Cats recognise their owners' voices but don't care

[n2doc]

JAMES VINCENT

Any cat owner will tell you that although they are sometimes kept as pets, felines are beholden to no one.

A new study from the University of Japan has confirmed this, showing that although pet cats are more than capable of recognising their owner’s voice they choose to ignore them - for reasons that are perhaps rooted in the evolutionary history of the animal.

Carried out by Atsuko Saito and Kazutaka Shinozuka, the study tested twenty housecats in their own homes; waiting until the owner was out of sight and then playing them recordings of three strangers calling their names, followed by their owner, followed by another stranger.

The researchers then analysed the cats’ responses to each call by measuring a number of factors including ear, tail and head movement, vocalization, eye dilation and ‘displacement’ – shifting their paws to move.

When hearing their names’ being called the cats displayed “orientating behaviour” (moving their heads and ears about to locate where the sound was coming from) and although they showed a greater response to their owner’s voices than strangers’, they declined to move when called by any of the volunteers.

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/cats-recognise-their-owners-voices-but-never-evolved-to-care-says-study-8966580.html

[NV Whino]

1. They did a study on this?

Any cat owner could have told them that.

[1monster]

11. Yeah, and my cats not only recognize our voices, they recognize the sounds our cars

make too... They come running when they hear either one of our two cars, but ignore the others that pass on the road.

[NV Whino]

14. Yeah, I had a cat I left with a guy who sublet my house while I was in Georgia

Don't even ask why I was in Georgia. Suffice it to say it was an "experience."

But when I returned, the cat came running down the driveway to greet me. And… it was a different car than I had left in.

Honestly, I think we could solve the mysteries of the universe by studying (and communicating?) with cats.

[Voice for Peace]

29. I think you're on to something. I am fascinated by cat communication.

Other animals too, but as I am immersed in cats, they interest me most.

[Dale Neiburg]

37. I had a sort-of similar experience...

We had a cat we rescued (he died some time ago from a congenital heart problem).

If my wife was home when I got home from work, she reported that he always perked up from whatever he was doing (usually napping), and obviously realized that I was about to get home. We calculated that he recognized my car from about two blocks away. Anyway, after being attentive for a moment he would usually go back to napping, grooming himself, or whatever. Once in a while, though, he would jump up, bound over to the door, and wait for me so that he could greet me eagerly the moment I walked in. We eventually figured out what the variable was. He would rush to greet me if I'd bought cat food and was bringing it home with me.

IOW, he could not only hear and recognize the sound of my car from two blocks away (impressive but credible), but could even tell whether the car had cat food in it!

[Stargazer09]

2. Cats are too funny

I love how they just don't care.

Unless it's mealtime. Or I'm in the bathroom. Then they are always underfoot.

[Warpy]

13. Or when you're sick.

My cats have always looked at me with expressions that can only be described as worried (threat to the food supply?) and even the ones who are standoffish will cuddle right up.

[NV Whino]

16. Yeah, sometimes my cats know I'm sick before I do.

Nothing like a purring feline sitting on your lap when you are ill. Except maybe after hip surgery.

[silverweb]

3. The last line is the best of all.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]"The study concludes by observing that 'the behavioural aspect of cats that cause their owners to become attached to them are still undetermined.'"

(I know why, but I'm not telling!)

[catbyte]

6. They obviously never cuddled with a warm, soft, furry, purring feline

There are few things on earth that compare with that.

[silverweb]

7. Truth!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]There's also (and maybe primarily) that when our felines do come when called, it's because they really want to, not out of some slavish obedience.

[catbyte]

25. Exactly. What's awesome about cats is that you have to earn their love & devotion.

It's not instinctive like dogs, which seems built in. It's much more fulfilling when a cat loves you because you know they're making a choice to love you. There's nothing that makes my heart melt faster than earning that first slow eye blink from a new cat.

[Voice for Peace]

30. and it is really a moment by moment thing.. you can never take for granted that they'll be this way

or that.. but sometimes my cats give me a look that just
makes me weep. There is so much love in their faces and
eyes, and nobody can tell me I'm imagining it.

[silverweb]

33. Absolutely agree.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I call my gray male my "hound dog" and "guardian." He follows me everywhere, indoors or out, and sometimes gives me that look of pure love. I know exactly what you mean.

