Cats might ignore us but they do understand their own name

DEVOTED cat owners who have long gushed about the intelligence of their pets will be purring at a new proclamation from scientists that the animals really can recognise their own names.

While dogs are known to be skilled at interpreting language, with some trained to understand up to 1,000 words, there has been little research into whether cats know what humans are saying.

But new research has found that cats were far more likely to respond to recordings of their own name than words of a similar length and intonation, suggesting they do understand the word relates to them.

It is thought they picked up their names because the sounds are often accompanied by rewards of food, petting and play, or punishments such as being forced to have a bath.

Scientists have studied a total of 78 cats from the Neko Cat Cafe in Jiyugaoka, Tokyo, as well as several Japanese households. Scientists have been broadcasting the names of resident cats, interspersed with similar sounds, to see if they really do recognise when they are being called.

Cats that lived with their owners at home were also found to be skilled at distinguishing their own names, moving their ears and tails or purring to acknowledge the familiar sound.

Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, lead author Dr Atsuko Saito said: “We conclude that cats can discriminate the content of human utterances based on phonemic differences.”

Studies in the last few years have found that cats are able to understand human pointing gestures, similar to dogs, yet unlike canines will not gaze towards humans when they cannot access food.

Scientists have proven that cats do respond to their names, which is something their owners have known for years. But how did the boffins work it out? Whatever the truth, we like to imagine it involved putting 200 cats in a room while a scientist in a white coat shouted out a list of names to see if any looked up: “Mr Tibbins? Chairman Meow? Graham?”

Perhaps a better question is: do human beings recognise when a cat is calling them? Research among feline scientists has produced mixed results. At dinner time, humans will ignore quiet, even insistent mewing; but they do take notice if the cat scratches the sofa or climbs a curtain. With a lot of patient work, humans can be trained to respond to simple commands: “Feed me”; “Let me out”; “Leave me alone, I’m done with you.”