How bright are cats? Really? They recognise the owners names?

RE: How bright are cats? Really? They recognise the owners names?

Julie Innes — Wed, 20 Apr 2022 10:46:47 GMT

I have 2 cats. One is extremely smart, the other (his brother) thick as mince.

Apparently cats developed miaowing just to communicate with us humans- they do not miaow at each other (true!), which is pretty smart. My cats have different miaows for "look I caught a small rodent" or for "Feed me now, slave".

Cats don't have to go out and work, and get to live like parasites, getting exactly what they want when they want. I guess that makes them pretty smart...

RE: How bright are cats? Really? They recognise the owners names?

Steve Hallahan — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 22:02:38 GMT

Depends on what criteria one uses to attribute "intelligence."

For those who haven't read it "Are we smart enough to understand how smart animals are?" by Frans de Waal is an excellent and engaging book on this very subject.

Spoiler alert: they're much smarter than we think!

RE: How bright are cats? Really? They recognise the owners names?

Jill Butterworth — Tue, 19 Apr 2022 08:37:54 GMT

We need to have a 'laugh button' for that one!

RE: How bright are cats? Really? They recognise the owners names?

Stephen Pointing — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 11:21:40 GMT

Cats are the most popular pets down here although dogs are beginning to catch up. I don't think an adult penguin would be that concerned about a cat - chicks possibly but the cat would have to contend with lots of adults to get to the chick. The main bird species that my cat catches is the introduced house sparrow. I occasionally come home to find a dead sparrow in the middle of my kitchen floor but no sign of the perpetrator of the crime. I think it is her contribution to the household provisions for the week.

RE: How bright are cats? Really? They recognise the owners names?

Julian Earl — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 10:28:42 GMT

[quote userid="13196" url="~/001/veterinary-clinical/small-animal/neurology/f/discussions/30269/how-bright-are-cats-really-they-recognise-the-owners-names/236994#236994"] My cat can open my back door which has a pull down handle. She jumps up, pulls it down and if the wind is favourable the door blows open. Because it is so safe here I rarely lock my door so I often come home to find my back door wide open - with sometimes the cat inside and sometimes not. because neighbouring houses have similar door handles she'll often open them on the rare occasion I've locked mine. I've had numerous stories of neighbours being woken up in the middle of the night to find black cat lying on their bed. Fortunate;y most of them are cat lovers and she is extremely affectionate. [/quote]

Wow, Stephen!! So ; On your Islands you mean hat there is morethan one cat?? How do the Penguins survive?? And Neighbours?/ Really. What is the total population there please? But good information about your clever cat! Thanks...

RE: How bright are cats? Really? They recognise the owners names?

Stephen Pointing — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 00:57:13 GMT

Quite bright I think. My cat can open my back door which has a pull down handle. She jumps up, pulls it down and if the wind is favourable the door blows open. Because it is so safe here I rarely lock my door so I often come home to find my back door wide open - with sometimes the cat inside and sometimes not. because neighbouring houses have similar door handles she'll often open them on the rare occasion I've locked mine. I've had numerous stories of neighbours being woken up in the middle of the night to find black cat lying on their bed. Fortunate;y most of them are cat lovers and she is extremely affectionate.

RE: How bright are cats? Really? They recognise the owners names?

Jill Butterworth — Sun, 17 Apr 2022 13:46:08 GMT

Interesting. They recognise their own name, so it's credible that they could recognise other names too.