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Deaf Woman Figures Out How To Teach Sign Language To Her Three Cats (Video)

by Sean Levinson

A former teacher of the American School for the Deaf in Connecticut has taught her cats how to respond to sign language commands.

Kim Silva came up with the idea after being won over by a deaf cat she found on Petfinder named Bambi, the Huffington Post reports.

Silva, who is deaf herself, then taught signs to her two other cats, whose behaviors would be mimicked by Bambi soon after she arrived.

She told HuffPost,

Since my daughters learned signs from infancy, I had ideas how to introduce sign.

Her cats now understand the signs for the words "come," "more," "stay," "circle," "play," "shrimp" and many more.

One of the cats used to be very shy around people, but will now play with anyone who uses her acquired signs, says Silva.

Watch the three cats obey a series of obscure hand gestures in this video taken by Silva's son-in-law. She hopes the clip will encourage others to adopt deaf animals.

Citations: Woman With A Hearing Loss Taught Her Deaf Cat Sign Language (The Huffington Post)