We may not speak the same language, but a bonded cat with a human has a way of understanding each other. In a super sweet video, we see what happens when a cat who is learning how to communicate using words tries his best to help his mom when she is in pain.
On December 11, TikTok user Roscoe (@roscoeswueaks), a social profile that follows Roscoe the cat, shared a video of the beautiful way this cat tried to help his human mama. Take a look!
@roscoesqueaksHe wanted to help me 🥺 I get migraines often because I have pseudotumor cerebri, but this one was bad enough that I considered going to the er. Roscoe was worried about me, and stayed with me the whole time. I can be a bit slow sometimes, and didn’t realize that he was suggesting I have catnip to help my head. His companionship was the best medicine though, and cheered me up! Apologies for my mumbling… migraines are the worst. #cat #catsoftiktok #fyp #fluentpet #theycantalk #fluentpetbuttons #hunger4words #catbuttons #talkingcat #aic #cattok
The video is a little hard to see, but what we’re looking at is a black-and-white camera inside the house when it’s dark out. For the most part, the camera is on Roscoe, who is doing everything he can to help out his mom.
Related: Deaf and Blind Dog’s Way of Communicating with Buttons Is Just Incredible
Roscoe the cat tries to help his mom during a migraine
“It’s after 5 am, and I’m sobbing on the couch off camera (above) with my head in my hands from a particularly bad IIH migraine that’s kept me up all night,” the text on the video explains.
Roscoe is learning how to use the buttons that say one word that will attempt to help him communicate. And when his mom was in pain, he tried to help her out using the buttons.
“Roscoe was concerned. Instead of doing a ‘think circle’ walk like many other button learners, Roscoe pauses/freezes to think,” the video shares. And then the sweet cat presses the buttons that say “head” and “catnip.”
Mom thought Roscoe wanted catnip for himself, so she got him a pile and went back down to the couch to rest her head.
That’s not what Roscoe wanted, though. Instead of going to the catnip, he went back to the buttons and pressed “catnip” again and then “head” twice before trying something different.
He tried a different strategy and pressed the button “mouth,” which his mom said he sometimes uses “to talk about eating.” She writes, “I was trying to communicate that I already took some medicine. I eventually understood but decided that the human medicine I took was probably the better choice for me.”
Yes, it appeared that her cat was trying to do everything he could think of to help her feel better.
“He wanted to help me,” Mom writes in the caption of the video. “I get migraines often because I have pseudotumor cerebri, but this one was bad enough that I considered going to the ER. Roscoe was worried about me and stayed with me the whole time.”
Adding, “I can be a bit slow sometimes, and didn’t realize that he was suggesting I have catnip to help my head. His companionship was the best medicine, though, and cheered me up!”
What are cat talking buttons, and do they work?
The buttons that Roscoe was using to communicate with his mom are those buttons we’ve seen dogs use. Each button has one word, and a cat presses one to communicate what they need — like “food,” “water,” or “pets.”
According to Be Chewy, they work, too. “Teaching your cat to talk with buttons boasts plenty of benefits: It strengthens your bond, it provides another opportunity for communication, and it stimulates their brains, which can, in turn, improve their behavior and mood (and who doesn’t want that?),” the site explains.
The key to getting your cat to use these buttons is to go slow with only a few words, model the words so your cat can understand what they mean, and respond to your cat when they press a button.
It’s a good think Roscoe has been practicing his buttons, he seems to have it down!
