Do cats and dogs actually feel affection when you treat them right or is it really just an instinct for “more food and drink” etc?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen dogs, cats and other domestic animals smile because they’re happy and show love to their owners for treating them right.
Yeah I see memes but those are either photoshopped or snapped at the perfect moment to make it look like they’re smiling.
Yes. Animals absolutely have emotions. In fact, many animals, like cats, are extremely emotional creatures, on account of not having as highly developed parts of the brain that deal with emotional regulation. Affection? Absolutely. Love? Yes, but not generally in the same ways as people.
I have a little cat that adores me. He likes come right up to my face and head-butt me forcefully (a behavior called bunting) and he likes to fall asleep gazing at me. Domestic cats and dogs are social creatures. Left to their own devices, they will engage in social behaviors unrelated to survival and biology.
Oh they absolutely do smile, just differently than humans. Cats are especially subtle abd communicative in their body language. It’s also with noting that what humans think of as smiling, to most animals is an aggression display.
Domestic dogs and cats communicate a lot with body language, the majority of it being pure emotion. Their body language, however, is different from our own. You have to meet them halfway in communication; learning to listen to what they are saying.
Funny how smiling is seen as agressive as a person who don’t show teeth when smiling
Yeah. It’s the showing teeth (or that thereof) that in many animals is a threat display. Think of it like a non-verbal way of saying “See these teeth? How’d you like them in your face? Because that’s gonna happen if you don’t step the fuck off.”
I find that my cats and dog DO smile with their mouths/faces closed when getting a particularly nice petting. It seems a bit subtle because they’re smaller than us but, rather like a little smirk (best is when my little cat gets a particularly nice nose scritching and he can’t keep his mouth closed because it feels too good and a loud purr escapes from between his little fangs).