Confirmed: cats recognize his name, but they become "distracted" – 04/09/2019

Cats do not do as many cases as dogs when they are called, but that does not mean that they do not know what they are called. Domestic cats recognize your name and they distinguish him from other words of the same length and intonation, even when he who pronounces it is a person unknown to them.

This concludes a study conducted by a group of Japanese researchers led by Atsuko Saito, Sofia University (Tokyo), which has just been published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports.

The authors studied a total of 78 Japanese household cats and a Cat-Café (cat coffee) in order to badyze their ability to understand the words. On this occasion, the experiment consisted, says Saito, in that one of the researchers or the owner of the animal pronounces four different words followed by his name.

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So I wanted to know if the cat was responding to him by moving the ears, head or tail or vocalising, if he responded in the same way as the other words or showed decreasing answers to the words he heard before his own name "because they were used to common words and not his name."

And he explains in his conclusions that cats could distinguish his name from words that had the same length and the same accentuation. And they also told him when he was a stranger talking to them.

"Those of us who work or live with pets have long known that cats are able to understand visual signs, commands and verbal commands, but it is good to do a scientific demonstration for non-pets. -croyants, "says Paula Calvo, ethologist at the UAB Animal and Health Affinity Fundación Chair and director of the Antrozoologia.com platform.

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And he explains that there are many people, including veterinarians, convinced that cats do not understand human language because they do not attend or obey and do not develop attachment. to their owner. "The domestic cat is an individualistic and independent animal because of its origin because it comes from the African wild cat, which is a solitary animal, while the dog comes from the wolf, which is gregarious", justifies the antrozoologist.

She adds that, on the other hand, her experience leads her to be convinced that yes, that cats "understand the words, know their names and, knowing that you call them, they do not go because they do not want tobecause most cats do not develop a high attachment "to their master.

The proof of this, says Calvo, is that there are trained cats who respond to commands and work in advertising or pet therapy programs. And he adds that there are also some owners who have learned a few words to their cat "and simply saying" I will give you food ", they ask the cat to understand it and go into the area where he eats. "

Source: The Vanguardia