If you are a cat person and suspect that your feline friend is ignoring you, you are not wrong. New research confirms what most people have been speculating about throughout the years.
A research paper published via Animal Cognition says that felines do know when their owners are talking to them. However, it’s very common for them to ignore their calls and go about their day.
The study took into account 16 pairs, a cat and its owner. Then, the scientists proceeded to play videos of themselves interacting, as well as recordings of people saying similar sentences as those that cat owners say when they baby-talk their furry friends in an alike tone they use while talking to other humans.
The researchers also played other recordings of other individuals talking to the cats, but the felines chose not to respond most of the time.
According to the results of the study, cats seem to know when their owners are referring to them and know when humans are talking to each other. The cats simply choose to ignore it.
The study also found out that some cats would only react to their owners whenever they’d use their baby voice with them. Funnily enough, the cats acted completely disinterested in other recordings.
Other times, the cats would look in the direction of the sound’s their owners’ baby voices and pause whatever they were doing or respond somehow.
In the end, it seems like cats truly don’t care. The study not only proves a funny fact that has been ongoing for years, but it also demonstrates once more that these small felines are extremely intelligent and know what they are doing.
Hence, cats can recognize when their owners are talking to them. However, that doesn’t mean they will respond all the time.
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