I love my little cat. The idea of names and using words seems extremely silly to me.
My cat’s real name is “wwhhq.” It is a sound that is completely different than any word or sound I ever use. I also have a low volume high pitch whistle I can make that is barely audible to me and consists of a specific quick up-down-UP tone. She can hear that over any white noise and will usually respond, at least, more usual than most cats I’ve owned or been around. I’d call it a 90% response rate. No one else in the house can generate that kind of response from her, especially with a silly anthropomorphized name. I’ve gotten to the point where all words directed at an animal seem like unnecessary nonsense. They are only responding to tone and actions. So, I figure why not simplify my vocalizations to make my communication entirely on her level of tones and actions making my intent more clear and easy to interpret. It has worked really well for me over the last 9 years with my current cat. I don’t think I will speak to a cat ever again.
Talking to cats is silly
Proceeds to describe a very silly and nonsensical way of communicating with them
I’m a sophisticated cat owner. I don’t use English like all the other peons, instead I use my own made up language of whistles and sounds and gestures to communicate.
This is an animal that is said to have domesticated itself and started mimicry of baby cries, just to try to communicate with (see: manipulate) us, and you don’t think there’s merit in speaking to it?
I’ve adopted silent cats, and by way of speaking to them regularly, seen their own feline vocabularies grow. They learn new ways to audibly express themselves, and their personalities seem to grow, for the better of their own contentment.
I genuinely think you should reconsider your outlook on this matter.
You’re smart
There’s nothing wrong with nonsense or silliness in this context, imo. “Wwhgq” is kinda nonsense, too! I also don’t understand what you mean by “real name,” but whatever works for you!
You’ve obviously never had a riveting conversation with a cat. They’re quite pleasant to converse with if you know how to engage with them.
You obviously don’t read more than a headline
If you mean it doesn’t make sense to speak full sentences in a language to a cat and expect them to understand, then sure, I think the vast majority of people get that. Having a name for your cat goes make sense though - they learn to recognize their name and many will come when you call it. That name doesn’t have to be a regular name or word, of course; there just recognizing a particular sound or sequence of sounds. You made up a new sound for your cat - that’s no better or worse than calling it “Fluffy.”
Cats do recognize other words, and can pick them out. Ours for sure knows “dinner,” “hungry,” “get down,” and “up up.” It’s easier for us humans to use sentences though (e.g., “Are you hungry, do you want dinner?”). Also, a lot of people have pets for company, and it can feel less lonely to talk to your pet, even if they don’t understand.
Interesting fact: apparently cats that aren’t raised around humans don’t meow much.
I’m a bit of an oddball because I named a lemon tree and I talk with it. But even then, I don’t think that this behaviour towards cats is silly, it’s just humans harmlessly following their own instincts. Cats chase small things, spiders weave webs, and we humans talk.
And even if the response rate might go down, I don’t care too much about it. I just make sure to include a few key words and/or sounds into what I’m talking, emphasise them when speaking with my cats, and make them iconic. At least for things that matter. (Granted, I use German with one of my cats, but that’s for another reason - to keep myself from forgetting the language.)
Hey, has it been about ten seconds since you talked with your lemon tree?
No, I spoke with Malena as I was watering her, some ~4h ago, why?
I can totally respect that perspective.
My real motivation was simply stating I get far better results by simplifying the dialogue to something that is better understood. I find it super annoying when someone is yelling words across a house at a cat. Like all you are doing is saying “stay away from random yelling ape making random weird scary sounds.” Just keeping it simple, conscious, and consistent with a cat’s cognitive abilities can generate real results most people assume cats are incapable of doing.
Ah, I get it. It looks for me like the “target” of your annoyance is that some people expect their cats to behave like humans, including understanding speech; that’s far from true and it goes way past the human instinct that I mentioned.
yelling words across a house at a cat.
Cats have sensitive hearing and hate loud noises, so it makes a lot of sense that a quiet whistle would work better than loudly calling out. Things like “pspsps” and “ksksks” get their attention too because it’s not very loud but has a lot of high frequencies that they can hear well.
They seem to like when you talk to them in a calm voice. They might not understand sentences, but they do recognize sounds. They’ll look at you funny if you suddenly start speaking a different language.
My cats recognise each other’s names. Mention one in another’s presence and they’ll look around to see if the other cat is nearby.
I have pavloved my cats with the laser pointer. Just jingle it and they come running! Same thing wish the cat food too unfortunately. Any can I open and I’m quickly joined by cats
Joey and ChandlerWhat do you mean by “make sense”?
As in giving them human word names they won’t understand is weird? Or the names themselves don’t make sense?
If the latter, that’s gonna be an opinion that few share.
Talking to them isn’t really silly either. They definitely do recognize it, as you’ve found, and while trying to communicate 1:1 with them is fully, your voice is comforting for them to hear. They won’t know a thing you say, but they can associate words with specific actions. And hearing your voice is comforting, even if they don’t know what you say.
And when repeating yourself to them, I think you can communicate certain phrases, and it will be easier to remember what you said if you use the English (or whatever language they usually hear) words, since it’ll be easier to repeat later if you don’t have to remember what random sound you used last time.
Of course. It’s not like most of the people believe that animals actually understand them. It’s just cute and it feels like someome listens to you with “interest” at least. This opinion is a fact that everyone willingly ignores.
so do you have other ‘gibberish’ words that are commands for her? i’ve never had a cat so idk if you can train one in the same way you can a dog.
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How is that different than talking in English? The cat still learns those sounds and their meaning, you’ve just added an unnecessary layer of obscurity and complexity.
