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Do Cats Understand Words – Intelligence & Language Facts

Do Cats Understand Words – Intelligence & Language Facts

Cats are wonderful companions, but their tendency to listen only when they want to can make it seem like they aren’t as intelligent and don’t understand you as well as dogs and other pets. It’s not quite that simple. While cats don’t always listen to commands or pay as much attention when you’re talking, that doesn’t mean they don’t understand you. It also doesn’t mean that they do. So, do cats understand words?

Cats can understand some words. An average cat can learn between 20-40 words including their own name. Cats associate words with vocalizations, tone of voice, and body language. Cats also associate words with feeding, petting, playtime, rewards, and more. 

It’s also a mistake to think that your cat isn’t very smart because of their smaller vocabularies. Cats can be very clever. Instead, consider that vocalizations aren’t as crucial to your cat as they are to you or your dog.

What Words Can Cats Understand

This is often one of the first questions new cat owners ask as if there is a magic set of words that are keys to their cat’s psyche.

The truth is that cats don’t understand any particular words better than others. Think of them as being like a small child. Short words and the words you use most often are likely to be the words that they understand best.

Your cat does probably understand things like ‘good boy’ and ‘good girl.’ They might not show that they understand praise, but your cat can understand that you’re happy with them. They’re also likely to understand words talking about their food, so ‘canned food,’ ‘kibble,’ or ‘munchies’ might be part of their repertoire if you often use them.

‘Treats’ is another common word for cats to understand, since they’re more motivated to know when they’re about to get something tasty.

But your cat will likely also understand things like ‘come,’ ‘no,’ and any other commands you use often.

We’ve even met a cat or two that understood words like ‘sad’ or ‘happy’ because they were mainly in tune with their owners’ emotions.

It’s all about which words your cat is most motivated to learn, and which words are used consistently enough to seem important.

Do Cats Understand Their Names

This is a common question as well as an important one. Good news, chances are, your cat knows their name. But they might not know what their name means.

How does that work?

Your cat may know that you use their name to talk to them or get their attention. But cat experts aren’t sure whether they recognize it as being a unique name for them, or if your cat thinks that their name means something like ‘Attention!’.

There are also some theories that cats might associate their name with scratching and petting, getting food, or other pleasant interactions that often call for their names.

Part of the reason it’s unclear how much cats understand their name is that when cats are raised together or live together, they rarely distinguish between each other’s names. When you call one cat’s name, you’re likely to get all of their attention, for instance. If two of your cats are closer than the others, you might get both of their attention without getting the attention of your third cat.

Do Cats Understand Commands

This is another area where it isn’t entirely clear how cats are interacting with your verbalizations. Some cats take to commands right away, mainly breeds like Bengal cats. Other cats can’t be bothered and can even seem like they are intentionally ignoring your commands.

While there is some disagreement on this subject, most experts think that cats understand some commands. But they aren’t very motivated to listen, even if they understand.

That comes from the very different evolutionary origins of cats and more servile animals like dogs. We domesticated dogs, but in a very real sense, cats domesticated themselves.

Huh?

The most common theory on the origins of domesticated cats is that they realized that living closely with humans was advantageous. In ancient times, communities of people would have created attractive habitats for rodents and other small mammals. Birds would likely have had higher populations near early grain fields, granaries, and other food storage.

That meant a lot of food for cats. Over time, cats developed traits that made them more acceptable and helpful to people, including keeping their kitten vocalizations like meowing and learning to be less skittish around people.  

Since cats were looking to coexist, there wasn’t much reason for them to learn to listen to commands. Dogs, on the other hand, were bred to perform specific jobs. They were bred and trained to listen to people.

Do Cats Understand Words Like Dogs

Not so much. Cats understand words because having some understanding of what we’re saying makes life easier for them. Dogs understand words because they enjoy having a task and have been bred to listen and understand people.

So, while your cat can understand some of your words and connect at least some meaning to your words, they aren’t paying attention to the way dogs are. They are looking for words that matter to them. Dogs are listening for words that are directed at them, and that matter to you.

Mostly, cats and dogs have entirely different motivations when they listen to you talk.

Do Cats Understand Human Meows

The chances are that almost every cat lover has found themselves meowing back at their cats. But do your cats understand human meows?

Well, probably not.

That is, you probably aren’t saying anything that has a clear meaning to your cat. Plus, your meow probably isn’t as convincing to them as it is to you.

More likely, it’s a little like someone who understands what a language is supposed to sound like without actually knowing any of the words. Your meows might have some meaning, but your cat probably doesn’t understand them.

What your cat likely does understand is that you’re interacting with them and paying attention to them. But, depending on your cat and which meows you’re trying to mimic, you may also be confusing or irritating them when you meow back.

It’s best to pay close attention to your cat if you choose to meow at them. If they seem confused or appreciative, it’s probably safe to continue meowing, especially if they meow back. But if your cat seems irritated, anxious, or concerned, you should probably avoid meowing as much as possible.

Do Cats Understand When You Talk to Them

Yes and no.

Cats almost certainly understand that you are interacting with them. They can probably also tell what you’re feeling based on your tone of voice, body language, and even your scent.

But even though your cat may understand you when you’re talking to them, it’s unlikely that they understand much of what you’re saying.

Do Cats Enjoy Being Talked To

There isn’t one right answer to this question. Some cats enjoy being talked to, while others don’t seem to understand the interaction very much.

You can help train your cat to like being talked to by giving them treats, brushing them, and generally doing anything they enjoy while you talk. Without training, your best bet is to pay attention to your cat’s body language while you talk.

Are their ears facing you while your talk? Are they looking at you with occasional slow blinks? Are they purring, laying with their belly facing you, or otherwise acting like they want attention? Those are all good signs that your cat appreciates you talking to them.

Likely, they understand that you include them in more of your life by talking with them.

However, if your cat’s ears aren’t facing you, or they are paying more attention to something else in the room, they probably couldn’t care either way.

There aren’t cats that dislike being spoken to; they just don’t see the interaction as important in the same way.