this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2025
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[–] lugal@lemmy.dbzer0.com 32 points 1 month ago

The cat knows

[–] Rhaedas@fedia.io 29 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Mine is worse. I'll tell them "Hey", when they were clearing asking wtf was up about the food or some other situation that I've negligently ignored. They may meow again to clarify, and I'll give them another "Hey", which really annoys them.

[–] Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Oi mate, where's my food cunt

[–] filcuk@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Sir, my cat is english, not australian

[–] Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 1 month ago

A proper gentleman I'm sure

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Cats can understand about 50-100 words in the primary language of the house.

Your cat knows when you bullshit them.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Who determined this, and how? Is there like a research paper?

[–] naeap@sopuli.xyz 4 points 1 month ago

My now sadly deceased cat was a fucking genius
But I'm not...he tried to tell me stories, but I never really understood what he meant

Single moews were easier to interpret, as he had a range of "hell yes" to "fuck off"

From young age I always tried to use the same words for things, and when this was established, I started combining them.

He was very much aware of what I was saying, when I sticked to our vocabulary and would act accordingly - sometimes by complaining, that he didn't do anything and I'm in the wrong.

Was (and still is) a fucking hard time losing him ...

[–] filcuk@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 month ago

I know my cat 'understands' 5-10 words based on his reactions, by which I mean he knows what hearing the word leads to.
A hundred words? I'd also like to see what methodology was used to determine that.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 2 points 4 weeks ago

There's research. Theres a link to a 2022 paper in this article.

https://www.petmd.com/dog/general-health/how-many-words-does-a-dog-know

One more

https://www.forbes.com/sites/scotttravers/2024/03/29/dogs-understand-our-words-more-than-they-let-on-science-reveals/

There's also a whole mess of people who have taught dogs and cats to use buttons that say a word to have 2-way communication. So the dog will go press the button that says "outside" when they want to go out. Some get an active vocabulary of dozens of words.

What I love from these people is that dogs say exactly like what you think dogs would say. Outside, food, hi!, love, play and the like. Cats get bitchy. There's a few instances where multiple cats will have a button for "litter box" or similar. When you tell the cat something it didn't like, it goes over and presses "litterbox" as a kind of F you.

[–] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

What's so hard to understand? There are only a few words in cat. Meow means 'give me what I want.' Mao means 'why haven't you given me what I want?' Mrr means 'what the fuck?' And mrow means 'what the fuck, give me what I want.' The rest is context clues.

[–] Cevilia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 points 1 month ago

You forgot prrr (I am currently receiving what I want and will have a new request for you shortly)

[–] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 5 points 1 month ago

Pretty sure I know. His front paws are up on his food tub and he is meowing at me.

[–] notarobot@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 month ago

The cat:"I'm hungry" The owner: "I know" The owner: proceeds to ignore the cat and keeps on that they were doing

You bastard

[–] Grainne@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 month ago

You monster!

[–] RebekahWSD@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

I do know what the cat is saying! Right now it's "mama there is another cat!!!" I know. "The other cat HATES ME" I know. "Is not faaaiiiiir" I know.

Other cat goes home in like 2.5 weeks. She is like 20 years old and does not like other cats so they're separated but can see each other in the hallway.

Kitten wants nothing more to whamjangle the old cat and play in general.