Do animals say thank you?

Robin9

My feline, Bob an 8 yo rescue, cam home a week ago carrying a poorly paw/leg. Nothing obvious so a bit of Matacalm and lots of TLC. He's outing more weight on it now.

He's become super affectionate  - lap sitting (a rarity for him) , sleeping on the bed, purring. Is he saying thank-you ?

donnac2558

No.

He was unwell and in pain and looks on you as his carer.   He is getting older and now wants an easy life.

A friend has a semi-feral farm kitten she would let you stroke her but when she got older around 8 plus suddenly started coming over more sitting on my knee running up to me when she spotted me in the street.  She just chilled out as she got older.

Adly812

Might be affection caused by Hormones. Or yes he’s trying to tell you he’s sore and wanting someone to care and look after him. They are very intuitive so try and understand and interpret the message 

McKneff

Each time my cat sat at the door wanting to go out, i would open the door for her and as she went she would half turn her head and mewow genly. It never failed. 
I swear blind she was saying thank you 

olivia_black

I think this is a sign of trust. The cat understands that you care about him and can help. When my cat was sick, he was terrified of all the procedures in veterinary blades, but after he felt better, he became kind and affectionate.

TripleH

It maybe them displaying appreciation for your kind actions, which in their way is the equivalent of them saying thank you.

He

I don't know about saying "thank you", but our cat definitely lets us know when he's not happy about something! 

I like to think that he understands what I say to him, especially when he reacts and miaows in response, but realistically not. Tone of voice and actions probably actually say more between the two of us ....

TripleH

Ours fully understand me. I know because they roll their eyes and give me that patronising 'we'd better humour the daft ejit look" most of the time

Trina90

Strange that people don't think it could be possible. Must be pessimists.
My cat always gets really affectionate with me after I clean his litter tray. He's not bothered for fuss usually. My mum's dog also seems to pause and give eye contact when he's being fed, before he digs in, as if he's being grateful. Sounds daft saying it, but just something I've observed and it amuses me. Guess we'll never know.

Trina90

He said:

I don't know about saying "thank you", but our cat definitely lets us know when he's not happy about something! 

I like to think that he understands what I say to him, especially when he reacts and miaows in response, but realistically not. Tone of voice and actions probably actually say more between the two of us ....

My cat has an angry meow too! He does it in response to us telling him off. People who don't have pets would say we're anthropomorphizing but I've seen it and heard it! 

Fireflyaway

I think they do. My cat passed away this afternoon. She definitely had a certain meow when she asked for food and when you put the food down she did a different sounding meow. It could have just been 'yeah I got food!!' But I like to think she was being appreciative! Hope wherever she is now there is plenty of tuna, that was her favourite.