Do our cats know their names?

This may have been discussed here, but cats make a bewildering
assortment of vocal sounds - meows, yowls, semi-barks, purrr-mrrrowws
etc. - and I wonder if in turn they can recognize the complex vocal
noises we make - let's say when we speak their names. When I say
"Sophie" to our latest kitty she may turn and look at to me, but the
odds are greater that she'll ignore me - a favourite cat ploy. This
can't be because cats have short-term memories. We adopted Sophie as a
stray over a year ago and ever since we've fed her dry food like the
other kitties. But if we run the can opener she comes running -
probably because her previous humans fed her tinned food. How about
you? Do/does your cat or cats recognize his or her name(s)?

"Bobcat" had some very interesting things
to say about Do our cats know their names?:

This may have been discussed here, but cats make a bewildering
assortment of vocal sounds - meows, yowls, semi-barks, purrr-mrrrowws
etc. - and I wonder if in turn they can recognize the complex vocal
noises we make - let's say when we speak their names. When I say
"Sophie" to our latest kitty she may turn and look at to me, but the
odds are greater that she'll ignore me - a favourite cat ploy. This
can't be because cats have short-term memories. We adopted Sophie as a
stray over a year ago and ever since we've fed her dry food like the
other kitties. But if we run the can opener she comes running -
probably because her previous humans fed her tinned food. How about
you? Do/does your cat or cats recognize his or her name(s)?

I'm sure Felix does. In fact, he even recognized his name before I
knew it *was* his name. When we adopted him, I was trying out various
names on him, with no reaction. When I tried Felix, he looked up at me
with obvious interest, so even a dense human :-) got the message that
that was his name [he didn't bother to react to Soldier, which is what
the shelter called him].

--
"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be
doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding.
:-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL

Bobcat wrote:
This may have been discussed here, but cats make a bewildering
assortment of vocal sounds - meows, yowls, semi-barks, purrr-mrrrowws
etc. - and I wonder if in turn they can recognize the complex vocal
noises we make - let's say when we speak their names.

Persia "found me" back in January, 2001. I tried to find her humans with no
success. In the meantime, she managed to charm the pants off me so by day 3
I said out loud, "Well, I can't keep calling you 'cat'." The name Persia
just popped into my head (beamed there by the mothership, no doubt). This
pretty grey cat with green eyes was walking away from me at the time when I
said "Persia!" She immediately turned around and ran to me. And yes, when
I call her name, she knows what I'm saying. She doesn't necessarily give me
more than a backwards glance to indicate she heard me, but she knows.

Persia makes vocalizations which I'm not supposed to understand. However,
if I'm in the bathroom in the morning and she wants food, her meow changes
miraculously to, "NOWW!" And if she wants out in her kitty-walk enclosure
on the patio, it's funny how her meow changes to sound like, "OUT OUT." LOL

Jill

Yes, Jazz answers to all his names:
JazzyWazzybooboo
Jujubee
Fat boy
Sweet Baboo
Jaaaaaazzzzzzzzz

Jazz's mama


Bobcat wrote:
This may have been discussed here, but cats make a bewildering
assortment of vocal sounds - meows, yowls, semi-barks, purrr-mrrrowws
etc. - and I wonder if in turn they can recognize the complex vocal
noises we make - let's say when we speak their names. When I say
"Sophie" to our latest kitty she may turn and look at to me, but the
odds are greater that she'll ignore me - a favourite cat ploy. This
can't be because cats have short-term memories. We adopted Sophie as a
stray over a year ago and ever since we've fed her dry food like the
other kitties. But if we run the can opener she comes running -
probably because her previous humans fed her tinned food. How about
you? Do/does your cat or cats recognize his or her name(s)?




--
Irulan
from the stars we came, to the stars we return
from now until the end of time.

"Jo Firey" wrote in message
...
Until now all our cats knew their names. Rosie even would come when
I
called her. m Molly has yet to even acknowledge that she has a name.
Jo

Sophie, Emily and Martha are the same as m Molly. I have the feeling
they expect me to say their names in Catonese, their language that's
far too subtle for me. At times I have trouble with English. I envy
all you others whose kitties cut them some slack, shrug their
shoulders (oh, I forgot, they don't have shoulders) and give in to
these poor underachieving humans by acknowledging their names!

