There is a new study out of the University of Japan that explains a lot to people who find cats, including their own, remarkably aloof and uninterested in them. The study suggestions that pet cats are capable of recognizing their owner’s voice but simply choose to ignore them. This, it is suggested, was the result of a long evolutionary history that selected such dismissive traits.
Researchers Atsuko Saito and Kazutaka Shinozuka observed cats in their homes in their interaction with owners and strangers. They found physical responses to their owner’s voice — greater responses to their owners than to strangers. They declined to move when called by strangers. Moreoever, “these results indicate that cats do not actively respond with communicative behavior to owners who are calling them from out of sight, even though they can distinguish their owners’ voices . . . This cat–owner relationship is in contrast to that with dogs.” In other words, dogs want to be with their owners, even when they cannot see them.
What is particularly interesting is that, unlike dogs, the researchers believe that cats (Felis silvestris, a species of wildcat) essentially domesticated themselves by seeing farms with grain and rats as a good deal. Accordingly, they were there on their own accord and on their own terms. “Historically speaking, cats, unlike dogs, have not been domesticated to obey humans’ orders.”
So there you have it. Now I am going to go play with my dog, Luna (who is in “the dog’s house” after, when we all went to play in the Turkey Bowl, jumped up on the counter and grabbed the beautiful floral centerpiece sent by my mother in Chicago and shredded it. That is an entirely different human/dog command issue).