A 13-year-old domestic cat named Billi in Florida has learned to “talk” to her human parent, Kendra Baker, through an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device.
The device is essentially a sound board with buttons that have different words vocally recorded on each.
Billi uses the buttons to communicate with Baker, just as Bunny the Talking Dog, a TikTok- and Instagram-famous pet, does with her human parent.
Baker was inspired to attempt this means of animal-human communication after observing Christina Hunger, a speech-language pathologist, who taught her dog Stella to use an AAC device.
At first, Baker was skeptical about whether Billi would be able to use the device, given that cats are not known for their ability to understand human speech.
However, Billi quickly proved her wrong by pressing the button for “food,” which she loves.
Today, Billi has 50 words on her board, and is part of the ongoing research project called TheyCanTalk, whose goal is to understand if animals can communicate with humans through AAC devices.
While the study is mostly made up of dogs, about 5 percent of the animals using AAC devices are now felines, and many cats have been successful at using the device.
Leo Trottier, cognitive scientist and founder of How. TheyCanTalk Research and developer of the FluentPet system Billi uses, admitted to Salon he was “pessimistic” about cats using the buttons, but was pleasantly surprised when they started to see felines catch on.
He’s intrigued by the ways in which cats appear to use the buttons differently from dogs. Billi appears to string words together less frequently than dogs, but she is very deliberate when she presses a button and knows exactly which one she’s looking for.
While researchers are cautious about jumping to conclusions about these “talking” animals, the prospect that cats are part of the project now is exciting.
Gabriella Smith, a cognitive science researcher at CleverPet, believes that having cats as part of the TheyCanTalk study is a great way to study their cognition and dispel myths about cats. In some ways, including cats in the study has opened the door for other species too, like birds.
Regardless of what these studies ultimately tell us about cat cognition, Billi’s owner has observed a noticeable shift in Billi’s happiness since introducing the buttons to the talkative kitty.
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