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Cats learn the names of their friend cats in their daily lives

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Re: Cats learn the names of their friend cats in their daily lives

#101

Post by smcl »

throwanem wrote: post #99
TheBigSalad wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's weird. I don't think I could live with an animal and not name it. But then again, I named my Roomba.

My last cat was with me for 20 years and neither of us seemed to feel the need for a name. We both knew who he was, and why bother beyond that? I think the difference is that dogs who live with humans tend to look to us to help them understand who they are, while cats never want telling no matter how close the association. I didn't use the "pet voice" with him, either. Dogs, sure, but generally when I have something…

Thanks, reading someone recounting their decades-long friendship with a cat was a nice chaser for the drowning kittens comment :)

Re: Cats learn the names of their friend cats in their daily lives

#102

Post by Crosseye_Jack »

herodotus wrote: post #21

I have tried to train my two cats with just these words: 1. "Let's go" - morning meal 2. "Upstairs" - I am going to bed 3. "Dinner" (plus clink bowls together) - evening meal 4. "Lie Down" and their names. Emerald, who prefers being upstairs, definitely responds to "Upstairs": she charges upstairs when I say it. Jade remains enigmatic and skeptical: that seems to be her nature. But if she is in the mood for a tummy r…

> Jade remains enigmatic and skeptical: that seems to be her nature.

Its been shown in the past (not got the links to hand, and cba to google right now, but I'm sure they wont be hard to find) that cats know their name, its just often they don't give a shit when you call them. Which pretty much any cat servant will understand. Wouldn't be surprised that also applies to other words/commands.

EDIT: My own cat knows her name, but will ignore me unless she wants attension, sleep or bird watching is far too important to go and see what I want.

EDIT2: Fucking Typos!!!

Re: Cats learn the names of their friend cats in their daily lives

#104

Post by micromacrofoot »

smcl wrote: post #100
micromacrofoot wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My neighbors' father would also think nothing of drowning unwanted kittens among other "old world" type of things that seem ghastly now.

Oof yeah that is something I only heard of as an adult - a friend's dad apparently did it a couple of times. Gruesome

Probably says a lot about how much brutality we've engineered out of daily living. I recall having a visceral reaction to hearing about the kittens as a child, and I imagine it's fairly natural to feel that way. I'm glad I lived in a time and place where that kind of desensitization wasn't necessary.

Re: Cats learn the names of their friend cats in their daily lives

#105

Post by Sharlin »

platz wrote: post #97
zebraflask wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some are smarter than others, but I think, in terms of animal behavior or ecology, cats are basically carnivorous rabbits. That's not to say anyone who has had a trainable cat doesn't like them - mine have their moments - but I think it's worthwhile to consider that.

rabbits are just prey animals and that shows in their behavior and attitude, whereas cats do a lot of predation themselves.

However, cats are far from the top of the food chain themselves, which is reflected in a lot of their behaviors.

Re: Cats learn the names of their friend cats in their daily lives

#106

Post by daenz »

herodotus wrote: post #21

I have tried to train my two cats with just these words: 1. "Let's go" - morning meal 2. "Upstairs" - I am going to bed 3. "Dinner" (plus clink bowls together) - evening meal 4. "Lie Down" and their names. Emerald, who prefers being upstairs, definitely responds to "Upstairs": she charges upstairs when I say it. Jade remains enigmatic and skeptical: that seems to be her nature. But if she is in the mood for a tummy r…

I use "Let's go" for "it's time to leave this room", and the effect is that they flop on the ground, unwilling to move further. If that had been my intent, it would be a decent trick!

Re: Cats learn the names of their friend cats in their daily lives

#107

Post by zdragnar »

carimura wrote: post #94
andrepd wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For me, the great charm of cats is that it is impossible to tell the difference between "No, I don't understand you." and "I understand you perfectly well, but I plan to ignore you completely until I feel like responding". Incidentally, this is why I dislike cats so much and prefer dogs :)

just don't get a Pyrenees. maybe this whole time he's just been a huge cat.

I was going to comment that my dog frequently pretends to not understand me, but he's part Pyrenees... I hadn't realized that was a trait of the breed!

Re: Cats learn the names of their friend cats in their daily lives

#108

Post by Sharlin »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #12
lukas099 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cats are weird. My mom's cat fights will all the neighbor cats except one, whom she just started hanging out with one day. I suppose it's possible they are long-lost siblings or something.

I mean, I'm being downvoted, whatever, but this is what I mean. Their social model is entirely different than ours. Or dogs. There are other cats they learn to tolerate, or even cooperate with. But it's not clear that it's "friendly?" I know such friend relationships can exist with them, I just rarely have seen it.

Like many other animal (including human) behaviors, cats bond the easiest when young. Littermates, obviously, but unrelated cats as well. Second easiest is to bond an adult cat with a kitten. Introducing two adult cats to each other? It can take time and skill (doing it gradually is the key!), and depending on their individual personalities, they may become best friends, or only scarcely learn to tolerate each other.

Re: Cats learn the names of their friend cats in their daily lives

#109

Post by zwieback »

rcarmo wrote: post #2

"Analysis: One cat completed only the first trial before escaping from the room and climbing out of reach." I quite enjoyed this bit.

That and the fact that the statistics don't seem very crisp says everything you need to know about cats.

Anecdotally I can confirm that my cats know each others names, not sure if they would recognize on a monitor though.

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