Our cat understands some random phrases, "Where is it?" will always make her look around to try and see what we're referring to, "Let's go and get it!" makes her run to the kitchen for food (and obviously I get her food, I don't make her run to the kitchen just for the fun of it!)

But I see why you can't really train cats, because though she understands some commands, "get down", and "come here", she will consider it and then decide what she wants to do, it could be five minutes later that she jumps up on my lap or finally gets down off the sofa (that one rarely happens), and if I ask "do you want to go outside?" sometimes she'll chirrup and walk to the door.

Isn't that smart

What words or phrases does your cat understand?

"Bed" last thing at night when she has to go upstairs, "Downstairs" to come down again in the morning and "do you want something to eat" if there is a treat up for grabs.

Most, if not all, of the cats that i've had have understood these phrases. One used to go back out into the garden and bring in his brother if I asked him to! I'd say "go find" and he'd find him and push him into the house by with his head. Sometimes his brother was not best pleased with this arrangement lol. If he didn't know where his brother was when asked to get him, he'd come back, look at me and meow!

"No".

They all understand that.

And then they do "it" anyway.

My two older cats had quite a large vocabulary, becky in particular, could understand din din (for food), there's a pigeon (only through the window) and quick there's a fly, where's mummy, do you want grass (cat grass that can be grown in a pot, she used to eat it as a treat).
Lucy could also understand all of those, and if you went for a nap on a sunday afternoon, l use to ask her if she wanted to come bye byes, she would think about, l'd say oh go on we can have a cuddle, and she would walk up the stairs with me. If she did't want to do anything she would shake her head!.

When I ask my cat Sidney "What you want?" he jumps up next to me, then I ask him if he wants loves or sweeties. I get a headbump for loves & a cute little meow for sweeties. Anything else I say to him he just ignores

Can you tell me a bit more about cat grass please? The reason I ask is because mine are housecats now. I believe cats have to periodically eat grass to enable them to be sick to get rid of potentially fatal furballs, so special cat grass might be useful.




Yes!! That's also true of mine

whenever the evening meal is ready whoever has cooked it shouts "I'm dishing it up" so that the rest of the household can come to the dining table.

This includes Emma [ she is usually curled up on the sofa]

She will position herself usually next to my chair in readiness for chopped up bits of meat or fish from my plate

She doesnt understand that Wednesdays is "vegetarian day" and there will be nothing on offer that she likes to eat

my cat knows what din dins is and will go running to her bowl.

Our cat understand a fair bit. I'll say "come on, come down" and beckon with my hand and she will come running. When I used to yell where are you she used to appear and stick her head through the banisters to tell you i'm here and ok. When on my lap I point and she jumps off my lap. She understands the word hairdryer. Water doesn't work but mention that she will run off. She understands 'no' too. I shake my head and she sometimes shakes hers when we ask her if she wants to go outside. I am sure she understands a few other things too.

Mine understands every word but chooses to ignore it.

Cats are like that

Amber def understands some things but normally only when my OH talks to her.

He can make her mew with a few choice words and if he asks her is she wants treats she always goes into the kitchen to show him where the treats are

She is so clever...

Our cat only understands one thing. "Tumtime". Feeding time.

so so true

Let's just say that when it's in my cat's best interest, he understands a number of things.

My cats understand:
Noms/dinner - same thing although I call it noms and my wife calls it dinner
Gun - their laser pointer which is in the shape of a gun
Sit - And they do as well
Treats (and now more annoyingly "the T-word" - They've sussed out that the t-word is also the way the wife and I refer to their treats as in "have they had a t-word today?". Now they know what it means they usually start stalking us until we give in.
Curry - They don't like curry, but they love poppadums so they'll hawk around until they get some poppadum (which we've started ordering one extra of to split between them).
Kebab - They actually like the kebab meat.
Sleepy times - Bed
Litter tray - Another word they understand
What have you been up to today? - This will always get them both gobbing off at you and I assume they're telling me what they got up to in the house while I was out.
Fuss/Three fingered head wreck - They take fuss from my wife, they run when I mention the three fingered head wreck. Good for getting them out the room when they're annoying me.

I'm also slightly surprised that they've both managed to master "yes" and "no". I don't mean that they understand us when we say it, but they've actually got two distinct miaows for yes and no - it's like a "meh" (followed by a sort of chirp) and "moe". I thought I was hearing things and that they were just miaowing at me in different ways until my wife said that they seem to have two seperate miaows. As these are house cats they tend to be more vocal than any other cat I've ever come across and they will sit there and just give you gob all because they can, without actually wanting anything.

My cat has successfully trained me up to understand her!

I know every look and mew and what it means.

No. Understands how the day pans out, and will respond to a sharp "No!" when clawing the wallpaper, but just can't understand why sitting on my lap when using the laptop is not popular.

If my cat is sitting on her post and I say give me love with a little mwah noise, she gives me a kiss on the lips. It is so cute. I have had her doing it from when she was a kitten.

They also understand "come on" which means to them come in the room and get fed.

For some reason, telling them to avoid stepping on paperwork always seems to not work

My cat understands most things (I think) and looks at me as if to say,"Yeah I know what you mean" and then he will do whatever, or "Yeah I know what you mean but I'm going to ignore you"
He tears wallpaper too, thought he was on his own in doing that!

We don't have our own cats but have a couple who visit every day for snacks & affection.They call early & invite themselves in--one immediately jumps up on to the work surface & ignores all requests not to do so.I've resorted to ordering him to jump up so I've deluded myself that I've trained him.

"Dinner" or "food" they certainly understand

I think they understand more than they let on. Only react to what makes them feel happy though.

"Treats" - obviously.

One knows "Do you want to knock heads?" which means she gets into the big sitting-room where she jumps onto the mantlepiece and she gets petted while we press foreheads together - strange I know but she loves it.

Other knows a surprised sound - ooohhhh - he thinks I'm telling him there is a cat outside and he runs to the window,

They both know "chicken" and run to the fridge.

They also know "bold" when said in a giving out tone.

My cat understands everything perfectly. He knows he's being an arse when he's on top of the dishwasher batting my handful of cups as I'm emptyping it.
He knows he's taken it too far when he bats my handful of cups with extending claws.
He knows he's being an arse when he starts persistently shouting for his tea as soon as I get in from the school run, even though he knows his tea time isn't for another two and a half hours.
He knows he's being an arse when he tries to take the food off my fork as it's going into my mouth.
He knows he has the potential to be speedy and ninja-like, and sometimes he succeeds. He knows he's in trouble when he sneaks a paw into my daughter's bedtime cup of milk.
He knows he could 'av that jack russell, if he felt like it.
He knows I don't want him on my lap as well as the laptop.

He knows all these things. He understands perfectly well.

With our old cat you used to be able to say "Are you getting in" which he always knew meant was he getting under a coat or blanket which would be accompanied with craning of the neck to see if you were lifting said coat or blanket for him to "get in" He also knew "Treats" meant his whiskas cheese pockets and "chicken" meant chunks of tesco cooked chicken lol.

.....