# I Believe My \[Adult\] Cat Recognizes His Mother And Hangs Out With Her **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 5, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-adult-cat-recognizes-his-mother-and-hangs-out-with-her/833511 "2019-05-05T14:43:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-adult-cat-recognizes-his-mother-and-hangs-out-with-her/833511/21 "2019-05-06T15:13:00Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > So cats: > do recognize their name > Can come when called I’ve heard of a recent study (sorry, no cite) which verifies this. IIRC, the same study points out that it’s likely they’re not really recognizing their name; more like recognizing the sound a human makes when saying their name and associating that with something good happening. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-adult-cat-recognizes-his-mother-and-hangs-out-with-her/833511/22 "2019-05-06T15:23:09Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > I’ve heard of a recent study (sorry, no cite) which verifies this. IIRC, the same study points out that it’s likely they’re not really recognizing their name; more like recognizing the sound a human makes when saying their name and associating that with something good happening. I had a couple of my cats trained to come home when I whistled. My neighbors used to laugh at me for thinking they’d come, but come they did. It helped that I had a policy of feeding them after they came home. In fact, the first cat even helped me train the second one. They were out on the front lawn one evening, and I whistled for them to come home. Hector started moving towards the door, then stopped and looked at Alberta with a “Why aren’t you moving?” kind of look on his face. He then went back, and chased Alberta home so he could get fed. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2019, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-adult-cat-recognizes-his-mother-and-hangs-out-with-her/833511/23 "2019-05-06T18:47:48Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > I’ve heard of a recent study (sorry, no cite) which verifies this. IIRC, the same study points out that it’s likely they’re not really recognizing their name; more like recognizing the sound a human makes when saying their name and associating that with something good happening. To be fair, for all I know my kitty has a name for me, but I only recognize it as “sounds she makes when she’s happy to see me”. ---
**Author:** ![pohjonen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pohjonen/32/423_2.png) [@pohjonen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pohjonen)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-adult-cat-recognizes-his-mother-and-hangs-out-with-her/833511/24 "2019-05-07T01:22:10Z")
Mr. Butters can tell time. Fifteen minutes before 10, he lays across the threshold of my bedroom door so he can claw at my ankles when I try to go to bed and shut him out of my room. NO! You cannot go in there and shut me out! ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2019, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-adult-cat-recognizes-his-mother-and-hangs-out-with-her/833511/25 "2019-05-07T01:34:39Z")
Animals are not inanimate or unintelligent objects. “Experts” who start with the ‘dumb animal’ idea are not experts. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2019, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-adult-cat-recognizes-his-mother-and-hangs-out-with-her/833511/26 "2019-05-07T03:47:43Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > well, big cats know their relatives to a point so why shouldn’t house lions? > > I just want to know if cats can’t taste sweetness … why can my aunts cat can happily lick the frosting off a cupcake perfectly …and never touch the actual cake … > > if you let her she gets rather scientific about it … (her favorites are strawberry and cream cheese ) she tried to do that to a twinkie but decided she liked the whole thing , Freshly picked corn. My sister had a cat when we were kids that liked freshly picked, uncooked corn. She was quite discerning too, wouldn’t eat it if it was store bought, it had to have been picked that day. Weird, and it also made me wonder if the way corn smells to a cat changes over time after picking. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-adult-cat-recognizes-his-mother-and-hangs-out-with-her/833511/27 "2019-05-31T20:36:56Z")
Today the cutest thing happened! Maui caught and killed a mouse, and he dropped it not far from Shadow. Then Shadow picked up the mouse and walked back to her house with it. It’s like Maui gave his mom a gift! ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2019, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-believe-my-adult-cat-recognizes-his-mother-and-hangs-out-with-her/833511/28 "2019-05-31T22:01:25Z")
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