[silverweb]

31. Yup.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]It's always a special pleasure for me to meet a new cat that's friendly and accepting right away. A cat won't be "polite" just for form or because it's being told to, so it's an achievement and personal validation.

My favorite hilarious depiction of the difference between cats and dogs. I'll take the cat every time.

[SheilaT]

9. You've got that right.

Among the things I don't like about dogs is that they don't purr.

A while back I had a cat who, when she got old she stopped purring. It was quite odd, and made her less cat-like. Not quite less likeable, but it was quite strange to have her curl up on my lap and not purr. About two weeks before she died she purred again at expected times, and that lasted maybe two days.

The three cats I had after her all purred up to the very end.

[tavalon]

17. Explain it to me

I'm a dog person and I've met dog-cats and adored them, but true cats, I do not pretend to understand or much care for.

[catbyte]

26. It's a Cat Person thing, you wouldn't understand. ;)

Describing it is akin to trying to describe color to a blind person.

[silverweb]

28. What catbyte said.

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]I will add that I love cats for their independence. They lack that slavish devotion many dogs have, which I personally find rather irritating.

Cats are also quieter, generally cleaner, and definitely lower maintenance than dogs. They live completely in the moment and are a constant, delightful reminder to me of how important and satisfying that is. And... litter boxes, not constant walks.

Don't get me wrong: I love dogs, too... as long as they belong to someone else. They're delightful in short doses, but my cats are the long-term pleasure that are essential to my happy home.

[catbyte]

39. Perfectly stated, silverweb

[silverweb]

40. ...

[raging moderate]

4. One of my cats is alive today because this study is not true. And because veterinarians are saints.

Last edited Thu Nov 28, 2013, 08:45 PM - Edit history (1)

Right before my daughter's hardwon law school graduation, one of my cats became extremely ill. At first, he seemed to be on the mend, but then he took a turn for the worse. I was trickling spoonfuls of watered down food into him bit by bit. I remember emailing her, "I don't see how I can come. I believe I am cursed." Just then, however, my saintly local vets offered to take him in while I went to the graduation ("you can't miss this, you guys have worked too hard to get here&quot . The next morning, they called to tell me, "I don't know what to do, he won't eat, I think he may be on the way out." I said, "Can I talk to him?" and they put the phone by his ear. I said some of our special love words and mealtime words to him over the phone. "Hey!" the vet said, "This is great! He just started taking the food! Yeah, he is continuing to take the food. I think he may make it after all."

I still have that cat, seven years later.

[1monster]

12. Great story. Our cats love us. They just have their own unique ways of showing us that love.

[Voice for Peace]

32. sweet story!!!!

[catbyte]

5. Any of us lucky enough to share our home with them have always known that, lol

[BrotherIvan]

8. They should come to my house

I have never had an aloof cat. My cats are all over me and demand constant love and affection. All different breeds, though my Burmese was the most incredible cat I've ever owned and I still miss him dreadfully. They follow us everywhere and always need to be sitting nearby. After lots of cats with the same demeanor, I do believe the aloof cat is a self-perpetuating myth: a cat is smart enough to shun you before you shun her. Alas, sometimes I do wish for a little less smother-love around here, but cats also are smart enough to use cute fluffiness to the ultimate advantage.

[BlueCaliDem]

10. This does NOT sound like our Yen-Yen (Lenny). He's the most adorable,

loving, cuddling, always-vying-for-attention red tabby cat I've ever known! You can't pass him without him making that "crroop!" sound and darting after you for more pets and caresses!

Yen-yen can't get enough of people's attention, I swear!

[lastlib]

15. They also recognize the sound of the can opener, and the refrigerator door opening....

Did these people study that??

According to sources here, my cat also recognized the sound of my car coming into the garage, and she usually met me at the door.

She also sensed earthquakes that humans couldn't.

[HockeyMom]

27. Wanna EEEEEEEAT?

Oh, they will come running with that!

[catbyte]

38. ROFL. That's what I say.

[brewens]

18. My last cat Fatty must have thought he was a dog. He would come to me when I called him

almost without fail. It was funny when he'd be conked out in his chair and I'd go to bed. As soon as I got comfortable I'd just say "hey Fatty" in a normal tone of voice. I'd get this Siamese squack out of him and he'd come running to jump up on the bed. It was almost like he'd wake up and not see me and be pissed that I went to bed without him.

