How many words does your cat understand?

CASUDI · **Joined:** Tue Dec 23, 2014 4:22 pm **Posts:** 24

I've just had Tai Chi for three weeks now, and since he is a rescue cat I've had to try different words on him. He seems to know COME come come (when he wants to of course), FOOD (rather than dinner), TREATS, GO TO YOUR ROOM and GOOD BOY. He has not learned NO yet, but I will be working on that. I have a feeling he knows OUT but since I don't want him to think he is going out yet, I've not tested that.

My sense is that Bengals are quite trainable if you have the patience. A hidden water pistol works when scratching the couch (that's hidden from him so he does not associate the water experience with me) ~ I truly wish I were starting with a kitten from scratch rather than an older boy with bad habits :wink:

Do you have any stories, experience or tips on teaching your cat understand what words mean?

Sherry · **Joined:** Thu May 23, 2013 2:21 pm **Posts:** 9217

First of all, congratulations on your baby! Make sure you have sisal scratching posts around so your kitty does not use your couch. You'll find them on quality cat trees, which you'll also need for your bengal. They love being high up above you. They love to climb! So make it easy for them to be higher up. As far as understanding words ... you know cats. They understand just what they want to, typically just like a two-year old toddler. Raiden knows what "hungry" means. He also knows the word "come on," "go around," "back in the street." He usually will ignore, "time to go back home." We take daily walks and I have to guide him a little bit. He tries to go through places I am not going to fit. If your bengal wants to go outside, I'd recommend you purchase a quality harness or harness jacket and leash and train him to walk with them. Raiden loves his walks and it's some exercise for me. I think every cat in the world knows what the word "NO" means, however, they choose to ignore it most of the time! LOL. Also, water pistols are not always effective. Bengals don't associate that with doing something wrong and some times it can become trust issues with the owner. You're better off delegating his scratching to what he's supposed to scratch -- Raiden uses his scratchers all the time and has never scratched the furniture. I got him when he was 6 years old.

Bengals are quite trainable but it takes time and patience.

CASUDI · **Joined:** Tue Dec 23, 2014 4:22 pm **Posts:** 24

Sherry ~ That's super helpful and I am encouraged that Raiden was six when you got him. I feel there is hope for me. My friend Joyce is bringing a vest (she calls it but I think it's a harness jacket from her description) which she thinks will work with a leash to INTO Tai Chi to the outside. We suspect he was an outside cat, so before we let him have free run of our property (as the old Burmese does) we want to ingrain the coming home for treats well and truly into his schedule. Walk will be before feeding and the morning treat which is Tiki: Salmon and Chicken and the only treat (cat food) he really likes, which I dish out a teaspoon at a time. I tried the people tuna fish (as someone suggested here) and that worked great for 3 mornings on both Tai Chi and the Burmese and then nada!

Tomorrow we are making an 8' sisal post with two platforms (4' and 8') which will attach to the 12' high 8" X 8" wood post Tai Chi seems most interested in climbing. The post and platforms have to look like a piece of furniture to be in my house :-), so hopefully we will have it up by next weekend. We picked up the 5" wood pole from the lumber yard last Friday and one of the two rolls of 1/2 sisal rope arrived from Amazon on Saturday. What is good we have a wood working shop and my husband is good at projects like this. He has drawn up the design in Sketch Up and it looks fab, so stay tuned.....

jacquiscotia · **Posted:** Mon Jan 05, 2015 2:29 pm

Our Suki understands a few words: out, down, mousie, ball, fly (goes crazy when I say that one), spider, dinner, yum-yum, hot. When I say 'out' she meows back to me very loudly then goes and sits on the kitchen mat and waits for me to put her walking jacket on. On a recent visit to the vet for her booster vaccination, she hid under a chair after the injection, so I said 'Out' and she immediately meowed back to me. The vet said 'Do you think she understands you?' To which I replied 'Of course she does!' I thought to myself, HE obviously prefers dogs :rolleyes:

lollo2304 · **Posted:** Tue Jan 06, 2015 6:56 pm

My Bengal is stupid and understands nothing! He really must have been at the back of the queue when it came to brains!

My Tonks, on the other hand are a master of everything.

Toby understands, Prawns, cake, dinner, no (though he does ignore you mostly, he certainly knows he shouldn't), down, up... And many more!

