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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

#111

Post by sakopov »

t-3 wrote: post #40

I have two cats, a young male (perhaps not coincidentally, a colony rescue?) and a very elderly female. When I let them outside, if I call them to come in, the younger will find the older and herd her to the door. He then vigorously resists coming inside himself. He's also very vocal, and his tone of voice will change depending on whether he's happy to see me and wanting pets or if I'm ruining his stalking and spying…

> (the other just ignores me and does whatever she wants).

This made me remember a funny meme about dogs and cats.

"A dog is able to learn up to 250 words and tricks and gestures. A dog can count up to 5 and perform simple math. Equivalent human age: 3. A cat doesn't give a fuck and is sick of your shit. Equivalent human age: 42"

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

#112

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

daenz wrote: post #106
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!

I believe that's cat for "No."

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

#113

Post by UncleOxidant »

ratww wrote: post #93
UncleOxidant wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of ours jumps up on top of our printer and reaches up on the wall and starts pawing at a poster when he's hungry.

What's on the poster?

A waterfall. I think he's basically just saying "Nice poster you've got there, be a shame if something happened to it"

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

#114

Post by sandgiant »

Crosseye_Jack wrote: post #102
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…

Sounds just like my 2yo homo sapiens.

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

#115

Post by devmor »

bmj wrote: post #20
devmor wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In nature, cats form colonies where they take communal care of the young, old and infirm. One of the core behaviors of cats is hunting and providing for colony members who are too weak to do so. Cats being "solitary" animals is largely a misunderstanding of cat behavior towards humans due to cat affection being expressed differently than dog affection.

It's been interesting to see local shelters realize this, and create colony rooms for cats that have been properly socialized. It keeps the cats out of smaller cages, and likely simplifies the care and feeding of the cats in the colony. It's also a great way to pick a few cats to bring home. My local shelter will just let you into the room, and you can hang out and decide which ones (and how many) you'll bring home.

My local area also has several outdoor colonies that are managed (Neutered, health checkups, etc) because they realized that leaving fixed feral cats in place and taking care of them prevents other feral cats from taking their place and breeding further.

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

#116

Post by pmarreck »

With cats you have to learn nonverbal communication.

The slow blink while looking into their eyes means "it's cool, we're cool"

I taught our cats to recognize a double-tap on the butt as "get up, I gotta get up"

gotta read their body language... and yeah, sometimes it DOES say "I'm not currently interested, no offense"... but the thing to know is, they also read YOUR body language. They might not understand too many words, but intonation matters, posture matters, movement matters

random cat trivia: They can't taste sweet tastes at all because a crucial gene for it got knocked out by a mutation a long time ago

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

#117

Post by thekid314 »

happimess wrote: post #87
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…

My cat and I have one firm English phrase: "3...2...1". I say that whenever I want him to make up his mind, and at the end I always close the door, pull the sweater from under him, or whatever. He definitely knows what it means, and knows I mean it. > between "No, I don't understand you." and "I understand you perfectly well, but [nothing in my nature compels me to care]". This is where he and I are for lots of other…

That is brilliant

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

#118

Post by hunterb123 »

cm2012 wrote: post #88
idk1 wrote: post #31

I have two cats, one is quite clever and responds to her name, dinner, hop up (for it's ok if you want to sit on my lap) and a few other things. I can ask her to get one of her toys too if she wants the play. She also very rarely meows. The other cat is not so bright, if you ever say anything to him directly he'll only meow back and come over for a pat, that's it. It's just a back and forth screaming match if you tal…

I have 7 cats now and have had had 15 cats in my life. My whole extended family has always had lots of cats. Two things stick out at me: 1) Cats really do respond to being talked to and interacted with. Cats that are talked to often get more responsive and communicative. 2) There is huge genetic IQ gaps, lol. Some cats are so smart they blow your mind, others are mouth breathers. The normal distribution is real.

This. Not limited to cats either. I've noticed the same in dogs and even some cows.

Same rules apply to humans as well. Interaction early on develops personality and intelligence varies genetically by a wide margin.

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

#119

Post by oogetyboogety »

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…

Hmm my dog acts like a cat or i suck since i definitely cant tell 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".

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

#120

Post by TheOtherHobbes »

Crosseye_Jack wrote: post #102
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…

Cats destroy the assumption that animals should do what we tell them to, because that's how it works.

Of course they have agency and their own goals. It's fascinating that humans are surprised and sometimes baffled by this.

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