Cats knowingly ignore owners' calls: study

[icyfroth]

In what is unlikely to come as a surprise to most cat owners, a new study by the University of Japan shows that while our feline friends can distinguish their owner's voices, their mental faculties are not developed enough to understand that they should care.

The study tested 20 house cats in their own homes, playing a series of recorded voices once their owners had gone out of sight.

The cats heard the voices of three strangers calling their names, then their owner's voice, then another stranger's voice.  

Upon hearing their voices being called, the cats displayed "orientating behaviour", reacting and moving their ears and head toward the noise, but none chose to act upon the call.

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And people actually get paid to research this? Most Cat people could've told them that

[banoras]

We could have saved them a lot of time and money!! lol  

[syrupsmummy]

My cats come when they are called even they can't see me.

My previous cat Lucky came when he was called too. I used to call Lucky in front yard and I could see him walking up the street from 4 or 5 houses down.

My Dini used to visit some particular houses on the street but when I call him he came back. He stay in the house or front yard nowadays except when he has a date with Princess cat two houses down.

My other cat Blanket hangs around backyard and he comes inside when I call. He actually come back in when he hears me talking. I think he reacts to my voice. He loves me

My first and only girl cat Pillow sometimes ignore my call. But she will turn up in my sight to show she is around.

I have good cats

[bright.ton42]

Yes my Rudi always came when he was called.  I'd stand out in the backyard feeling like a dill yelling Rudi Rudi and he 

would eventually appear.  He knew his name.  Now my dogs -  there are 3 here at the moment (minding one) and I will call one and they all come running lol.  

[icyfroth]

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@bright.ton42 wrote:

Yes my Rudi always came when he was called.  I'd stand out in the backyard feeling like a dill yelling Rudi Rudi and he 

would eventually appear.  He knew his name.  Now my dogs -  there are 3 here at the moment (minding one) and I will call one and they all come running lol.  

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Dogs are such loyal and loving creatures, Bright.

I'm reading a good book at the moment, The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle", it's an absolutely gripping story set around a family specialising in dog breeding etc. The author spends a lot of time on  dog love, obedience and loyalty.

Review by Stephen King:

"I flat-out loved The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. Dog-lovers in particular will be riveted by this story, because the canine world has never been explored with such imagination or emotional resonance. Yet in the end, this isn't a novel about dogs or heartland America — although it is a deeply American work of literature. It's a novel about the human heart, and the mysteries that live there, understood but impossible to articulate. Yet in the person of Edgar Sawtelle, a mute boy who takes three of his dogs on a brave and dangerous odyssey, Wroblewski does articulate them, and splendidly. I closed the book with that regret readers feel only after experiencing the best stories: It's over, you think, and I won't read another one this good for a long, long time.
      In truth, there has never been a book quite like The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. I thought of Hamlet when I was reading it (of course... and in this version, Ophelia turns out to be a dog named Almondine), and Watership Down, and The Night of the Hunter, and The Life of Pi — but halfway through, I put all comparisons aside and let it just be itself.
      I'm pretty sure this book is going to be a bestseller, but unlike some, it deserves to be. It's also going to be the subject of a great many reading groups, and when the members take up Edgar, I think they will be apt to stick to the book and forget the neighborhood gossip.
      Wonderful, mysterious, long and satisfying: readers who pick up this novel are going to enter a richer world. I envy them the trip. I don't reread many books, because life is too short. I will be rereading this one."

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Somehow, doesn't seem appropriate in a Cat Rules Thread, in fact a cat is only mentioned once in the whole book!

But cats can't have it all, can they?