Cat expert explains reason why pets sometimes don't respond to being called

Many people consider their cat as one of their closest companions, often feeling they understand what their pet is trying to communicate. However, it's clear that our cats might not always love us as much as we love them.

While it's often intriguing to go up an pet our cats whenever we want to, cats often like to spend some time alone, wether it's by hiding in their favourite hideout or by looking out the window and ignoring anything and anyone in the room with them.

But have you ever called on your cat in these moments, expecting them to acknowledge you, only for them to not move a muscle? You're not alone, as a cat expert has shared the reason why this happens.

Taking to his social media account, cat behaviour specialist Jackson Galaxy, who is best known from his show 'My Cat from Hell', has explained the reason why cats sometimes won't acknowledge your presence around them.

"So your cat is sitting across the room, you look over to them and you call their name and nothing happens, your feelings get hurt and you wonder 'does my cat even recognise my voice at all?'" he said at the start of his TikTok video.

He went on to explain: "Well, there's a study done in 2013 at the University of Tokyo that addressed this very issue, and the answer was yes. But here's the interesting part, [...] was only 10% of those cats recognising their human's voice chose to do anything about it, like moving their tail or meowing or otherwise engaging. 10%."

In the study, cats' names were called by their owners and by strangers' voices to see if they reacted. The cats knew their names were being called, because they showed signs of listening behaviour - like twitching their ears and looking around.

But despite hearing their names, the study showed that the cats quickly lost interest in listening, and just carried on with what they were doing. It also showes that the cats showed more interest when it was their own owner who called for them, rather than a stranger's voice.

Despite showing clear signs that they recognized their names being called out, the cats did not move or come over to where the name was being called out from - so there is a big chance they are just ignoring you when you call their name.

"So if you ever thought that, you know, my cat knows it's me but they're choosing to ignore me, you were right," Jackson said.

Viewers quickly toook to the comment section to share their thoughts, with many cat owners sharing their own experiences of having been ignored by their cat.

"Her ears move when I talk to her. She hears me, she just doesn't care," one person wrote. Another viewer said: "This little pouch in their ears is to store everything said to them they want to ignore."

"But in their defense, if someone was constantly calling your name for no reason you would start to ignore them too," someone else said.

Another person said: "I was talking to someone about the difference between cats and dogs and I believe that having dogs is like having a toddler. Having a cat is like having a teenager. I'm pretty sure my teenager recognises my voice but chooses to do nothing about is 90% of the time. Just like my cats."