Dogs and Cats and Birds -- How similar is their thinking to ours?

I know other PEOPLE may think very differently from me—but they still think and feel pretty much the same WAY I do.

And, there are certain things which I know that seem pretty basic to my sense of reality. I know we are on the third planet from the sun, and that the sun is a medium-sized and relatively small star. Some people do not have this knowledge—which many of us cannot imagine not knowing. Some people don’t know their history or government. But I guess we humans learn mostly about things relevant to us.

Now, when I bond with a dog—I know that the dog understands me in non-human ways and doesn’t think like me at all. But that dog seems to understand some things on a deep, intuitive level. Cats seem to like me more when I take no interest in them, but want to bond with me when I ignore them. Birds, too, relate to certain intelligences that we have.

I’m sure that entire books are written on the subject—but what are your immediate thoughts on how and what our “companion” animals think and feel?