Literature says cats can't understand it when you point at something. That's because they don't have fingers. You can point at things using your eyes and they understand. One day I was eating some fruits and a stray cat came to me and started meowing. I gave it a piece which it rejected and started meowing again. I stared for a couple seconds at my plate and then at the piece on the ground and the cat looked like it understood and stopped meowing.
This is interesting. I've had both cats and dogs, and with the theory "they don't have fingers" I wonder why do dogs understand human pointing? Dogs of course communicate with a direct gaze (looks at empty food bowl, looks at human, looks back at empty food bowl) and can understand us communicating back with a directed gaze, but at the same time my dog definitely understands me pointing at something.
Dogs are not wolves. They have evolved to read and somehow become more like us. I bet a wolf can't understand a pointed finger, just like they can't read sadness on your face. A dog can do both quite easily.
What's more fascinating to me, is that the relationship is not one-sided: we might have learned something from wolves as well. They have changed us, just like we turned aloof wolves into empathetic dogs. Maybe they have made our society more social, and less isolated? Wolves know there is strength in numbers.
Thanks for pointing - ha - that out! It totally makes sense to use visual communication because of course no fingers! Made me chuckle because it seems obvious yet, no, gear shifting for cats makes sense.
Yeah they have much less brain volume devoted to their paws. This is why, even though they are incredibly agile animals, they always look a bit dorky trying to manipulate something with their paws. For survival purposes they can rely on sharp hooks, and don't need dexterity.
Maybe cats in general don't understand pointing, but both of my cats do. One of them is quite intelligent, so I'm not surprised there, but even the stupid (but adorable) one gets it.
