# Do cats know their names?



## VegasCats (Mar 17, 2003)

I ran an experiment today with my four cats. In turn (when theywere all in earshot), I called each one by name to see if they responded. For the most part (cats NEVER respond exactly as one would expect), each cat looked over at me when I called her (they are all female) name. But I couldn't look around fast enough to see if any other cat ALSO responded. I don't think that they did, but I guess this would take a scientific experiment with vids on each cat and all vids synchronized to prove it one way or the other.

I understand from what I've read that cats know their human-name and respond to it (mostly), but that they ignore human names for their fellow cats. Anyone have any facts/experience on this?


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## Bean (Mar 10, 2003)

Some cats do... Mine doesn't.

He's had too many name changes... His first french owners named him some French name, and he had that for 2 years. Then his next owner named him Moby because they couldn't pronounce his previous name.

I sorta wanted to change his name, just because I'm not a huge fan of Moby (just the name not the musician). And I always wanted my first cat's name to be Snoop (Snoop Catty Cat in full).

Maybe that too tramatic for a cat... Although a friend in Ontario named his cat Bam! and has had no problems (that's Bam! with an exclamation point) with kitty self esteem. haha


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## lexxie109 (Jan 20, 2003)

I'd have to say all my cats know their names very well. Whenever I call one of them, that one will come running over to me. I've read that cats are capable of learning and responding to their names, particularly if they have an loving relationship with the person who is calling them.


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

My cats do know their names. One way to make them recognize their names is to call their names when you serve them food. 

But just because a cat knows its name it doesn´t mean it´ll always listen to you


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