there were ghosts in my house, and there probably is a rational, scientific explanation for it. But regardless of any skepticism those people who mentioned ghosts expressed, it seems as though if someone says the word ghost or psychic around here without first stating that either idea is preposterous, that person is labeled a gullible idiot. I’m not a proponent of the paranormal, but this isn’t the BBQ Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/49 "2004-01-14T19:31:22Z")
I have some honest, respectful questions for you **UncleBeer**. It seems that this is a “hotbutton issue” for you. Taking that into consideration, I’d like to ask you if you think humans can have “psychic powers”? If the answer is yes, then I’d like to point out that humans are “animals”, (We’re certainly not plant, or mineral.) and so your quibble with this thread must be in that “lesser animals” are thought of by some to have “psychic powers”. I’ll state, that I personally believe that if psychic powers exist at all, than I don’t think it’s confined to humans. I’m still not entirely sure on a lot of “cases” that have been put forward as evidence, I KNOW there are lots of con people out there. I have also had “odd” things happen to me though, so I’m open to the possibility that some “powers” exist. As for my assertion that I believe cats and dogs etc. can “sense evil intent”, so can humans, if they just take the time to “tune in”. Surely there has been a time or two in your life where a person has just “rung false” to you, and it turned out they were a con man or something along those lines? Dogs and cats can smell pheromones generated by emotions, they are more in tune to these things than we are, they actually LOOK for these things, instead of being passively affected by them. So, if a cat senses that a person is seething with anger inside, and wants to do harm, they will clue an alert human in with their reactions. Maybe you need to just take a deep breath, shake your head, and let it go? It’s a “silly notion” in your mind, but does it do harm? Not really, so let it go. Just MHO though. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/50 "2004-01-14T19:38:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Just which of these discrete events did the cat predict? For earthquakes - kitty shakes. For volcanos - projectile vomit. For mudslides - eeew… let’s don’t even. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/51 "2004-01-14T20:32:34Z")
> [@](#): > > Well, in your opinion [regarding Rupert Sheldrake]. It’s not only my opinion, but the opinion of many respected members of the scientific community. > [@](#): > > I don’t understand why you want to turn a nice little MPSIMS thread into a debate. And I don’t understand why there are so many threads on a _primarily skeptical_ website where people profess belief in psuedoscientific claptrap. _Fighting Ignorance Since 1973._. Threads like this _promote_ ignorance. And worse; it is _willfull_ ignorance. You people don’t seem interested in understanding the impossiblity of these paranormal powers. You’d rather have a “nice little MPSIMS thread” where you can revel in your ignorance. > [@](#): > > I have some honest, respectful questions for you UncleBeer. It seems that this is a “hotbutton issue” for you. Taking that into consideration, I’d like to ask you if you think humans can have “psychic powers”? No. Humans do not have psychic powers - of any sort. I don’t believe in anything that cannot be proved by logic or scientific testing. And believe you me, even then I want the logic demonstrated and see the equipment. > [@](#): > > Maybe you need to just take a deep breath, shake your head, and let it go? It’s a “silly notion” in your mind, but does it do harm? Not really, so let it go. Just MHO though. And it’s just my opinion that people throw countless dollars down a rathole pursuing this nonsense; they do nothing but line the pockets of charlatans and thieves. How many billions of dollars is stupidly given to these cheats that could have gone to something useful? How harmless is it all? How harmless is “psychic surgery?” People have died for their belief in that ridiculous sham. How many people are dead as a direct result of religious superstitions? And it’s not just this. It’s the fuzzy-thinking, or rather un-thinking one must engage in to believe this stuff. Mankind and civilization moved forward to what’s a pretty comfortable niche through science and its application; psuedo-scientific nonsense is an anchor on the Progress of Man. The fuzzy-thinkers and un-thinkers are essentially turning their back on science, on their human heritage even. If you’re gonna give up all that, you may as well look for employment as a plant. **That** is what I find most irksome. ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/52 "2004-01-14T21:38:11Z")
