Cats are unique pets. Everyone knows that these animals express their affection very reservedly towards their owners. However, breeders and experienced cat owners who have experienced the birth of kittens often describe cats separated from their babies as feeling restless and even sad. So, does a cat really miss her kittens, or do we attribute purely human feelings to our pet?
Do cats have a memory for people?
Most of us have to part with our mustachioed friends: some for a vacation, and some for several years - life situations vary.
And, of course, every true cat lover has a heartache at such moments: how will the pet survive my departure, will the cat remember me when I return? Of course, in each specific case, circumstances may develop differently - there are no two absolutely identical cats in the world, just as there are no completely identical people. Everyone has a different memory, a different character and a different degree of attachment to loved ones. Still, there are two main factors that can affect the warmth of your meeting.
“Time is evil for my memory...”
The first is, of course, time. The shorter the separation, the greater the chances for a cat and a person to remain “family.” Of course, a cat will not forget its owner in a week or two, if before that it lived with him under the same roof for a long time in love and harmony.
And, although there are unique people who, in a completely human way, yearn for their suddenly missing two-legged friend, look for him and call him, such a separation will not cause serious damage to the cat’s health. If, of course, the cat is left in good hands.
“The years passed. The storm is a rebellious gust..."
But will the cat remember the person in a year? Here it all depends on how big a role your pet has assigned to you in his life. Cats' memory for people is selective and records only what is vital for the animal - both with a plus and a minus sign.
For example, the owners of one mustachioed dog, who had undergone some very unpleasant procedures at the veterinary clinic, a year later invited Aibolit, who treated the pet, to their home. Over the past period of time, the doctor and the patient have never seen each other. And it was very funny for everyone to watch how, upon seeing the “offender,” the cat, on its belly, tried to quietly leave the corridor where, according to tradition, it had gone out to greet the guest.
And another cat, fed from a nipple by a teenage boy, immediately recognized his savior in the brave soldier who had returned from the army. The cat's joy, they say, knew no bounds, although two years have passed since the separation.
Out of sight, out of mind?
But it also happens differently. It seems that the cat was kindly treated by the person and even felt sad for him at first, but years later he pretends that he doesn’t know him. “Pulking!” - people think, attributing human feelings to a cat.
In fact, over the past time, another owner has taken on the role of breadwinner, drinker and protector, and the animal’s memory has erased unnecessary information about what happened before. The returning cat will take him back to his place - and after a while he will get used to him again.
Let’s make a reservation once again - these rules apply to most cats, but each case is individual. In general, when getting an animal, you need to understand the full extent of the responsibility that you take on, and try to avoid situations that can result in enormous stress for both of you. As they say, don’t part with your loved ones!
Svetlana Mosolova
Cats are mysterious creatures. If everything is clear about their internal structure, then such an abstract concept as memory raises many questions among people. Do they have such a property? What kind of memory do cats have? How does it work? How many days, months or years is it designed for? How many events and people can a cat remember? Can she forget her home and owner after a long separation?
But do they even know what their names are?
But of course! Researchers at the University of Tokyo found that cats react to their name more actively than to other sounds of the human voice: they move their ears or tails, turn their heads, sometimes even “respond” by meowing. However, there is an important nuance: this only happens if the cat’s name is pronounced by the owner. Or rather, “he-who-gives-food.”
Most likely, this sound vibration is associated for them with the expectation of pleasure. If you have several cats, you've probably noticed: as soon as you call one, they all come running. Or none. Because they don't want to. In fact, cats remember commands no worse than dogs, it’s just not beneficial for them to show their owners that they have learned something.
Do cats have memory?
Felines certainly have memory. This is proven by numerous studies. Back in the last century, zoologists conducted an interesting experiment, the purpose of which was to find out whether these animals have the ability to remember and how long this process takes them.
Hungry cats were shown their favorite food, after which it was pointedly hidden under one of the overturned boxes and the four-legged participants in the experiment were removed from the room. Half an hour later they were let back in. Almost all the animals rushed exactly to the box where the treat was hidden. This meant that cats at least have short-term memory.
After that, the scientists did the same thing, only they let the experimental animals into the room not after half an hour, but after a day. The second part of the study gave different results. Some participants in the experiment forgot about the hidden treat and did not try to find it, others immediately rushed to sniff the boxes, trying to find out where the smell of their favorite food was coming from. In other words, some cats remembered that the food was hidden, but were unable to find it based on memory alone. This means that felines have long-term memory, but it is not as well developed as short-term memory.
