all animals are waaay more aware than we realize (or can bear to realize), but it's going to take forever to officially prove because we have to start from the place of them needing to prove that they:
may also have an internal awareness of their own bodies
I fully agree with you. We try to prove animals have deep self awareness by human standards. The thing is that animals don't think like humans do, so it's difficult to prove it but I'm very sure most of them are self-aware
When my cat looks at her reflection and makes noises at the "other cat" on the other side if the mirror, I'm pretty sure she's not aware of how she looks like
That isn't true for all cats though, many are fully aware they're seeing themselves. As with humans, individuals of any other species have different levels of intelligence.
This is gonna be unpopular but it's kinda hard to hop on that train when most animals fight their own reflection in a mirror. It's even like half and half for dogs
Edit: I love dogs and animals, I just think we should be realistic and not go too crazy on the subject from our natural love of them
The line between fetish and mental illness can sometimes be blurry. Of course, that means some folks are just one sex worker shitting on their face away from mental wellness.
FYI for anyone else who has this issue, I changed my previous pups food and he stopped trying to eat his poo so maybe it was a slight nutritional imbalance or something.