do you cats recognize the sound of your car?
Cary Kittrell
evening to greet her because "he knows what the vehicle looks like". My
theory is that cats know what your car _sounds_ like.
I first began to suspect this when my girlfriend and I lived in a 'no pets
allowed' apartment complex. Nonetheless, our initial one cat soon became
five, then 15 (two batches of kittens). We did everything we could to
keep them out of the windows and out of sight of the apartment manager, but
they would all be on display in the windows every day when we arrived home
from work.
One day I stayed home sick. Around 5 p.m. there was a general scramble
for the windows. I looked out in the parking lot, and saw my girl
friend's car driving in. Clearly they had picked up on the sound.
We were not asked to renew our lease...
Anyhow, general observation through the years has led to to suspect that
cats are not all that bright about visual things, but quite keen about
aural input. (as an example of the former, I have read that attempts
by psychologists to show that cats see colors required thousands of trials.
Cats have all the neurological equipment to see in color, but simply
could not realize that color was important. I have this image of some
weary lab cat slapping it's forehead after 4000 trials and going "Shit! The
food's always behind the BLUE door!")
Anyone have any anecdotes pro or con about cats knowing your car, your
mother-in-law, or your long-lost friend by sound?
-- cary
dave budd
>A recent poster to this group describes her cat as dashing home in the
>evening to greet her because "he knows what the vehicle looks like". My
>theory is that cats know what your car _sounds_ like.
Truffle knows the sound of our car. I wasn't certain at first because she
could have been watching us approach from the spare bedroom windowsill, but
then a few times when that room was closed off for various reasons, she
still turned up at exactly the moment we got home. But a small hole in my
exhaust does give our car a distinctive sound, so it's no big deal. Of
course, she doesn't come down to say Hello! Welcome home!, she just wants to
go out and knows she has to wait for us to unlock.
--
"I consider myself a pretty good judge of people,
and that's why I don't like none of them" ( Roseanne )
D.B...@mcc.ac.uk (via JANET: D.B...@uk.ac.mcc)
Dave Budd,MCC,Oxford Rd,Manchester,England(44|0)61-275-6033 fax061-275-6040
angela allen
>A recent poster to this group describes her cat as dashing home in the
>evening to greet her because "he knows what the vehicle looks like". My
>theory is that cats know what your car _sounds_ like.
When we moved from our second-floor apartment into a house, the cats
got very confused that we would appear at the door without any
preliminary stair-climbing sounds. They soon realized that a better
indicator was the garage door opening, and better still was the car
itself. Now they're just confused when I work in the flower beds right
outside the window... "I can see and hear and smell mom, but I can't
get to her!"
--angie an...@cs.indiana.edu
& John (hubby)
& Cerebus (buddy)
& Jaka (sweetie)
Rebecca Root
I think it's the sound (or primarily the sound) they recognized. When I
first got Thackie I had a red car. I don't know what he would do if he
was in, but if he was out, he'd run from the back of the house to the
front to greet me as I neared the house. One winter I got a new car,
white this time. During the winter, he was never out when I was gone,
so he could see the car in the driveway, but never heard it. When
spring came, he'd look so surprised when I came home like I snuck up
on him. Eventually, he learned the sound of the new car, and would
come running like before.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Becky Root
U S WEST Advanced Technologies, Boulder, CO
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Deborah Sparck
sounds in the neighborhood. They definitely know the difference between
my walking up the stairs outside and my neighbors walking. Same with my
roommate's walking. They will prick up their ears, but if it's not a
recognized sound they go back to whatever they were doing. If it's me
or my roommate, they will run like crazy to the front door and wait
anxiously.
--
*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
^ Deborah Sparck spa...@adobe.com Take my advice, ^
* Adobe Systems, Inc. I'm not using it. *
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^
Vicki Holzhauer
I'm pretty sure that my cats recognize the sound of my car. My
carport is right below my second-floor living room, and they're
usually sitting in the windows, waiting, at 5 when I get home.
I notice that my friend's outdoor cats, who have known me since they
were kittens, always come out from under their respective bushes when
I drive up. I'm sure it's the sound of my car (a distinctive-
sounding, ancient Subaru wagon :-) that lets them know it's me.