General information
The second part of the experiment tested long-term memory. The bowls were also demonstratively hidden, but the cats were allowed into the room only after 24 hours. The result was not so good in terms of how many cats remembered everything. Some of them ran towards the stern, still confidently. Some of the experimental subjects sniffed the shelter and looked for food. And some of the cats showed no interest in the search at all.
The conclusion from this study is simple - cats have short-term memory in the vast majority, but long-term memory is not observed in all individuals of the species. Therefore, you can judge what kind of memory a cat has over time only by looking at each individual cat.
INTERESTING: in cats, their ability to remember decreases with age in the same way as in a person or dog. The mechanisms of both long-term and short-term memory suffer.
How does a cat's memory work?
These animals remember only what they need. Memorization processes differ significantly between humans and cats. If the first is able to remember a huge amount of information from various, completely unrelated spheres, events from the past, images, sounds, names, regardless of whether the object of memorization has any meaning for him, then the second only remembers what important to her. Moreover, the more important an object, circumstance or event is for her, the easier and faster she remembers it.
For example, a four-legged tramp will constantly return to the place where he was once fed at least once, because this event has special meaning for him. A cat that has already given birth takes more careful care of the cubs in subsequent litters. This is due to the fact that an experienced tailed mother remembers how she raised babies in previous times. This is further evidence that cats have long-term memory.
No matter how good a cat’s memory is and no matter how long it is designed for, it has a time frame. A cat that has raised kittens and not seen them for a long time will not recognize its cubs when it meets them. She simply won’t remember them either by smell or appearance.
Cat memory is designed in such a way that its owners remember the necessary information only as needed. They do not remember an object, subject, event until they encounter them again or the need arises.
But everything is for the better...
However, nature, as always, arranged everything in the best possible way. Imagine what it would be like for the unfortunate kitty who remembered and loved all the kittens she ever gave birth to? After all, the official cat-mother (heroine named Dusty) gave birth to more than 400 babies! Yes, her heart would burst from worries and worries.
And this is how cats love us most and remember us, their owners, best of all. It’s easier for cats and, whatever one may say, it’s nice for us!
Svetlana Mosolova
How many events and people can a cat remember?
Scientists have no doubts about how long information is stored in the cat’s brain. It depends on its significance. Animals quickly forget the smell of a guest who did not show them attention and did not arouse their interest. At the same time, they keep in the memories for a long time the people who caused them trouble (they stepped on their tail, shouted, hit).
Zoologists have not been able to determine the volume of a cat's memory. They cannot answer the question of how many events and people the brains of these animals can contain. Numerous studies have not given a definite result, because in most cases it was not possible to find out whether they act instinctively or from memory.
One thing scientists can say for sure: felines' memory is significantly inferior to humans in volume. This is confirmed by the size of the cats' brains. In humans, it stores a lot of information that is even of little significance. A cat's brain filters incoming information, retaining only the most significant.
Duration of information storage
Experiments with cats and other animals made it possible to identify 2 types of memory in them:
Short-term. This mental function allows you to perceive any events, but retains information for only a short time (no more than 27 seconds). If the event is not repeated, then the “record” loses its relevance and is erased under the influence of a new piece of information - this is how the brain protects itself from overload and “cleanses itself.”
Long-term. The long-term “imprint” of events is very selective, but resistant to influences that destroy short-term memory
This mechanism records a single phenomenon or incident that is of increased importance for an individual and stores it for a long time. This is why long-term memory in animals is called “specialized memory.”
Can a cat forget its owners and home?
It is believed that pets keep memories of their home and those who cared for them until the end of their lives. This is evidenced by numerous stories about how cats, after many years, returned to their families and remembered their owners. An animal may forget its previous owner if memories of him are replaced by new emotions, but it will certainly recognize its loved one by smell.
Stories about a cat's memory
There are many stories about the incredible capabilities of a cat's memory. Here are just two of them:
- A cat named Karim lived in Uzbekistan. When he was already 9 years old, his owner’s family decided to move to Russia. The long journey might have been beyond the strength of the middle-aged animal, and it was decided to leave it in Gulistan. However, Karim did not want to part with his loved ones. After 20 months, having covered 3 thousand km, he found his owner Ravilya at the market in Liski, Voronezh region.
