You can't hide from your cat, so don't even try

[Peter1469]

Cat's spatially orient their humans- a cognitive ability previously unknown in cats.

You can't hide from your cat, so don't even try

Your cat is probably keeping track of where you are, even if your feline friend isn't in the same room with you and can't see you.


Scientists recently learned that domestic cats create "mental maps" that tell them where nearby humans are located, based on where sounds are coming from. The researchers tested cats by playing recordings of human voices calling the cats' names; they then played those recordings again, only this time through a speaker in a different place, so that the same sounds came from farther away.



The cats acted surprised when the familiar voice came from a location that they didn't expect, based on what they had already heard. This suggests that cats spatially orient their unseen human companions using audio cues — a cognitive ability that was previously unknown in felines.

Knowing that something continues to exist even if it's out of sight (as the cats demonstrated in their responses) is called object permanence, and it's a test that researchers use to measure animal intelligence. Human infants typically begin to develop object permanence when they're around 8 months old, and this ability becomes more refined when babies reach 10 to 12 months old; at that stage, babies can find hidden objects, and they begin to realize that their parents and caregivers don't disappear just because they can't be seen, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Pretty cool.

[Cotton1]

Cats know things we don't know

[carolina73]

Cats like their routines. And they know when I am there or when I travel. My wife says the one cat that automatically waits for me in front of the bathroom everyday will not be there. None of them will go into my office during the day. The changes in patterns are as if I didn't exist.

Dogs seem to work entirely on routine.

[Abby08]

I wish my one cat wouldn't insist on having her little can of Fancy Feast at 2:30 AM.

[Peter1469]

I wish my one cat wouldn't insist on having her little can of Fancy Feast at 2:30 AM.

Have you tried putting it out before you go to bed?

I got my cats use to their soft food at around 6pm.

[Abby08]

Have you tried putting it out before you go to bed?

I got my cats use to their soft food at around 6pm.

She would probably eat it during the night, then be at the bedroom door at 2:30.

My husband got her used to eating her can that early because he gets up early but, he's been out of town since Thursday so, I'm the one she wakes up at 2:30.