Pets Keepers Guide Forums

When my family and I adopted Wolfy, he was about four months old. He had just been neutered and he was learning the ways of life. Obviously, he learned most of how to behave from our dog. Anyways, it took us about a year for him to actually know his name. After spending time with our dog and then five cats on top of that, there were too many names for him to know which one was his. At times, I would take him alone and cuddle with him stating his name, but he wouldn't get it as fast.

He's now two years old and when I call out his name, his ear twitches and he sometimes looks up at me or just wakes up. So overall, Wolfy took nearly two years to know his name entirely.

How long before your kitten understood their name?

It took Oscar a year or so, though I wonder if he fully understands. I think animals maybe associate the tone we use when calling their name more than the actual name. I noticed that with the dog, I will call her other things and she still comes if I say it like I do her name.

I would say about 4 months. However, we also observed that they are also depending on the voice that they hear. When my family call out their names and they are used to our voices already, they would easily respond. However, when we have guests over, even when they call out their names so many times, they still would rather ignore them. I think aside from the name, they also base their familiarity on the voice.

Cats are usually like kids as well who get a bit scared when there are strangers. They are very territorial and so they tend to just stay at the corner of their comfort zone each time they would see anyone or something unusual.