this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2023
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They lost me when his cat came when called.
When I was a kid, I had a 90% success rate for getting my cat to come to me and hop up onto my lap.
Now, it would only work if my cat was in the same room, but it did work. Most of the time.
As my (comes 100% of the time when called) cat gets older, I suspect the amount of energy he's willing to expend when I call will change his willingness to do so, and I'm prepared for and even welcoming of that day.
"I would like to pet you" does not necessarily override his comfort once he's old enough that coming running might make his bones ache or interrupt a particularly nice nap.
I do have a little song I sing when he's "missing" and I'm worried, which I trained him to come to (with wet food) when he was a teensy kitty and I would worry he had gotten lost in my home or wedged under furniture. I do it every once in a while as an "emergency" song, and I give him all the treats and affection and play fetch when he answers that one.
For your entertainment reader, the lyrics, which are nonsense (first thought up in a panic):
"I wish I had my kitty man,
So I could pet my kitty man!
And if I had a kitty man,
Then I would pet that kitty man!"
He usually arrives during the beginning of the third line.
This was also helpful the one time I accidentally shut him in a closet. I guess he got shut in and just decided that was a cue for a nap, but once I started singing he started howling and pawing loudly at the door.
50% percent of the secret to calling a cat is calling them when they want to come.
One of my cats will come if I call them, the other one will sometimes come when I call them. All depends on the cat.
My cat comes 100% of the time when I call him, he loves me
My cat comes 40% of the time I call him, the other 60% he hears me and is all: nahhhh, not feeling it pops....
I had a cat which responded vocally with "mrrr" when hearing his name. Saying the name repeatedly had an 80% chance of summoning my cat, and a 20% chance that he would come running and jumping up into my hug. I loved that cat so much. Smart loving bastard who liked to also chew on my wife's foot on her way to the bathroom at night, and lovingly hump his towel when he was bored.
We had a cat that if you said "what's up CatName" she would do a little "what's up" head nod and go "mrow!".
When my husband and I had two cats both would refuse to come when called, but one would always come running when we called the other. Ya know, because, "Why are you calling the other cat? Hmm? Giving him something tastier than you gave me?"
All 7 of ours will come if called.
That's impressive.
I had two cats and both knew several words pretty well, like their names and "food". There is no beast that comes at you faster than a cat when it hears a promise of food.
Ours know "Who's hungry?"
Yeah no.
If the order was
The post would’ve been believable.