Cat Linguistics

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Argo - 14 Oct 2005 16:59 GMT

Just recently, there was a notice in the newspaper that a cat was lost
(terrible news). The notice said that the cat would recognize its name
- Felix. Is that really possible?

Back when I was a kid, we had a cat named "Candy," and he always
answered to his name when we called him. He'd come running in from the
bush any time we called (expecting food, naturally). One day I decided
to try an experiment to see if he REALLY recognized his name and I
called "Ipswitch," using the normal tone we used when calling him. Sure
enough, he came hurrying out. Hmm.

Argo
http://greenrealm.blogspot.com (a science fantasy)

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Mitchum - 22 Oct 2005 12:29 GMT

> Just recently, there was a notice in the newspaper that a cat was lost
> (terrible news). The notice said that the cat would recognize its name
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> called "Ipswitch," using the normal tone we used when calling him. Sure
> enough, he came hurrying out. Hmm.

Whenever you call him in, did you only call him when he was being invited in
for food? It's possible he simply associated your voice with food and so
even if you shouted 'old flea bag' he would have come running.

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Ollie Clark - 25 Oct 2005 16:02 GMT

That's my experience too. Call them whatever you want and they'll still
come as long as you do it in the right tone. We've got one cat called
Isobelle and she gets called Issy, Bez, Bezzy, Boo, Boozle etc. and she
doesn't seem confused. I mistook her for our other cat once and called her
Toby and she still came.

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http://www.ollieclark.com/acronyms.html

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Rhino - 26 Oct 2005 17:09 GMT

> > Just recently, there was a notice in the newspaper that a cat was lost
> > (terrible news). The notice said that the cat would recognize its name
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> doesn't seem confused. I mistook her for our other cat once and called her
> Toby and she still came.

My mother has two nearly identical brother cats from the same litter; one
time, I mistakenly called Sam "Tiger" and he made a funny little noise as if
he was saying "I beg your pardon, I'm the other one." But that's probably
just me anthropromorphizing; perhaps the noise just meant that I'd started
him or "what do you want?"....

Rhino

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desertrat7374@hotmail.com - 26 Oct 2005 19:50 GMT

Our two cats definitely recognize their own names. For example, if both
are just
sitting nearby, I can softly say one's name and only that guy will look
up, or vice
versa.

One guy hardly ever talks and the other almost never stops. When I say
his name,
he always looks at me and says, "Yes?" In cat, of course.

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