Do cats recognize their names?

DOMESTIC cats and dogs are the most pop­ular companion animals. Worldwide, over 600 mil­lion cats live with humans, and in some countries their number exceeds the num­ber of dogs. For example, in Japan, there are 8,920,000 dogs, while cats number 9,526,000. Cats started to cohabit with humans about 9,500 years ago. Cats, too, have developed behaviors related to communication with humans.

Sometimes you call their name, and they just keep walking away. Cats are notorious for ignoring their owners, but a new study suggests they recognize the sound of their names. A group led by Sophia Uni­versity Associate Professor Atsuko Saito has reported the results of its experiment in the British journal, Scien­tific Reports. “Some owners insist that their cats can recognize their own names and words related to food,” wrote the researchers. “Therefore, we can make the following hypothesis: cats can discriminate words uttered by humans from other words – especially their own names – because a cat’s name is a salient stimulus as it may be the human utterance most fre­quently heard by domestic cats and may be associated with rewards, such as food, petting, and play.” In the study, the researchers ran four experiments with 16 to 34 animals. Each cat heard a recording of its owner or another person saying its name, or another cat’s name, or a noun of similar length. The researchers observed when cats hear their own names they react more strongly, moving their heads, ears and tail.

The results do not sug­gest that cats assign a sense of self to their names, but rather that they are trained to rec­ognize a sound; a sound that could mean something good, like a treat or a toy, or something bad, like a trip to the vet.

Now there’s scientific evidence to back up your suspicions. Your cat un­derstands that you’re call­ing their name – they just don’t care.