- A 13-year-old ginger cat, picked up in a parking lot, was taken to an American veterinary clinic with kidney failure. He was treated and left in the facility. Three years later, a man and a girl—father and daughter—came into the same clinic and were struck by the resemblance of the saffron milk cap to their cat Tuffo, who had disappeared during the move. Seeing the people, the mustachioed old man jumped over the table separating them. The man, to make sure that it was really Tuffo, brought his second pet to the clinic, with whom the missing cat was familiar. After a joyful meeting, Tuffo was taken back to his family.
The fact that cats have both short-term and long-term memory is evidenced by the very existence of Yuri Kuklachev’s Cat Theater. Mustachioed performers have been delighting audiences for years with tricks they couldn't learn if they didn't have the ability to memorize.
Incredible facts about the memory of some cats
The most memory-trained cats are, of course, the cats of the Kuklachev Theater. Daily training produces results; cats show phenomenal talent for memorization.
INTERESTING: in general, almost any young cat can be taught tricks. The only question is to interest the animal in action. Food or hunting are the most effective elements of motivation in training, which form a stable memory for specific actions in cats.
Another case in the USA that confirms the memory cats have for their owners is the case of Tuffo the cat. Volunteers found him on the street and brought him to the clinic’s shelter. A few years later, the cat’s former owner came to the same clinic with another pet. The man at first doubted that the cat from the shelter was his cat, but then decided to bring with him a second cat, whom Tuffo knew. And a miracle happened: Tuffo, who had been lost during the move, recognized the second cat and the family took the whole group of purring friends back home.
But the English cat named Mac took much longer to find his way home. The animal got lost while the family was vacationing on the river. later, or rather after 6 years, the cat was found by volunteers, washed and treated.
And how many stories can you hear from those who moved and forgot the animal! There are a lot of such stories around the world and some of them have an incredible ending. In it, the cat always travels for several years to his owners in a new city and finds them. Whether this is true or whether people simply don’t want to believe that the cat got scared and disappeared during the move, we will never know for sure. However, in cases where cats, lost in dachas, later came along a familiar road to the city, this is quite real and there is no need to dispute the memory capabilities of cats in them.
Wait for me and I will come back
If we are talking about a cat or cat that voluntarily ran away from the owner’s house during the period of sexual hunting, then such gulen, as a rule, not only remember the owners, but also return back themselves. Dirty, flea-covered, often wounded or waiting for offspring, they come to where a warm, well-fed life and human care await them.
Pets that get lost on the way from or to the dacha, on a walk or while visiting often find their way home. In such cases, the absence usually lasts several weeks, but it happens that the journey home takes the animal years.
Why then do they bring us prey?
Yes, that’s right, many cats drag strangled mice and birds into the house, and sometimes (oh, horror!) put them in their owners’ beds . However, make no mistake: they are not doing this at all to treat us. Don't forget, they are predators! The cat brings its prey to a safe place to eat it later. He probably guesses that we don’t eat that kind of stuff.
Again, there are cases where completely domestic cats hid meat stolen from the kitchen in secluded corners. Believe me, they had no intention of sharing it!
When the owners are remembered...
There are also very exceptional cases. In one family, during a divorce, the cat stayed with the man, and the woman and children moved to another apartment, half an hour’s drive from their previous home. Some time later the owner died.
Imagine the surprise of the first owner when, a few weeks after the death of her ex-husband, she found a pet at her door. In this case, the cat found the people, not the house. Of course, the question of whether cats remember their owners is not worth it in this case.
Quite often, cats do not find their way home, but return because they remember the people who cared for them. One silly girl ran away in the yard, frightened by a passing car. Several months of active search yielded no results - the owners despaired of finding their favorite. But one day the cat itself saw its owner at a bus stop several blocks from the house and rushed to her with loud screams.
Another timid pussy escaped from the owner's hands in someone else's entrance and seemed to disappear into thin air - it was not possible to catch it. But when, a month and a half later, her owners came to visit this house again, she, hearing her family’s voices, ran out of the basement to meet her “relatives.”
Who is calling?
By the way, many people use the ability of cats to recognize a familiar voice to maintain a connection with their pet at a distance.
Calling from afar, they ask you to put the phone receiver to the cat's ear and say various endearments to your pet. Many cats clearly understand who is talking to them, listen, rub against the phone and meow in response. And some even run to the phone for every call.
