As soon as I woke up this morning, my cat pounced on me. It’s like a dog jumping on its owner. It usually plays by holding my arm and kicking and chewing me. This time it pounced several times without opening its mouth to bite. I was surprised and happy at the time and said, “Why are you so enthusiastic today, like a dog?” (Here it means that it moves like a dog, not as a curse). As a result, the painting style changed, and it started to bite my hand, slightly harder than usual. It felt like it understood what I said and was getting angry.
I have been thinking about the question of whether cats can understand human speech for a long time. I checked a lot of information. Most people who have owned cats believe that cats can understand because when they say something to a cat, the cat does what they say. A small number of people think that cats cannot understand because when they talk to cats, cats almost never respond. A cat is a maverick animal. Even if it understands something, it may not necessarily do it. However, if it is beneficial to it, it will do it instinctively regardless of what others say or not. Therefore, you cannot judge whether the cat understands based on these alone.
Based on my understanding and summary of cats, I think cats can understand some simple words. Even if they don’t fully understand, they can judge what the owner wants to express based on the person’s expression and movements. It’s just that sometimes they are too lazy to talk to their owners. The reasons are as follows:
1. People who have really raised cats can basically understand what cats want to express in their daily lives. You can tell by the cat’s meowing whether it is hungry or wants its owner to play with it, or whether the cat’s litter needs to be changed. You can also judge whether the cat is playing or angry by the intensity of its bite and scratching. In the same way, when the owner blames the cat for dissatisfied behavior, the cat can also feel the owner’s anger. When the owner praises the cat, the cat also knows that the owner is in a happy mood at the moment. Therefore, even if the cat does not understand some words, it can still judge what the owner wants it to do and what it does not want it to do by observing the owner’s expression, demeanor, movements, voice volume, etc. Generally speaking, the general meaning is understandable.
2. An experiment published in the “Journal of Animal Cognition” in 2013 showed that cats can distinguish their owners’ voices and understand their own names. When strangers call their names, they will turn their heads and shake the tips of their ears. And when their owners called their names, they swayed more frequently. And they did nothing else after that. This shows that their reaction at that time was not a conditioned reflex to eat, but a reaction after remembering their own names. It can remember its own name, and of course other words. It can distinguish the owner’s voice and other voices. When it hears some words many times and associates them with the owner’s next behavior, it can understand the meaning of the owner based on these words, and gradually remembers the meaning of these words. Although it is not completely consistent with the meaning explained in Xinhua Dictionary, it is almost understandable.
3. According to many cat owners, their cats often meow in response to them when they communicate with their cats. Some cats have learned to open doors, some can imitate human movements, and even some very old cats can meow like people talking. This shows that cats have a strong learning ability, and it is not impossible for cats to learn human language after spending time together. Therefore, there is a high probability that cats can understand human speech.
4. In fact, communication between cats has never relied on sound, and they are carnivorous animals, playing the roles of both hunters and prey in the biological chain.
The reason why they make meowing sounds and show that cute posture is because they were invented to cater to humans. In order to attract human attention, please humans to obtain food, and communicate better with humans, they invented a variety of different calls, such as meow, woo, ow, etc. I also learned a lot of cute tricks. Since cats can cater to humans and invent these calls and stunts, they can also understand what humans want to express by learning human language. They may not be able to fully understand what humans say, but they will definitely understand it slowly. This is an inevitable trend.
There is a high probability that cats can understand human speech, but they may not listen to you. So don’t worry too much about whether the cat can understand this question. Be patient and insist on communicating with your cat every day. As long as what you tell your cat is beneficial and interesting to it, it will definitely follow it if it understands. At the same time, don’t scold the cats easily. If they understand, it will be bad if they look back at you.
Original article author：Shit Shovel Officer，If reprinted, please indicate the source.：https://www.petcatanddog.com/article/10744.html