The home I grew up in, back in Massachusetts, was at the end of a
dead-end street with 17 houses on it, with woods at the end. When I
turned the corner and started heading up the street, I would see my
tortie and white kitty (Flicka) running out of the woods toward the
house, legs a-blur. There's no doubt in my mind that it was the
*sound* of my car turning the corner that signalled her--it was too
far a distance for her to see the car. And I had a Fury then, which
was a relatively quiet car. They know from whence comes their food,
don't they? :-)
--
Vicki Holzhauer, National Center for Atmospheric Research
Boulder, Colorado / / / / vi...@ncar.ucar.edu
Didi Pancake
>A recent poster to this group describes her cat as dashing home in the
>evening to greet her because "he knows what the vehicle looks like". My
>theory is that cats know what your car _sounds_ like.
My cats have _always_ known the sound of my car. In addition, Correy the
Postman's Bane knew the sound of the postman's footsteps coming along the
walk and would RUSH to ambush him at the porch screen door even if he had
been sleeping back in the bedroom.
--
Didi Pancake | "If a cat does something, we call it
e...@virginia.edu | instinct; if we do the same thing, for the
---------------------------| same reason, we call it intelligence."
Usual disclaimers apply. | --Will Cuppy
Nancy Pilsch
different places that I park in the lot, and they know that as well, and
always manage to be in the window on the side of the building I park on.
They also recognixe the sound of our key rings! I know this sounds crazy,
but they get very excited when they here my fiance's keys in the door, and
also had this reaction with our ex-roommate's keys.
Nancy, Calvin, Hobbes & Metaxa the Oinker-who doesn't seem to know anything
except what time dinner is!
Joanne Eglash
My cat definitely knows the sound of my car! As I drive up
the street, I've seen her peer around the side of the house,
then run onto the fence and wait for me to park. As soon as
I've parked the car, she hops onto the car hood and watches,
eyes gleaming, as I unload the car. We have a signal, which
is that I tap the car hood to signify that everything is in
the house and I'm going to go in and lock the door. She
immediately hops down and rushes up to the house, purring
madly to encourage me to get on in and get her dinner ready!
Bob Carroll
>In article <1993May20.0...@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu> ca...@astro.as.arizona.edu (Cary Kittrell) writes:
>>A recent poster to this group describes her cat as dashing home in the
>>evening to greet her because "he knows what the vehicle looks like". My
>>theory is that cats know what your car _sounds_ like.
>My cats have _always_ known the sound of my car.
This appears to be the case. I have been able to fool my two by coming home
in a new car or a loaner/rental. It appears the can identify the specific
squeeks/sounds at quite a distance.
Robert Carroll
Anasazi, Inc. 7500 North Dreamy Draw Drive, Suite 120 Phoenix, Az 85020 USA
charlotte mcavoy
>Anyhow, general observation through the years has led to to suspect that
>cats are not all that bright about visual things, but quite keen about
>aural input. (as an example of the former, I have read that attempts
>by psychologists to show that cats see colors required thousands of trials.
>Cats have all the neurological equipment to see in color, but simply
>could not realize that color was important. I have this image of some
>weary lab cat slapping it's forehead after 4000 trials and going "Shit! The
>food's always behind the BLUE door!")
You may be right about the visual thing. I've let Clyde out the
backdoor and then noticed a squirrel beneath the tree eating some food
I'd put out. Unless that squirrel moves Clyde is oblivious to his
presence.
On the other hand, Clyde will sit on only blue cars. It doesn't matter
what size, style or make, or if it's across the street, as long as it's
blue he will sit on it. We don't own a blue vehicle but we had some
roommates who traded in their maroon car for a blue one. The next day
there were paw prints all over it and a couple of days later I caught
him sitting on it. He'd totally ignored their other car. Same thing
with the apartment dwellers next door. Every few months there's a
change in tenants thus new vehicles. He'll only sit on the blue ones.
And only if they are totally blue.
Charlotte
Univ of Nebr-Lincoln
cmc...@unlinfo.unl.edu
kl...@iscsvax.uni.edu
> One day I stayed home sick. Around 5 p.m. there was a general scramble
> for the windows. I looked out in the parking lot, and saw my girl
> friend's car driving in. Clearly they had picked up on the sound.
Oh yes. They DO pick up on the sound of the engine. When I lived in
Slater, my cats were I/O, and often wandered far into the corn and
soybean fields-- sometimes they wouldn't hear me yelling for them...
so I'd get out the car and drive the roads slowly. Most of the time,
they made it home before I did.... "Hot dog! She's going to scratch
our ears and give us eggs and cheese and clean the litter box!"
They also learned that the sound of Mark's car (he showed up perhaps
once a month) meant treats, but Mom's car meant the dreaded vacuum
cleaner!
