Do cats understand us?
Scientists have conducted a number of experiments to find out how exactly cats perceive human speech.
Cats can distinguish the intonation of their owner's voice
It turns out that cats do not react to the words themselves, but to the intonation with which phrases are pronounced.
Experiment 1. for a year a felinologist told her cat with the same intonation "We're going to the doctor" before putting her in a basket and carrying her to the clinic.
Then the sentence began to remind the cat of an unpleasant place, the smell of medicine, and painful procedures. The cat began to hide when she heard the phrase again.
But as soon as the owner changed her intonation and said the same words with a different emotional coloring, the cat did not react at all.
Conclusion: Cats match the pitch of the human voice to what is happening by memorizing the intonation.
Cats adapt to and understand their owner
A pet gets used to the owner's gestures and emotional background and adjusts to their owner's behavior.
Experiment 2. A scientist opened the door of a closet every time and said, "Come and eat," before feeding the cat in the kitchen. After a month, as soon as the owner opened the closet, the cat ran to the kitchen to ask for food.
If the experimenter simply told the animal: "Come and eat," the pet did not move from his seat.
Conclusion: The cats do not understand our speech, but bind the owner's actions to the event.
It is the same with training: cats do verbal commands from one person and do not respond to the same commands of another person. So, cats comply with requests (not orders) only of the one they like and are used to.
It has been noticed that if a cat is called by a stranger, most often it will not follow the call. As soon as the owner appears and calls the cat, the cat's pupils dilate and it runs to the owner.
How do cats learn a name? They respond to the combination of sounds and syllable stress.
Cats are willful. Rarely will a purr-fect cat run up to its owner just like that, without a treat.
If your pet comes to you at the first call, then we can only admire such friendship.
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