Often empathy and compassion are used as synonyms..but they are actually two completely different elements of the human mind.
Yes, it is true that when you feel someone else’s feelings in your heart and are able to see and think by putting yourself in their place, then compassion for that person arises in your mind. But the truth is that one can be compassionate even without having sympathy.. even without feeling someone’s feelings in one’s heart, one can be filled with compassion even towards animals and insects.
In Buddhist teachings, a person has been instructed to have compassion for all animals, birds and insects, because all beings have a soul. Will do.. (although there is no proof of this) But it does not mean that this concept is wrong.. It may mean that we humans are not able to remember births of other species..
So you can feel compassion towards them even without speaking like a cat or a dog. There is no need to put yourself in their place