C’mon, people, most of us have been around long enough to know that any poster who even admits to the possibility of things like psychic powers, ghosts, or, oh, little things like the existence of God, are going to get crapped all over. No point in getting bent out of shape over it, I guess. Obviously it’s just not something that fits here very well. As far as MaryEFoo’s post, maybe it was intended to be a humorous post indicating that her cat really couldn’t predict anything…I actually read it that way the first time…I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![sleeping](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@sleeping](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeping)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/53 "2004-01-14T22:05:39Z")
> [@porcupine](#): > > **Queen Tonya** , I saw a tv show about training dogs for detecting seizures. [Here](http://www.okadadogs.com/index.asp)’s a link to a place that does it. Um, no. Read your own link. > [@](#): > > SEIZURE detection GUIDE DOGS Work with the caregiver of the seizure patient to ‘tell’ the caregiver when a seizure is occurring. **This specialty dog does not alert the patient to an oncoming seizure**. The Okada seizure guide dog is trained to respond to a seizure, find the caregiver, and lead the caregiver to the patient. This is the dog’s work task (job). ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/54 "2004-01-14T22:12:03Z")
Yeah, yeah…I know - paranormal stuff is usually shat on at the SDMB, and I can certainly understand why. I guess I haven’t read enough of the threads that have content like this outside of Great Debates & the BBQ Pit. I didn’t expect people to be as, um, emphatic here as they are in GD and the BBQ Pit. On the other hand, nowhere on the SDMB do I expect people to let anything that hasn’t been proven by science slide. Anyway, I thought the first part of MaryEFoo’s post was intended to be humerous, too. It gave me a chuckle before she segued into the info she gave on seismic waves & stuff. Oh, well. At least Mary got her cats to stop trying to predict earthquakes and volcanic explosions. Sometimes you just gotta remind those cats that they can’t do that. I tell my cats all the time - you can tell if it’s a boy or a girl or neither, but you can never tell when it’s going to erupt. \ Sometimes they just don’t get it. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/55 "2004-01-14T22:40:00Z")
> [@sleeping](#): > > Um, no. Read your own link. You’re right; I misread it. Sorry about that, folks. From another [site](http://epilepsyontario.org/client/EO/EOWeb.nsf/web/New+Seizure+Dog+Information): > [@](#): > > Contrary to popular belief, the dogs cannot be trained to detect oncoming seizures. While it is true that some dogs seem to be able to sense their owner’s seizures before onset it is rare. The reasoning behind this early detection is yet to be determined. ---
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2004, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/56 "2004-01-14T23:34:51Z")
Fighting ignorance = okay to be a jerk. Thanks for clearing that up. My cats don’t do anything special as far as sensing things. They occasionally take to running around the room after using the litter box, but I figure they’re just trying to escape the smell. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/57 "2004-01-15T00:56:30Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > Just which of these discrete events did the cat predict? I would just like to note that seeing the word “discrete” used correctly makes my nipples explode with delight. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/58 "2004-01-15T02:15:08Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > And, as I said the activities on Mount St. Helen’s occurred over a period of about 10 days. Just which of these discrete events did the cat predict? I also have happy nipples, but I need to nitpick: the seismic events on Mt. St. Helens actually occurred over a period of 60-65 days leading up to the Big Blast, starting with an unexpected flurry of earthquakes in early March 1980. Then, after the Big Blast, there were two subsequent (smaller) eruptions, one a week later and one about two years later. [Timeline is here](http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/MSH/May18/MSHThisWeek/framework.html), but I’m also a longtime Northwesterner and remember the event pretty clearly. ---
**Author:** ![BigBadBassBone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@BigBadBassBone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBadBassBone)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/59 "2004-01-15T06:06:29Z")
First I have to congradulate **Thea Logica** for naming a cat Schroedinger. As for my dog, well, he’s not the brightest. He has trouble enough detecting food being thrown to him before it hits the ground. He did sense the evil intensions of a leaf fluttering maliciously in the snow in my backyard today though. Made short work of it too. ---
**Author:** ![MaryEFoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MaryEFoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaryEFoo)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2004, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045/60 "2004-01-15T06:32:34Z")
I whooshed **UncleBeer** , oh my ghod I whooshed **UncleBeer** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-your-cat-dog-ever-sensed-something-you-didnt/224045.md?page=4)