Kay Klier Biology Dept UNI
Anna Matyas
>A recent poster to this group describes her cat as dashing home in the
>evening to greet her because "he knows what the vehicle looks like". My
>theory is that cats know what your car _sounds_ like.
Gracie often lounges in the window facing our alley. We can see her
in it when we get a few houses away from ours (this window is on the
3rd floor). I watch her get up and stretch and she's meowing like
crazy when we get into the house. When the weather is warm and the
window is open I can can hear her from the yard. In fact, one of my
neighbors once said she knows when I'm coming home because she hears
the cat!!
So there's no doubt she recognizes the car in some way -- either by sight
or sound. I kind of think it's sound because I have a hard time believing
she's always awake at that time, especially when the sun is shining!!
Anna
Virginia DeGiorgi
i'm also convinced they know 'time of day' - when my mother was visiting a few
years ago when my only pets were two cats, she informed me that about 15
minutes before i came home, the guys started sitting by the patio door. this
gave them a veiw (from beneath the privacy fence) of hte parking lot where i
normally parked.
seemed odd to me at the time, but she claimed they did this consistently for
the week she was there -
now it's kind of hard to tell - we live on a quite country road and the dogs
start barking where the car is about 2 houses away - the cats' advanced warning
system
Bill Ralston
(Virginia DeGiorgi) wrote:
> i'm also convinced they know 'time of day' - when my mother was visiting a few
> years ago when my only pets were two cats, she informed me that about 15
> minutes before i came home, the guys started sitting by the patio door. this
> gave them a veiw (from beneath the privacy fence) of hte parking lot where i
> normally parked.
I think time of day is a lot of it. One of my two cats is deaf and she is
always in the bay window when I come home close to my usual time. My
sister's zoo (5 cats, 4 dogs, (give or take a few)) all starts congregating
in the back yard at about the 4 pm feeding time every day.
-- Bill w...@mitre.org
* I babble too incoherently to speak for my employer *
Susan W. Stockwell
>Anyhow, general observation through the years has led to to suspect that
>cats are not all that bright about visual things, but quite keen about
>aural input. (as an example of the former, I have read that attempts
>by psychologists to show that cats see colors required thousands of trials.
>Cats have all the neurological equipment to see in color, but simply
>could not realize that color was important. I have this image of some
>weary lab cat slapping it's forehead after 4000 trials and going "Shit! The
>food's always behind the BLUE door!")
I agree cats have excellent hearing. But if you have ever had a
dog at some point, then you know that cats comparatively have
hot shot eyesight. They may not see color, but they can see in
the dark and all that.
We have a cat that is extremely visual. We first noticed it when
she was a kitten, and she would get into staring contests with
us (she's also very interactive with humans - kinda rare). Then
she would run up to your face and stare into your eyes, trying
to figure it out. You had to be careful or you got an eyeful
of kittenface! She would do this after staring at you from
across the room, then suddenly making a dash for you.
As an adult she still enjoys eye contact, and will be friends
with humans who make her acquaintance by getting up close to her
face and looking in her eyes (she also sniffs).
Another visual thing she does is she can spot things on the
ceiling. One we had an earwig on our ceiling, and she was going
crazy meowing at us, jumping on us then running away, 'till we
finally figured out she was looking up -- and there it was!
She would not rest until that bug was taken care of.
By contrast, I grew up with dogs. Our dogs never saw themselves in
a mirror, they thought we were just pushing them toward the wall.
--
Twice five syllables, /\_/\
Plus seven, can't say much -- but... = o o =
That's haiku for you. D. Hofstadter /^\
Sue Stockwell (carrying No Tea)
Sheila Thomas
suddenly look up from a doze, ears pricked and alert quite a while before I
could hear anything.
--
___________________________________________________________________________
Malwen
____________________________________________________________________________
Nancy C Reynolds
determine. However, there are other sounds she does recognize, in
addition to the expected one of a can of tuna being opened. :-) When it
is near bedtime, often one of the last things I do is turn off the
computer. Many times, Chanel seems pretty oblivious to whatever is going
on until I turn off the computer. Then she gets up and gets ready for bed
(i.e. waits for me to escort her). Also, if my husband has been sitting
next to me on the couch and gets up during a t.v. commercial to go to the
bathroom, Chanel might jump up on the couch to catch a quick snuggle or
pat. However, once she hears the toilet flush, she knows it's time to
leave the space for my husband, so she gets off the couch. She doesn't
tend to make such quick trips to the couch if there's no toilet flushing
sound. She also seems to be aware of when the t.v. goes on. Cat shows
are preferred, but other animal shows will do. :-)
--Nancy Reynolds
Colleen Penrowley
>
> Msg-ID: <1993May20.0...@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu>
> Posted: 20 May 93 00:44:40 GMT
>
> Org. : University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
>
> A recent poster to this group describes her cat as dashing home in the
> evening to greet her because "he knows what the vehicle looks like". My
> theory is that cats know what your car _sounds_ like.
