26 People Explain what Happens when they call Their Cat’s Name

Calling your cat’s name is part of everyday life when you share your home with a cat.

Whether they respond or not is another thing though…

Some have questioned whether cats even know their own names due to a lack of response when called.

I see an interesting response when I call Coco but we’ll get onto that later…

I wanted to know what happens when the cat community calls their cats so I posted this status on the My Mini Panther Facebook Page:

“When I call my cat’s name, my cat…”

Here are some of the comments:

“Ignores me but, when my husband calls her she comes A-running.” – Michelle 

“Twitches her tail. And then herds me to the living room. 😅 (the treats are there!)” – Martha

“Usually comes and “flops” over at or on my feet” – Toni

“sometimes comes..sometimes ignores..but knows I’m talking to YOU Keeks” – Susan

“here my three cats turn heads and hope I give them food, or a treat, if not, back to sleep” – Marie-Anne 

“Their ears perk up; they come if it is convenient for them. 😁” – Meg

“Totally ignores me” – Brenda

“Depends on where I’m at. If I’m in the same room as she is she looks at me and sometimes comes to me and meows in conversation but in the evening or at night and I’m in bed and call her name she comes running to cuddle and sleep near me.” – Katrín

“Ignores me as usual. lol” – Mike

“Looks in my direction but doesn’t respond. Just looks at me like I’m here what?” – Nicole

“Comes running to me or meows” – Eva 

“My:

Ginger cat: looks at me then roll her eyes

Grey cat: comes to me walking like a model

Black cat: go zoomies around the house before zooming in to me” – Carmela

“Jumps in my lap.” – Diane

“Ninja gives me a look and then it’s 50/50 he will actually come running. Evie LOVES my attention and will actually RUN to where I am. Tipper immediately shows up” – Heather

“Ignores me unless food is involved” – Joyce

“My cats come running over to me wanting combed or fed.” – Lynette 

“Stops and thinks he did something wrong a real scaredy-cat! But then he realizes “Oh Treats YES!” – Constance

“Comes running 🤣🤣🤣. Well maybe if I opened the treats at the same time.” – Susan

“Keeps right on grooming” – Paul 

“Just looks, like yeah what do u want?” – Dory

“Looks at me to see if there is anything important” – Sara

“Heads right to the spot where I put their food bowls.” – Leslie

“Looks and winks” – Marlene

“9 out of 10 times he ignores me” – Dave

“Meows and sounds like he’s saying Huh?” – Karen

“50% of the time she comes running. The other 50% of the time she just ignores me” – John

My final thoughts

There are some great comments here, some are very funny!

I can relate to a lot of them with my experience with Coco.

Coco is a very vocal cat and I’d say 80-90% of the time when I call him, he responds.

He mostly responds with a kind of “yeah?” sounding short meow.

It’s very human-like and it always makes us laugh.

There are of course times where he pretends to have not heard his name and refuses to even turn his head or look at you which is equally as funny.

Coco meows a lot when he wants to go into the garage (he has a few hiding places in there) but we can’t always let him in.

When one of us is about to go out or return home it’s not safe for him to be in there because of the cars.

Coco meows constantly at the door of the garage and sometimes I have to shout “COCO NO” and he responds with a kind of “ok” short meow.

It’s really like having a conversation with a human sometimes and I still find it fascinating after all of these years.

Check out my other blog here that’s all about what cat lovers find cute about their cats.