Research explainers, practical pet-care knowledge and responsible pet news.
12 published guides
Scientists cannot ask dogs and cats to describe their feelings. Instead, they combine behavioural, physiological, cognitive, neural and thermal evidence while testing—and limiting—anthropomorphic interpretations.
Cats may interact more with one household member for several overlapping reasons. Research points to individual variation, attentiveness, interaction style, familiarity and household context—not spite or one universal rule.
Comparative cognition studies show that dogs and cats can follow human pointing in some conditions. Here is what the research suggests—and what it cannot prove.
Dogs and cats can distinguish familiar human cues, but research points to a cautious explanation involving scent, voice, visual information, and learned associations—not one human-like concept of identity.
Domestic cats are not simply nocturnal. Research describes flexible, often bimodal activity patterns shaped by dawn, dusk, housing, outdoor access, feeding, care and individual home environments.
Cats use facial rubbing, body rubbing, scratching and urine marking to communicate through scent. Cat scent marking behavior research supports a context-dependent interpretation rather than one fixed meaning for every mark.
Dogs and cats learn through associations, but memory and behaviour depend on context, motivation, reinforcement, emotion and age. Here is what current research supports.
A pet microchip is permanent RFID identification—not GPS. Learn how registration databases, contact updates, scanning, and visible tags affect the chances of identifying a found pet in Canada.
Dog play is a negotiated sequence, not a fixed body-language checklist. Research helps explain play bows, pauses, role reversals, avoidance and uneven play without treating any single signal as definitive.
Kneading has a clear kittenhood nursing context, but adult cats may knead for several possible reasons. Here is how to interpret the behaviour without assuming one meaning fits every cat.
Dog sense of smell research explained: canine olfaction is highly specialized, but performance depends on the odor, task, training and environment.
Fireworks fear in dogs appears to arise from interacting inherited, developmental, learned and health-related factors—not one universal cause.