>
>
> Anyone have any anecdotes pro or con about cats knowing your car, your
> mother-in-law, or your long-lost friend by sound?
>
>
>
> -- cary
My cats recognize the sound of my car. They're ozite cats (indoor-outdoor)
:-), and if they happen to be hanging out in front of the house when I get
home they usually start strolling (or prancing, depending on mood) towards
where I'm about to park before I stop the car or get out.
Colleen P. (owned by Silk, Garbo and Frost)
Anne C Hayes
of me walking down the street, cause he'll come dashing out from
behind whatever bush he's been hiding in, and trotting down the
street to me when I come home in the evening.
It always makes my friends very jealous when they're walking
home with me :-)
Anne Hayes
ma...@uclink.berkeley.edu
Julie Kangas
>>evening to greet her because "he knows what the vehicle looks like". My
>>theory is that cats know what your car _sounds_ like.
>
>So there's no doubt she recognizes the car in some way -- either by sight
>or sound. I kind of think it's sound because I have a hard time believing
>she's always awake at that time, especially when the sun is shining!!
I'm able to tell which of my neighbors are home by the sounds of their
cars. If my clearly inadequate human ears can do this, I'm sure cats'
ears can easily duplicate the feat.
Julie
DISCLAIMER: All opinions here belong to my cat and no one else
Duane P Mantick
>In article <1993May20.0...@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu>, ca...@astro.as.arizona.edu (Cary Kittrell) writes:
>> One day I stayed home sick. Around 5 p.m. there was a general scramble
>> for the windows. I looked out in the parking lot, and saw my girl
>> friend's car driving in. Clearly they had picked up on the sound.
>Oh yes. They DO pick up on the sound of the engine. When I lived in
I don't doubt it for a minute.
Quite often when we come home from work, Samantha will either already
be waiting on a windowsill, or will shortly BE there. To me this suggests
that not only does she have a concept of time (when will mommy and daddy
be home?) but does have the ears and recognition of our car. I have
seen her do this if I am at home but Nancy is out - in fact Sammy will
tip me off that Nancy just drove in! But she never seems to do it for
anyone ELSE's car.
But I don't find that so amazing, even when all the windows in
our apartment are closed. I have seen both Samantha and Crystal just
jump up from a sound snooze (or so it seemed) and run to the same
(closed) window. 99 times out of 100 there is a critter out there that
has made some sound that neither my wife OR I could hear, but our two
cats sure picked up.
Samantha the natural huntress seems to even pick up on jumping
frogs/toads! I have seen her get really alert at the window, and
if I look out there will be a toad on the front walk just hopping along.
Sometimes if I look I see nothing, but gauging on her general accuracy
I'd bet *something* is out there.
Sammy is the same cat who we watched beat up on a snake - the
snake coiled and sprang at her, but Sammy just jumped out of the way
and smacked Mr. snake on his head two or three quick ones while
passing! She is good, that's for sure. We've seen her snag mice and
moles that we didn't even know existed, seemingly from nowhere just
in our backyard.
Crystal is no slouch, but is more of an athlete/acrocat/musclecat.
Samantha is pure, walking feline intuition, with a sense of the outdoors
that defies her 98 percent indoor life. She has taught us that if we
take her outside we have to watch her *constantly*, as she knows how
to disappear in a matter of seconds. That Mackeral tabby thing is the
greatest camo I've ever seen....wonder if I could adapt that for paintball
games? :-)
Duane
Duane P Mantick
>My cat, Chanel, does not recognize the sound of our car, as far as I can
[some stuff deleted]
>sound. She also seems to be aware of when the t.v. goes on. Cat shows
>are preferred, but other animal shows will do. :-)
Crystal, the "bird" cat went totally up for grabs when I brought
home a new videotape a couple weeks ago. Subject: Hummingbirds.
Really! We have seen her watch TV before, but this time
she actually reached up and tried "grabbing" the little hummers off
the screen.
An aside: we put up a hummingbird feeder every year.....and she
*knows* it.
Duane