Do Pets Remember You after Being Gone for a Year or More?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I moved from Tennessee to Oregon at the beginning of this year and in doing so, left behind my cat, Sebastian, who I have had for about eleven years. He’s my little buddy and I really miss him after eleven months but got to wondering an hour or two ago if he’ll remember me if or when I ever visit home again. I am obviously hoping he will but I remember reading somewhere that cats don’t have very long memories and am the paranoid type so I’m afraid he might not.

What’s everyone else’s experience when dealing with a similar situation? Has your pet remembered you when you were gone for a year or more and came back into its life? Or did it act like it didn’t remember you at all? I would hate to go home and not have 'bastian jump up in my lap and take a nap like he always did before I moved.

2

I won’t make any promises ('cause I don’t know how much projection and anthropomorphism is involved), but our pets (cats and dogs) seemed to recognize people who only visited for a short period every other year or so, such as my Mom. Our cats, who would hide from visitors, got used to Mom on a long stay and came right out whenever she would return every year or two, later. Co-workers and other rarely visiting friends seemed to get the same treatment.

3

I’m pretty sure he’ll remember you. I left my husband and dog for 18 months. Both remembered me when I came home.

I have had a relationship with both husband and dog for 6 years now. Max (the dog) was never one to cuddle or hang out, but I know he’s knows who I am.

I’ve since left my husband again, but occasionally go back to the house. Max does seem upset and confused when I come back (usually to let them out to go potty or feed them if husband is out of town). Poor doggy, I can’t explain to him what’s going on.

4

I see my cat about every 6-8 months and she seems to recognize me every time I go back to see her (she lives with my parents now). At first she always seems a little cautious, but after a few minutes she seems to have remembered who I am completely. I can tell this because she usually hides under the bed whenever there’s someone around that she isn’t familiar with.

5

Depends on the pet. Our MaggieMoo, she’s not the brightest kitty ever. She once forgot who I was when I ran errands for an hour. The poor thing spent a few weeks with Dr.J’s parents once and forgot who we were and how to find her way around the apartment. Like I said, she ain’t the swiftest cat we ever had. Our other cat, though, remembered my mother and aunt when they visited last month, and she hadn’t seen either of them in two years. Ditto for the dogs, although it had only been a year for them.

6

My interaction with customer pets would indicate that they remember me for quite a long time. Dogs and cats both. A lady called to let me know that a week after I’d finished doing the tile floors in her bathrooms, her kitties would wait at the front windows and started crying because I didn’t show up. :frowning:

7

My sister’s dog remembers her just fine. She sometimes has guard training that, in one case, took 9 months.

Her dog was very happy to see her. I used to work at a barn part time helping my sister. Only evening feeding and cleaning. But even after I hadn’t been to the barn for months, the horses all remembered not only me, but my car.

They know who the feeders are, and what their cars look like, and for us, and only us, they’d all start nickering when they saw us pull up.

I bet your cat will not only remember you, but be really glad to see you.

8

I’m sure every pet is different, but here’s another vote for “He’ll probably have no problem remembering you.”

My parents have a Lhasa Apso - granted, they are pretty smart dogs to begin with - but she’s very, very protective of the household and the people within it. If she didn’t meet you as a pup, you’re a stranger, and you’re in for a fierce yapping at (hey, it’s effective, she sounds at least three times her size). My grandparents would visit very seldom, but because they came over often when she was just a pup, she never forgot them. They didn’t visit once for well over a year, but little Zoey still greeted them like old pals when they finally came back. Anyone else, she snarls and howls and yaps at until they leave her premises. How dare they, after all!
Anyway, my father once looked up some information on why she might do that, and I’m running strictly on memory here, so no cite, but IIRC he told me cats and dogs identify people by smell, and once that smell is stored, they never forget. (Similar to humans, like the Old Spice commercial: “Scent is the strongest sense tied to memory” yada yada - there is some truth to that - Old Spice makes me think of my grandfather, though I’m sure that’s not what they want me to tie my memory to!)
Incidentally, my cat (also named Sebastian, but she’s a girl) seems to rely on scent, as well - she adores my husband, but all other men frighten her. I’m not sure if it’s their giganticness, their deep voices, or what, but they scare her. Hubby did at first, but she got used to him and grew to love him above all others. Before she can even see my husband, he’ll be outside, and she gets excited and waits by the door for him to come in so she can tackle him with her nudges and leg rubbing. However, after she met his father and brother for the first time, every time they came to visit afterward, be they on foot or by car, just before they knock on our front door, her ears perk up, she sniffs the air, her eyes get wide, and she takes off into the bedroom, looking for a place to hide.
Our other cat, Kero, doesn’t count, because she loves everybody, but I’m sure she does the same thing. She’s just not as selective.

Hope your cat remembers you!

9

Thanks for the replies, everyone.

Sebastian’s not a particularly smart cat… I’d say he’s average to a little bit above, but nothing special in that regard, so I’m not worried about him being too stupid to remember me, only that he might not due to that article saying cats have short memories. I’m glad that anecdotal evidence says otherwise. :slight_smile:

I miss the little guy now though. Reading this thread is very bittersweet.

10

Well, my LittleCat is as dumb as a bag of wet grass. She also used to be a feral cat will run like hll if she sees/hears/hallucinates the presence of a stranger. My former housemate, (housemate=Friend, therefore much kitty love) came buy after two years not seeing her.