He was a part Siamese that was abandoned at my girlfriends cafe. He was such a big loveable guy, I had to bring him home with me. I never knew his real name but Fatty seemed to fit and he got used to it. He wasn't enormously fat but was a little pudgy. I always suspected that a couple of weeks at the cafe beefed him up and he never lost it. My girlfriend swore she told everyone not to feed him but I know he was getting triple rations from all three women that worked there!

[lumberjack_jeff]

19. I am unsure why people give names to cats.

Only for the benefit of other people in the house, I suppose.

[TexasProgresive]

20. All of our animals know their names

Cats, dogs and goats-even a parakeet and a finch that lived with us years ago.

[OnionPatch]

21. All three of my cats do too.

And they usually come when called. Usually. Once in a while they're too busy zoning out in their own cat world. But my dogs have selective hearing as well. Heck that goes for my husband and daughter, too!

[TexasProgresive]

23. And if you're honest

perhaps you have a bit of that selective hearing as well?

Our dogs are live stock protectors (Great Pyrenees and Marema). They will always come when called if they are not concerned about danger to their charges.

[OnionPatch]

24. Well they're working dogs.

I would expect as much.

BTW, Your dogs are two of my favorite breeds! I bet they're great dogs.

[raging moderate]

22. My 3 cats know their names and each others' names.

For the first time, after decades of trying, I have been able to tell one of them to "Go get ___" and watch them do it, several times. These cats are a very maternal former homeless mother cat age about 15, her feral daughter, and a very sweet very small male who arrived in our home 8 years ago very sick and not really expected to live. These three cats love each other; they constantly cuddle and groom each other, and, if one cat is sick, at least one of the others can be seen devotedly licking the patient's face and ears.

And I must mention here the cat who loved me, many years ago, more than anyone else except my mother. Patches came into my life as one of 10 cats living with an overburdened neighbor who had accidentally adopted a pregnant cat. To help them out, we offered to adopt her sister Precious (these cats had been named by a child) and soon had her fixed and recuperating on our couch. Patches darted in behind me one day, ran straight to her sister, recoiled in horror at her sister's condition, and began devotedly licking her sister's face. When I came up to them, Patches socked me in the nose. Hard! I had to forgive her, as she was obviously trying to defend her sick sister from an aggressor. I showed Patches how I was caring for her sister, the nice little bed, and the food and water dishes, and she warmed up pretty quickly. Patches and Precious were devoted to each other, so we adopted them both. Eventually, Precious fell ill and died, and Patches transferred all that devotion to me. I worked 12-14 hour days, and my husband said Patches would spend hours obviously watching for me out the window. As I turned the key, I would hear Patches on the dresser right inside, pushing at the lock to help me get in the door. She followed me everywhere and jumped on my lap whenever I sat down, she always came when I called, she would take her medicine when I took my medicine, and, if I told her to let go of a bird, she would do it. And, when I was sick, she would cuddle up around my chest and neck in an obvious effort to comfort me. When she died at age 16, I lost a true friend.

[Shrike47]

34. My cats know their names and come when called (usually).

Of course, they tend to get a treat when they come.

They hang out with us when we're doing something, too, just being part of the pack. And one tries to lie on your left arm when you use the computer. I'm not strong enough to hold him that way too long, but my menfolk do it.

When we've been in the bedroom or bathroom without them too long, they push the door open and join us.

Love them cats.

[doc03]

35. Don't care much for cats, they kill birds and they seem to delight in torturing

the animals they catch then don't eat them. My neighbor had a good mole catching cat that died about five years ago,
haven't been able to get rid of the moles since. That cat would usally run from me but a few times it came running to me like
I was a long lost friend, weird. We have a neighborhood outdoor cat now but he doesn't hunt anything just takes handouts.

[haikugal]

36. Not my cat...

If he hears my voice he stays right with me outside. He lays at my feet while I fix fences or work in the yard. He comes when I call. He's a rescued stray who was dumped on us even though he had no claws (cruel to abandon a declawed cat like that) He's my buddy.

[masoncharest]

41. Science

Wow interesting innovation. But I thing it’s depend on cat category. Because right now I have a cat and she understand all these thing which I told. I don’t feel like that. After reading this article I my mind grow one question, Is cat dangerous for human being ?

[Orsino]

42. Good to see the University of Duh getting research grants. n/t