Hi GYS,
Welcome to 5 Star. Cats really are pretty intuitive.
Several year ago I had abdominal surgery. When I got home, he behaved differently. To get on my lap he would kinda crawl down my chest, carefully step OVER my tummy and then settle on my legs. He knew to avoid that area even though I was fully dressed and there was no way he could know my stomach was injured. He was so careful not to go near my stomach and also was more cuddly than normal, like he knew I was in bad shape and needed extra lovin.
He acted this way for over a month as I went through the healing process, then once my pain was gone he'd just jump right up and land on or walk all over my belly without reservations. He knew!
That's the same cat that jumped on my lap right after I read that article a couple days ago, which is why it freaked me out a little.
