A new study shows that the relationship between domestic cats and their owners is stronger than previously thought

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Every cat owner has a story to tell about feeling completely ignored by their pet: it's just as if we talk to them as many times as necessary: ​​the cat turns away and acts as if nothing had happened around him. When this happens, there are those moments of weakness when the owners wonder why they did not choose a dog on the appointed day, always so attentive and affectionate with the people who love them. But be warned, it might be worth not running so much. Maybe we rushed it. It's possible that, even if it doesn't seem like it, our cat is listening to us. In addition, everything we tell him matters much more than we think (and than it seems).


This theory comes from a study by French researchers that was published in October in the journal Animal Cognition. This publication shows that cats not only react to what scientists say directly to them, that is, in a high-pitched voice similar to how we would talk to small children, but they also react to a person who speak naturally Scientist Charlotte de Mouzon, one of the authors of the study and an expert in feline behavior at the University of Paris Nanterre, explains that when cats hear their owners speaking in a high-pitched voice, "they react more than when their owner speaks in a normal tone to another adult human." But what was really surprising, according to the scientist, is that they discovered that "none of this worked when the voice was that of a stranger."



Unlike that of dogs, which are often so docile, the behavior of cats is difficult to study, which is probably why we humans understand them less. Felines are often so stressed from being in a laboratory that making meaningful observations of their behavior is virtually impossible. And let's not talk about trying to get a cat to sit still during an MRI to study its brain function. It is for this reason that the researchers of the study went directly to houses where there are cats. It was in each private house that recordings of various types of conversations of different people were played. At first, De Mouzon and his team were concerned because the cats didn't seem to react to any of the vocal stimuli. But then, when they were able to carefully study the recordings of the meetings, they took away several surprises: "Their reactions were very subtle", notes De Mouzon. "It could be just a movement of the ear or turning the head in the direction of the person speaking or even stop doing what they were doing."


Maternal Connection


In some cases, the cats in the study approached whoever was talking to them and meowed. "Finally, we had very obvious advances in the cat's attention when the owner used a tone of voice aimed specifically at the feline," comments De Mouzon. Kristyn Vitale, assistant professor of animal health and behavior at Unity College in Maine, although she was not involved in this research, after reading the study believes that according to these findings "cats pay a lot of attention to their caretakers, so much so that they don't they only listen to what they say, but how they say it".


The new study complements Vitale's team's research into the relationship between a cat and its owner and has found that the relationship is so important that it replicates the connection between a kitten and its mother. "It is possible that leaning behaviors that were originally intended for interactions with their mother, have now been modified for interactions with their new caregivers, humans." The researcher explains that, unlike what happens with dogs, "most cats actually prefer human interaction to other rewards such as food or toys."


Genetics and evolution throughout history also play a role, in all of this. For example, in the cliché that dogs are easier to study and are thought to be friendlier. "Dogs were artificially selected hundreds of thousands of years ago according to their ability to be trained, either as herding dogs, hunting dogs or in some other role," explains Sarah Jeannin, behavioral expert canine at the University of Paris Nanterre. At the outset, Jeannin disagrees with the stereotype that dogs are closer to humans than cats: "People say that dogs are man's best friend, that you can trust them and that they are very faithful But the only reality is that we don't know anything about what animals think", he explains. Besides,



Cats don't hate us


"For years, scientists did not ask the right questions about cats", believes De Mouzon. But all those who were convinced of the treachery of cats will not like the answers that emerge in these studies. The reality is that, after all, cats don't hate us as much as has been thought for many years, says Vitale, who says that the idea is becoming more widespread among animal behavior researchers that " social interaction with humans is key in a cat's life." According to De Mouzon, just because felines react subtly doesn't mean they're aloof. "Cats don't do what you expect them to do. But if cats don't come when we call them, it might be because they're busy doing something else or just resting," she says. " People have that kind of expectation because when you talk to a dog, the dog comes. But if you ask a human to come when he's taking a nap at the other end of the house, will he come?"