Donna741 · **Joined:** Wed Feb 05, 2014 9:03 pm **Posts:** 1048

Diesel definitely knows Come, No and Off - all of our cats know "get the bug" and go crazy looking for whatever pest is in the house as soon as you say it :lol:

CMYKjill · **Joined:** Tue Sep 23, 2014 6:38 pm **Posts:** 1838

My cats know any food related invitation. They run for the door when I ask if they want to go out. They know their names and run to me when I call them. They respond to all words of praise and will usually jump up next to me when I tell them how beautiful they are.

Eggman · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2014 11:22 pm **Posts:** 730

When I say "down" or tell him off he just looks at me then flops onto his back for a tummy rub! As you can see he really respects my authority lol.

He does know his name and "dinner" so he probably understands "down" too but I think he decides only to respond when it suits him.

On the other hand I am getting used to his language. He says something that sounds very much like "mama" (cute yes) when he wants his dinner and has other sounds for when he wants to play etc.

He is getting much more vocal as he gets older.

neonyellowclover · **Joined:** Mon Apr 01, 2013 11:03 pm **Posts:** 535

Inky knows "Go get it" means I will throw a toy for her and when I tell her "bring it back", she will either bring the toy back to me or meow and keep the toy to play with. She will jump up if I say "up" Otherwise, she is pretty dense (or too smart to listen). :biggrin:

dragonflyy419 · **Joined:** Sat Jan 31, 2015 7:32 pm **Posts:** 5

One of the first things I taught Stormy was "sit." He would get really rambunctious whenever we had food and would try to climb on our plates. So to keep him back and preoccupy him I would make him sit and then give him a treat. He is very food motivated and I think this was because he started his young life off fending for himself as a stray. So in his case a treat reward works wonders. The second thing he learned was "outside" or the phrase "let's go out." When he hears that he will go and sit next to where we keep his leash and harness and if we don't grab them he will then prance to the backdoor and start crying. He knows his name and he will come when I whistle. He definitely responds to words associated with a known benefit.

Eggman · **Joined:** Thu Aug 28, 2014 11:22 pm **Posts:** 730

Dexter has learned some new words 'ok get out' when I want to clean his litter tray before he starts pawing and making a mess.

When I say 'get out' he immediately jumps out without covering it up. When I don't he covers and stays there so he is definitely responding to the words.

Antoinette · **Posted:** Wed Mar 04, 2015 1:11 am

My cat understands both no and yes, but I guess it's the tone of my voice he reacts to the most when I say it. He also reacts to me when I say "hi", he often perks up and meows at me right back when I greet him. The word he reacts to the most must be "nomnom", or "do you want nomnom?" I only say it when I intend to treat him, if I say it without actually giving him something special to eat he will fuss about it for half an hour straight before he give up. Down is also a command he has mastered over the years, but sometimes he pretend he can't hear me like a complete brat.

He's also really into fetch, if I toss him a scrunchie or something small and tell him to pick it up he will do so and bring it to me.

MissSarah · **Joined:** Thu Jul 17, 2014 2:57 am **Posts:** 36

Luna knows 'off', 'mousie' and 'are you hungry?'. When I ask 'are you hungry?' she runs to her food bowl and starts pawing at it madly. :lol:

gmcraib · **Joined:** Sat Mar 26, 2011 5:19 pm **Posts:** 151

Benji knows quite a few words, chooses to listen or ignore depending on her mood and prospective reward.
I talk to her a lot, mainly so we can communicate better and she responds with a lot of vocals, even though quite often neither of us may understand the exact message at the time.

She definitely understands:
No, out, here, down, up, sit, paw, beg, spider (generic use for any insect), stop, go, quickly (used when crossing a road), pick it up (as in the pace when we are walking), lets go, take your seat, go to your bed (ie when bad), bedtime/night night and of course her own name and shortened version Benj, also Benj-o variant.
Also ready (game is imminent), coming to get you (me chasing her), come get me (her chasing me).
I used to use davei (not sure spelling - Russian for lets go).

I think she understands breakfast/tea (although prob not the difference), hungry, go and bug Gemma (ha ha prob not), go see (usually postie or some random noise), inside, good girl/clever girl etc, this way, doggy and birdies. Oh yeah I think she understands cat (in context of another cat and maybe when se is being talked about)

Trying to teach her fetch, left paw, right paw and similar.

Similar with human to human communication a lot of it is tonal and body language. These cats are very perceptive?

Also a few more I forgot about, adding now (ie when bad get down NOW), right that's it (when get down now is ignored) which leads nicely into her favourite game - chase me.
Wait (ie when I'm cleaning her litter and she wants to go), hello (maybe, hard to tell as they greet you anyway), what you saying/what's up (usually invokes a meow of some sort).

How many words does your cat understand?

Who is online