There are three English words or phrases that Curly has learned to comprehend (other than his or Sallyh's name) in our time, together. They are:• NO!, spoken sharply, and firmly, but not necessarily (though rarely exceedingly) loudly;
• 5?... 4?... 3?... 2?... 1!... -- used with the same cadence and rising tone, when he begs to be let out onto the balcony, but when I open the door just wide enough to allow him passage, and he hesitates, I use this to let him know that the door is going to be closing again Real Soon Now, so as to preserve condo environmental integrity. I rarely get beyond "4?..." before he goes out, if he actually wants to go out -- he knows I won't open the door again for a while, 'cause he's learned that it's impolite to be a door tease;
• Foodie-food -- yep, he knows when I say this that I'm about to refill his kibble.
Cats, unlike some dogs, don't seem to be very capable, if at all, of linguistic nuance. The key centers on the tone and cadence of how one speaks to the cat, or such is my experience, whereas I've known dogs to alert to the whispered word "ball," yet not flinch if you said "bull," for example. Curly, for instance, demonstrates that he knows when I am speaking praisingly to him, by responding with the slowish closing of his eyes, and rubbing against me. I think he knows this from my tone and cadence, rather than by what words I actually use, because I can use this tone and cadence with nonsense syllables, and elicit the same response from him.
It's also a truism that it matters not what one names one's cat -- they don't come when called, anyway, right? Well, Curly will, with 95% certainty, come to me when called... but not by name. My "call signal" is a quick "tk!-tk!-tk!" sound, made in less than a quarter-second, produced by lightly sucking the very tip of the tongue against the back of the front-most teeth. It sounds a bit like the sound of the stopwatch clicking on 60 Minutes, only faster. Even if he doesn't respond to that immediately, a few repeated instances will bring him into petting/grasping range consistently within a minute, without fail, unless (of course) he's asleep, or completely absorbed in bird-tracking, etc. All he needs to do is be within earshot. It's not a very loud sound, but it is fairly high-frequency, and seems to carry within the condo well.
Anyway, I had no particular point to make, here, other than to share what might be helpful info for other people owned by cats (not to mention, another excuse to put up some Curly pixels). ;)
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2 comments :
Our kitties know the word "snack." They get a treat every afternoon -- they split a can of Fancy Feast. We used to say, "Do you think it's snack time, or is it too early?" and of course the kitties learned quickly enough what s-n-a-c-k meant. Now we can't say the word without two slavering beasts immediately appearing with that expectant look on their faces.
Dude.
Say "tuna" in our house, and the speed with which HarryCat arrives in front of the refrigerator will warp your mind.
Scary.
Also knows his name, "bedtime," and "brush-brush time."
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