At first she ran like hell – just as she was about to skid under the bed, former housemate said “LittleCat…” SCRREEECH! SHe came to a ded ahlt, turned aorund and looked at him. SHe came over cautiously (took her awhile) and then she flopped onto her back for a bellyrub.

Same with anyone she is friendly with. If it’s been awhile, he usually runs until she hears the familiar voice.

11

I sold a horse to Utah that I didn’t see again for 2 years until I went for a visit. She walked right up, started looking for cookies, and let me put her halter on. I wouldn’t normally think this meant that she remembered me except that she only likes 3 people in the whole universe - me and the husband and wife who bought her. She will occasionally mug strangers for cookies through the fence, but she never lets anyone else catch her.

12

When I was 10 we got a dog (age 1). We got him form a little old lady who couldn’t cope with him due to him being too boisterous for her. When she came to visit him just over a year later, he went absolutely mad with excitement, which wasn’t hwat he did with strangers. No doubt at all in my mind that it is possible for pets to remember people after a hiatus in interacting with them.

13

Cats are weird creatures. Ours always remember us, but they will often act out to “punish” us for leaving. They hate the sight of the suitcases when we’re getting ready to leave, and will often back up to them, looking us in the eye the whole time and pee on them. One of the cats will give us the silent treatment when we return. Actually, she forgets in her delight to see us. Initially, she’ll run to greet us, but then remember mid-stride that she’s mad at us and stop dead, turn around, sit down and start giving herself a bath. She then will not speak to us for three or four days, before finally returning to her sweet kitty self.

The other one is much more my husband’s baby. He misses him terribly when he’s away. When he was on a 4 month trip, the poor thing become more frantic every day. I had a few unwashed t-shirts of my husband, and the kitty would carry one around in his mouth, dragging the huge thing behind him. He’d sleep with it, cuddle it and spend all night kneading it with his paws. When hubby finally got home, the cat would NOT let him put him down for the better part of a week.

The moral? I think Sebastian will remember you, but he may ACT as though you’ve never met. Give it a few days and he’ll come around to his old ways.

14

My two female cats, Felicity and Genevieve, have always remembered my ex-boyfriend. Throughout college, the ex stayed at my place 98% of the time, with the cats. Then we were apart for about a year, and they still remembered him. Then we lived together for two years, and in the past couple of years since we broke up, but he has seen them several times and they have always remembered him.

15

I went to visit my ex-boyfriend after a year and a half. Before that, we had lived together for three years. His dog went nuts when he saw me. He knew me instantly. He still loved his mama :slight_smile: sniff

I swear I miss that dog about a hundred times more than I miss his master.

16

My ex and I got a puppy. When we split up, the dog was about five years old; she kept the dog, and for about 11 months I lived in another state. After 11 months, things (happily) worked out in such a way that it worked best for me to take the dog, so I went to Iowa and got her one weekend. After 11 months without seeing me, the dog knew exactly who I was. She went bonkers, running in circles and barking. (So did I, for that matter.)

So I took her home, and then about two and a half years later, the ex came to visit me one weekend while traveling through town. Even after that long without seeing her, it still only took the dog about five seconds to figure out who this gal was; she went completely bonkers again, and it took her about an hour to calm down.

So yes, I have no doubt the cat will remember you.

17

I read of a woman who sold a 2 year-old thoroughbred to another woman to use as a hunter-jumper. She (the new owner) was a high-level competitor and kept him for thirteen years, then called up the breeder saying, “He’s getting too old for the circuit; would you like him back?” You bet! The breeder drove up with a trailer and, she says, as soon as she stepped out of the truck, he was over at the fence whickering for her.

If a horse can remember after thirteen years, it’s no stretch for a dog or cat after just a couple.

DD

18

I moved to California for just under a year, leaving my cat and dog with my ex-husband. When I came back, I’d expected Shane, the dog, to go bonkers with happiness at seeing me again, but expected indifference from Kitters, because he was always a kinda stand-offish guy. When I got there, I went running to see Shane, who pretty much ignored me, but once the door was open, Kitters ran right up to me and wouldn’t let me out of his sight. Every time I sat down, he jumped right into my lap. It broke my heart leaving them and to this day I wish I could have kept them with me always.

19

This thread popped up at kind of a funny moment for me. Tomorrow (well, today now) I’m going to fly back to CA to have Thanksgiving with my family. They came to visit me in May, and I saw them again in August at a family wedding, but I haven’t actually been back in just a little over a year now. And I have to admit, I am REALLY excited about seeing my dog.

I’m personally not worried in the slightest. I’ve been away for long stretches in the past, I’m positive she’ll know who I am immediately. Because I haven’t really lived there for several years now, I’m not her favorite person (that would be my dad, who is a total pushover; she just has to look at him pathetically and he gives her scraps), but she knows I’m part of the family.

Yay! Puppy dog! I can’t wait to see my fuzzball.

20

A friend I had in gradeschool had a smart, sweet mutt named Sandy. Every time I went to her house I made sure to pay attention to Sandy. My friend and I lost touch for a couple years, and then started hanging out again. One day Sandy had puppies and my friend invited me over to see them. As we went up to the room they were in, Sandy heard us coming up the stairs and poked her head out the door. I said, “Hi, Sandy!” and she gave me a big, open-mouthed doggy smile, grabbed the bottom of my shirt and dragged me over to her brood to show them off. My friend looked surprised and said she’d never done that before - she usually barked at visitors that came to see the puppies. So I’m sure she remembered me, and that I’d always paid attention to her.