Does your cat respond when you call their name?

I know my two cats only respond to their name, only when they feel like it, which is not too often, and I doubt it is because I called them! I mean, I might get a twitch of the ear, when they hear their name, but as far as, running up to me, like a dog, this has never happened.

I wish they would come running! The only time they come pouncing forward is when it is time to eat, or better yet, it is treat time. Even when, we are int he midst of playing, they will just stop whenever they feel like it. No amount of teasing with a toy will get their interest again. When they are done, they are done!

I am wondering, if anyone does have a cat that actually comes running up, when you call out to them? If so, you are pretty lucky!

I have three cats, and one of them often comes when I call her. They all know their names because when more than one of them is in the room and they hear their name, their ears will twitch but not when I'm talking to another one. The ear twitch is pretty much their only "tell" though, because the other two are unlikely to so much as look at me when I call them. If not for the ear twitch, I would wonder if perhaps they were deaf. However, I can barely whisper their name and get the ear twitch response, although it doesn't work too many times in a row. Cutie though, she will come at least half the time when I call her, which is okay for a cat.

My cat completely ignores us when we call his name. His ears might slightly prick up from time to time, but I feel like he KNOWS his name and just chooses to ignore us, in true sassy cat fashion!

He's definitely not deaf though, when I turn on the vacuum cleaner he runs to another room because he's scared of the sound!

Sure! Actually no matter what I said, she will respond as long as I'm calling her. She love sleeping on my legs.

My cat is no longer alive, but 9 times out of 10, he would come running when I called his name. My cat was a Maine Coon, and he was super fluffy, so I loved patting him and cuddling with him. I was always calling him over for a quick pat or cuddle, and he was always up for it. I was the only one he would come to when his name was called (feeling secretly proud of that!).

My cat comes some of the time when she is called. Most of the time though she meows or lifts her head or something similar. But she definitely knows her name. One of the reasons I like cats, is because they typically just do what they want to.

My cat had many names. Officially she was Meowmeows, but she was often called just Kitty or Putti Tat. (My dad started that). She seemed to know when we were talking to or about her I'm not sure if she knew her names really or if it was just her awareness that our attention was directed at her. Like most cats she would often "ignore" us, but usually her ear would twitch so your knee she was listening to you, even if she was pretending to be oblivious and ignoring you.

I have two cats and one responds to his name all the time and the other one completely ignores is. It doesn't matter where Merle is on the house or what he is doing at the time whenever you call his name he comes running. It is too cute. We will hear a noise in another room and we will say, "Merle what did you do?" And he will coming running in the room we are in just cause he heard his name. I haven't had many cats that actually respond to their new. Most of them just ignore you.

Two of my cats are sisters from the same litter, and they are black. We've been married for sixteen years now and my wife still can't tell them apart. Admittedly, there are times when I get it wrong too. When one of them walks into my office, I'll say, "Hi Cutie" or "Hi Lydia," and if I get the name wrong, she'll stand there looking at me as if I"m crazy. Lydia almost never comes when I call her so it's harder to tell with her, but Cutie often does come. If I'm not paying attention and call her Lydia, she will stop and look at me, and stand there until I correct myself. Then when I call her by her own name, she will continue walking up to me.

I have always called my cats by their names rather than using the generic "kitty, kitty, kitty" call, although I do use that sometimes when they are all outside and I'm trying to get them in, or when it's time to eat, although I seem to have better luck when I call them individually by name.

My cats never come when called! Actually, until recently I thought they didn't even know their names. My friend who doesn't have any cats was over at my house and was asking questions about whether cats respond to their names like dogs do. I told her that sadly no, they don't, and to prove it I called several random names out before calling my cat's name. To my surprise, he immediately turned and looked at me as soon as his name was called! I tried several more times, and each time he only turned and looked or turned his ears toward me when I called his name. I couldn't believe it! So it seems like he knows his name but he just decides it's not worth the effort to come when I call him!

All of my cats I've ever had, except for my sister's cat, have responded to their name. They would come into a room and expect treats or dinner. If you don't have either and don't make a move get food, they would glare or whine before leaving. Only one of them would stay just to cuddle for a second. So you can train a cat to act like a dog with treats but they have very different dispositions so the end result won't be the same. You can also train them with toys, my one cat would stay if you played with a feather on a string. As long as there is a point for them to be there, they will stay but they won't just come because you called like a dog.