They don't miss you for long, but they remember the good
If there are no reminders of the first owner, but another person is found who is no less loving and caring, most cats will not suffer for long. How long do cats remember their owners? There is no clear answer to this question. This depends on the age and health of the pet, its character and the degree of attachment to a particular person.
As a consolation to those who are forced to part with their pet, we will only say that ethology - the science that studies animal behavior - says that cats that find themselves in a new home do not miss their former owners for long. At least, much less than the people themselves.
But if the meeting takes place, the associative memory can “recover” from the bins the memories of the good that you once did for your tailed friend, and the cat, although not immediately, will again recognize you as one of its own.
Svetlana Mosolova
Who are we to our cats?
We consider mustachioed animals to be members of the family, but, alas, they do not share our family feelings. For a cat, a gentle “mummy” is just a giant, but not hostile cat, with whom you have to share territory.
No matter how much we pamper our pets, they still remain not completely tamed. Anthrozoologist John Bradshaw, author of The Secret Life of Cats on BBC Two , argues that cats (even the most purebred ones!) are much closer to their wild ancestors than dogs, and are not so attached to humans.
Their emphasized independence is explained quite simply: a person has never particularly strived to achieve mutual understanding with a cat. All that was required of her was to protect the house from mice and rats, and for this she was allowed to lie by the fire. It didn’t even occur to people to feed cats on purpose - why, after all, they get their own food!
So there is nothing strange in the fact that they do not feel sincere affection for us. Despite the fact that cats have lived side by side with us since time immemorial, they still walk on their own.
How long do cats remember their loved ones?
How long do cats remember their loved ones?
Cats have excellent long-term memory. I remember when I was a child, my mother taught: “A dog knows how to forgive a person’s insults. But if you offend a cat, the cat will remember and will never forgive you.” Now I understand how right she was! Cats remember both kindness and insults equally well. This is why it is so difficult to melt the heart of an animal that has been subjected to abuse and violence, to restore its faith in people, in goodness. And if you were a kind and good friend to your pet, fed, stroked and caressed, then he will carry his warm feeling towards you through many years!
Cats and dogs: how developed is their memory? Mom, passing on her knowledge to me, was primarily guided by her experience: there have always been both cats and dogs in our family. But only very recently have scientists finally dotted the i's - it turns out that memory in dogs is an order of magnitude less developed. They mainly use the so-called short-term memory: dogs consistently remember events that took place up to 5 hours ago. The same short-term memory of their eternal “competitors” is much better developed - cats remember information and events in detail for up to 16 hours. Well, as for long-term memory, cats win a truly crushing victory: they remember, without exaggeration, the most significant events from their lives (including people who did good or caused pain) for the rest of their lives.
How does this happen? Cats train their memory based on smells, sounds and taste. They perceive people in the same way - they are practically not interested in their appearance. Of course, if you come from the hair salon with a new haircut, the cat will visually notice the changes. But the smells that you bring with you will be much more significant for her - she will immediately come up to you and meticulously sniff you. Like the first time! Cats, in turn, try to maintain two-way communication with their loved ones - they mark them by leaving their own scents.
In relation to a person, his smells tend to change over the course of life. We change perfume, cosmetics, shampoo and conditioners. Sometimes changing makeup confuses a cat. But she hears a voice and understands that in front of her is the same person dear to her heart.
What if you are indifferent to cats? This also happens. For example, you don’t have any special liking for cats, which can’t be said about your children. You decided to have a pet solely out of respect and love for them. Children also look after and care for the cat - and you diligently avoid the tailed creature. In this case, will you remain in the animal’s memory for a long time? Scientists answer in the negative - it turns out that cats need a strong emotional connection with loved ones. That is, for many years the family pet will remember your children who played with it and fed it. And you are an outsider; the cat simply allows you to live in its house and nothing more. No wonder they say: cats have no masters, only servants!
The incredible journeys of cats and their return to their home. From time to time, the Internet explodes with such messages: a cat found a home years later, having covered a distance of a thousand kilometers (and even more). Yes, the animals are malnourished and suffer severe hardships, but they go to the place that was their home. Scientists have not yet solved the mystery of why cats do this. There are only hypotheses or assumptions. And the most surprising thing among them is that cats want to be reunited with their near and dear people. They don't forget about them even for a minute!
