Cats Hear You; Don't Care

A new study from the University of Tokyo sheds some light on cat's understanding of the human voice. A team led by Atsuko Saito studied 20 house cats over eight months in their natural habitat: at home with their owners. They found that 50 to 70 percent of cats would turn their heads when they heard a human voice, regardless of who it was. Their reaction was more intense if the voice was their owner's. This shows that cats do recognize their owner's voice. However, only 10 percent of the cats gave the feline version of a reply: by meowing or moving their tails. Apparently, cats mostly choose to ignore what they hear.