Howard Berkowitz had some very interesting things
to say about Do our cats know their names?:

No question with my three, although the name has to be precise. Mr.
Clark ignored people who tried to call him "Clarkie", but might or might
not respond to "Mister". Rhonda clearly knows her name. Ding also
requires precision; a friend decided he looked like a "Ping" to her, and
he ignored it.
There is always the possibility, of course, that variations on their
name are heard but treated as disrespect...

A friend of ours got curious about that once and started talking to
the cat, interspersing the cat's correct name [Felix] and similar
words. The cat consistently only reacted to his actual name.

--
"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be
doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding.
:-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL

"Seanette Blaylock" wrote in
message ...
Howard Berkowitz had some very interesting things
to say about Do our cats know their names?:

No question with my three, although the name has to be precise. Mr.
Clark ignored people who tried to call him "Clarkie", but might or might
not respond to "Mister". Rhonda clearly knows her name. Ding also
requires precision; a friend decided he looked like a "Ping" to her, and
he ignored it.
There is always the possibility, of course, that variations on their
name are heard but treated as disrespect...

A friend of ours got curious about that once and started talking to
the cat, interspersing the cat's correct name [Felix] and similar
words. The cat consistently only reacted to his actual name.

Both our girls know there names, although it did take Smokey a while to
learn her name.

They both respond to variations of their name, but Smokey's name gets abused
the most. (Smokes, Smokems, Smokie Pokie, Smokem Pokem, ad nauseum)

Cali used to be very good about coming for her name, not so much any more.
One morning a few years ago, she was in the downstairs window and I called
her name (once) from bed. She came tearing up the stairs to see what I
wanted. Now that I'm no longer her hero (Smokeys arrival) the thrill has
warn off. Although she will sometimes meow when you call her name.


--
"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be
doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding.
:-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL

"Bobcat" wrote in message
. ..

Bandit is amazing! Are you sure she's not a little human in a cat
suit? No, you'd never get a human to be so appealing in the ways you
describe! Let us know when she starts speaking English, will you
please? g

She really is so smart it's scary - if she had opposable thumbs the world
would be in big trouble. Andy she *does* say "Noooooooo", "Yaaaaaaaa" (yes
and no - in the appropriate places) among other "recognizable" intonations.
She makes us laugh when she "answers" our questions - and *man* can she
bit*h when she's not happy!!

Hugs,

CatNipped

"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
"Bobcat" wrote in message
. ..

Bandit is amazing! Are you sure she's not a little human in a cat
suit? No, you'd never get a human to be so appealing in the ways
you
describe! Let us know when she starts speaking English, will you
please? g

She really is so smart it's scary - if she had opposable thumbs the
world
would be in big trouble. Andy she *does* say "Noooooooo",
"Yaaaaaaaa" (yes
and no - in the appropriate places) among other "recognizable"
intonations.
She makes us laugh when she "answers" our questions - and *man* can
she
bit*h when she's not happy!!
Hugs,
CatNipped

When Emily bi*hes, she murmurs. If you pick her up to lock her in
another part of the house (as I did just a few minutes ago when she
attacked Emily), she murmurs. When I trim her claws, she murmurs. When
she jumps on the table while I'm eating and sticks her nose in my
breakfast and I plunk her on the floor, she murmurs. I'm only glad I
don't know *what* she's murmuring!

"Bobcat" wrote in message
...

When Emily bi*hes, she murmurs. If you pick her up to lock her in
another part of the house (as I did just a few minutes ago when she
attacked Emily), she murmurs. When I trim her claws, she murmurs. When
she jumps on the table while I'm eating and sticks her nose in my
breakfast and I plunk her on the floor, she murmurs. I'm only glad I
don't know *what* she's murmuring!

LOL - well, be glad she's not like Bandit and yelling it at you at the top
of her lungs! ;

Hugs,

CatNipped