With age, of course, a cat's phenomenal memory begins to fail. Not always, but cognitive dysfunction manifests itself, which we better know as Alzheimer's disease. But that's a completely different story. Take care of your cats, friends!
Will an older cat recognize its mother and brothers and sisters after they were separated in childhood?
Most likely he will find out. Cats generally have excellent memory by the standards of predators, worse than dogs, but still (Note 11/18/16: By the way, I recently learned that cats have better than dogs - so...). Cats manage to remember people by smell, what can we say about their relatives?
Read more about domestic cats. From the fact that a cat-daughter and a cat-mother can be in chronic conflict relationships, and a cat-son can regularly mate with both his mother and even his great-grandmother, it does not follow that all the animals described above are not aware of their relationship.
Firstly, when a kitten grows up, the mother cat, in principle, ceases to have maternal feelings for him. She is going into heat and is planning a new litter of kittens. The cat-daughter becomes a direct competitor, the cat-son becomes low-ranking and potentially weak, and also a relative (i.e., by default, a less attractive partner), and the mother tries to drive the offspring away from her, no matter what gets in the way. But if it suddenly turns out that there is only one male, albeit a relative, and there is enough territory and food for several females, and the daughter and mother themselves managed to become friends and, in principle, the animals are not conflicting, then they can all exist together.
But cats living in colonies are usually grouped together based on the principle of kinship - usually all more or less adult males in the colony are descendants of local females, there are just so many young people and they are so “harmless” that they don’t have time to drive them all out. Foreign males trying to mark the territory belonging to the “colonists” are usually driven away. Perhaps it is also due to the specific smell of the marks, which is similar to close relatives and does not cause rejection.
With very limited food sources and territory, the oldest and strongest females actually control everything. Younger females usually “attack” to their mothers, as do low-ranking weak males, who may not be allowed to breed anyway. But strong males from outside visit and mate with local females, sometimes also beating local weak cats and killing other people’s kittens.
Now about incest, or rather, inbreeding - I don’t think that for cats this moral problem, in general, is as acute as for people. A cat can give birth to several dozen kittens during her life, most of which will die without leaving offspring. Why is incest dangerous for people? Humans have a different reproductive strategy. Each human child is 9 months and a huge amount of resources, not to mention the risk for the mother. A negative mutation enshrined in the genes of a sibling/child and mother will most likely be passed on to the child, and so on, until all children are born with the defect. And they will nurse each child, spend energy on him, and then take him and die, or suddenly it turns out that he can no longer give birth to a healthy one, even from someone else’s. It's different for cats. Weak kittens will die anyway, and the cat will give birth to others instead. At the same time, mating with a strong relative will make it possible, with a high degree of probability, to give birth to kittens in whose genes strong traits are enshrined, as well as her “own” smell. Of course, it’s not as cool as offspring from a stranger, but without fish it’ll do just fine. So I think there is simply no evolutionary need for cats to develop a strict instinctive prohibition against inbreeding. But in normal life the principle “a son is still weaker than a stranger” and “a young alien female is more accessible than a mother” works.
Those. As a result, we return to an important ethological principle that animal lovers always forget about - one cannot transfer the peculiarities of human perception and human values to animals.
Mother cats: healthy instincts
But does a cat remember her kittens all her life? A positive answer will be given only by those who unreasonably reward animals with human feelings and emotions. Of course, the vast majority of cats are wonderful mothers who devote all their strength to caring for their babies, and often risk their lives to save their offspring from danger. But, alas, at these moments the murkas are guided only by instinct and nothing else.
And the same instinct tells the cat that kittens need her care not throughout their lives, but only for a few months. It is believed that by 12 weeks a good mother will give the kitten everything it needs - both a sufficient amount of her healthy milk and skills that will be useful in life. From this age, the kitten can live independently in a new family.
Cats and adult kittens: rivals?
If there is no need for separation, the cat continues to live with the children until they are six months old. The mother cat ceases to perceive a sexually mature individual as her child. Yesterday's kitten becomes a rival - an unnecessary contender for territory and food, and during the period of sexual heat - a potential partner, because cats are unknown to the norms of human morality.
Of course, cats do not always quarrel with their former kittens: often in homes, especially among professional breeders, representatives of several generations of the cat family coexist quite peacefully. Do cats remember their kittens in this case, do they sense related blood? Of course not. The guarantors of peace and harmony in this case are a well-fed life, good care and a sufficient amount of master's love.
