Time and time again, I read online newspaper articles about domestic cat behaviour. The articles are often based upon studies. And it seems clear to me that both the scientists doing the research and writing up the studies and the news media journalists who report on them are confronting issues of cat behaviour for the first time. The journos are often new to cat behaviour issues and unqualified to report on these sorts of studies.
Any decent, intelligent and observant cat caregiver does not need a study and a journalist reporting on the study to understand that domestic cats react to their owner’s voice.
Obviously, in a decent relationship between human and cat, which can last for 15+ years, a cat is going to respond to their owner’s voice. But they normally won’t respond to a stranger’s voice because the sounds are those of a stranger.
Domestic cats respond to the sounds of their owner simply because they’ve lived with that person for a very long time, and they associate those sounds with rewards of food, security, warmth and companionship. The same cannot be said about a stranger.
It is perfectly logical and natural. But what annoys me is that journalists report on this sort of observation as of it’s a revelation. As if it is something brand-new and to be astonished by.
Journos often have insufficient knowledge
And the truth of the matter is that journalists who report on the studies have insufficient knowledge of cat behaviour and the relationship between cats and people to write sensibly about these kinds of research studies.
The most recent one is reported in the Mail Online on 25 October 2022. It is reported by the deputy science editor for the Daily Mail, Xantha Leatham. Leatham reports that “The cats displayed behaviours such as turning their ears to the speakers, increased movement around the room and pupil dilation when hearing their owner’s voice”.
Of course! That’s what all decent cat caregivers see every day. It’s what they expect. It is common knowledge among good cat caregivers of which there are hundreds of millions across the globe. There is nothing new in this research.
Leatham reports that “cats can discriminate their owner’s voice from that of a stranger”. Yes, we know that already. It is to be expected.
Leatham is writing this as if domestic cats are entirely solitary and unsocialised. Dogs, we know, respond to their owner’s voice. We expect that. We can expect the same thing from cats because domestic cats are socialised and sociable.
The wildcat has been domesticated for 10,000 years. That is long enough for them to be able to learn the sound of their human’s voice!
