"Do cats know their names or recognize our voice in some other way? Although we’ve spent over 10,000 years sharing our time with cats, there’s very little research to determine the answer to this question.
Fortunately, things do seem to be changing a bit as we share even more time & experiences with our favorite felines, & there are a few interesting recent research pieces that says there is evidence that cats may indeed know their names.
As a veterinarian who has listened to my clients’ perspectives over the past 30 years & a person who has been 'owned by cats' since I was 17 years old, I definitely have my thoughts on the answer—& it seems to be very selective.
An interesting article from 2013 affirms that cats do recognize human voices & respond primarily by ear & head movements. They further found that using harmonics & broad pitch were more effective in eliciting that response. They concluded that cats recognize their owners voice specifically by using the voices of 3 strangers followed by the owner & then another stranger.
Another interesting study from 2017 discussed how we talk to our pets compared to babies using high-pitched voice, simple content & harmonics. The study used 'kitten directed speech' that was simple, higher pitched & musical or harmonic. They found that a cat’s hearing range had a wide scale & pitch & that cats may be attentive to human utterances with more variation.
One of the strongest variables I see in how responsive cats are to their owner’s voice is whether they are hungry or not. It is well-known among animal trainers that food is a powerful motivator to respond to verbal or audible cues. Common sense says that food, coupled with the owner’s voice, should result in a response at least some of the time.
If you think about cats only really having only 2 modes, predator or prey, their responses are typically in line with those modes, to seek food or hide. If we can erase any fear of us, the owner, & use food as a reward, they should come to us for food using an audible cue—or even a clicker.
Training a cat to respond to a verbal cue, such as their name, from a young age is very important. Because kittens have a very early human association period that can begin at 17 days old, it is important that kittens are handled & get used to human voice & touch to make sure there is absolutely no fear & they associate us with attention, love, & food.
By starting as a kitten, using a harmonic pitch & variation, & possibly a multi-syllable name in association with food rewards, we should get a better response from our beloved felines (which could be anything from an ear twitch to running to us). As cat lovers we know, we simply need to accept graciously whatever they choose to do!"
Ken Lambrecht, DVM
petmd.com
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