My cat always comes to me when I call, as long as I call with the can opener attached to a can of tuna. No, just kidding. She really does come to me when called and prefers to be called by her knick-name, "Baby Girl". She seems to realize that if I'm calling her it's for a good reason and she will crawl out from the woodwork to appear before me with a questioning look on her face. I live in a tiny apartment where you wouldn't think a cat would find a lot of hiding places, but cats are very clever, so find them she does. She will often even reply to my call with a tiny "purrrrrrrup?" sound with a definite question mark on the end of it. I don't know if she would be so available to me if I had more than one cat or not, but she doesn't seem to like hearing mama get upset not being able to find Baby Girl. Even though I know she's inside the apartment, if I can't lay eyes on her within a few seconds, I still start to freak out, so she can hear that tone in my voice. If nothing else, curiosity alone kills this cat and makes her come out to see what I want. Who knows? One of these days I might be offering her a dish of something delicious and she doesn't want to pass that up.

My friend's cat does. Her cat's name is Matilda and she's a purebred Persian. She doesn't have a child of her own so she spoils her per rotten and treats it like her own baby. It almost acts like a dog but not all hyped up when she comes home. Matilda is almost always at my friend's heel and follows her anywhere in her apartment. It's just too funny to watch sometimes because of her constant mewling. She's four or five months old, I think.

Like yours, my cat only comes when called when she feels like it or with a vigorous shake of her treat bag. 

If she has found a hole in some furniture to sleep in and i cant find her it will take me about 1 minutes of calling her name before she slowly makes her way out,  stretching along the way. 

but there is the odd occasion where she will come when called or even have a nice little meow conversation with me. it really depends what mood shes in. but she totally ignores me more often than not. 


youre not alone! lol it's the one dog trait i wish she had lol

Well I have had three cats throughout my life, and each of them has been different in regards to their responses when I called their names. I had one cat that was pretty good at it, and it really made me wonder if it was the name itself that was actually drawing him or just any kind of noise. That said, though, the other two were not really responsive and, and one of them would actively turn his head, look right at you, and then just walk the other way. That is just cats for you, in my experience at least, and they really vary in their personalities and interactions with people. It is very interesting to think about, so thank you for sharing.

Well, I personally had this concern since the first day that my cat arrived home, I used to ask a lot of people about why my cat did not pay me any attention when calling his name, but he paid attention to the "ssssssssss" sound that we mostly use to call him, there's where I started searching up for information regarding the situation, I spend some hours looking for the right answer until I met an old woman that knew a little bit about that, she was a woman that lived alone along with more than 20 cats in her house, yes, 20 cats and they were all beautiful, she told me that cats are a kind of animal that will not and will never pay any attention to any name you give them, unlike dogs and some other animals, cats instinct is all about food and hanging out with their fellow cat friends, that's why people say cats are the most unfaithful animals in the world.

My cat perfectly knows her name and will come whenever I pronounce her name even from outside the room. Of course she like other cats (as mentioned by many threaders) sometimes chooses not to show this. When called she can wait for a couple of sec and then run to me as if it is she who wants to come.

I had a cat named Looney, but she would only answer to "Pretty Girl." We could say any other combination of words (pickle grill, Prego whirl) in the same tone, and she would ignore us. We joked that she was vain and picked her own name. She also came running when we shook the kitty treat bag, but that's a totally separate issue!

Tony is very clever for a cat
He answers every time I call him

Yes it is. The thing is, you need to start to call their name since kitten. Yep, it takes time, depend on certain cat, just hold them, say their name once a day something like that, cat grow fast, so when the cat reaches teenager level, it would be good. Just personal experience.

All 3 of my cats respond when called
They also like to go for walks like a dog with no leash. They dont venture far and always come to me when I call.  Love them

My cat knows his name is Tigger but he'll only come when I call him if I have a treat lol

My two cats always respond to their names.

My cat doesn’t respond. But I am not sad about this fact

As far as I know, cats do not memorize their names. They just remember the voice and intonation. My cat responds to different names, but only on my voice and the name should be short