if you accidentally step on your cat's tail will they hold a grudge against you or if you have to leave the house for a longer time will your cat remember you when you return do you find yourself wondering if they can actually recognize you and understand that you're their human different from all other humans that they might know or whether they just know to go and accept pets from whoever happens to be holding the cat food can at the time fortunately we at feline Fanatics have acquired a mgy mindreading machine we call it the cranial
actualization technology for scanning cats axial neurons or a cat scan machine for short oh okay not really but we are going to be using science in this video and we are going to be giving you an insight into the feline mind we're going to be answering five frequently asked questions about mgy memory from how long your cat actually remembers you to whether they miss you when you're not around but before we dive in why not subscribe and join our feline loving Community for more fascinating insights into the mind of your cat will my cat forget
me if I go away on a long trip one of the most common concerns that people have when wondering about feline memory is how long it lasts sure you know your kitty remembers you after you come home from work but what about if you leave them overnight or go on vacation for 2 weeks and leave them with a sitter or go away to to University in another city leaving them with your parents coming home to find your beloved little fur baby treating you like a stranger or maybe even being afraid of you is a terrifying
thought so let us put your mind at rest cats have much better memories than people give them credit for for example kittens from the same litter who were separated at only a few months old and sent to different forever homes will usually recognize each other by scent as many as two years later and if that doesn't sound like a long time ask yourself how easily you could recognize somebody you last saw when you were 3 months old there is absolutely no danger of your fur baby forgetting you while you're away from home if I accidentally
hurt my cat will they hold a grudge there is evidence at least from the larger members of the cat family that our feline friends are capable of holding grudges and even taking Revenge heads up this next story is a bit disturbing in nature in 1993 a hunter in Siberia shot and wounded a tiger before stealing part of its kill he thought that he had gotten away with his cruelty but unfortunately for the hunter the tiger remembered his scent it tracked that scent across the snow until it found the Hunter's cabin where it fatally attacked him
tigers at least are fully capable of taking Vengeance when wronged and there's no reason to suppose that this trait is isn't also found in other members of the cat family including your own Kitty at home but there is good news for all you anxious cat parents out there cats may be capable of holding grudges but they're also capable of recognizing and forgiving mistakes cats will often apologize to their friends if they hurt them accidentally by grooming them or rubbing against them if you accidentally hurt your cat but then immediately apologize and make a fuss of
them afterwards then you can be assured that they know you didn't mean it remember cats literally play with each other by getting into mock fights if they freaked out every time they got accidentally scratched or bitten too hard during a game then they'd basically be unable to socialize with each other do cats remember people who are kind to them you might have heard the old story about the guy who removed a thorn from a lion's paw and ended up having the lion save him later on is there any truth in this idea that cats can
remember which people have been kind to them for your domestic Kitty back home the answer is absolutely yes cats have a very good associative memory which means that they're very good at forming connections between specific people and specific feelings if a person is kind to a cat therefore then that cat will likely forever have a positive association with them a slightly sad but very touching example of this is is the case of too an Italian cat who was rescued as a kitten by an old man named Renzo the two had a very special relationship and
when Renzo sadly passed away of old age too insisted on following the funeral procession all the way to the cemetery the day after the funeral Renzo's relatives found a small Acacia branch on the grave this was the first of many gifts that too would bring to lay at his master's grave over the next few years too's tributes to the old man who saved his life have included leaves Twigs paper cups and paper towels just like gry Fryer's Bobby his more famous canine counterpart too's story served as heartwarming proof of an animals ability to not only
remember people who are kind to them but to try and repay that kindness in whatever small way they can do cats have favorite people even if your cat's greatest associative memory helps them remember you as somebody who's been kind to them you might still find yourself wondering about how well they can recognize you can they really distinguish you from all the other humans who are kind to them every cat parent has at some point heard somebody say that our cats don't actually love us and are just in it for the free room and board even
if we know in our hearts that our fur babies do love us this kind of thing can still be hard to hear well you'll be pleased to know that science is absolutely on the side of the cat lovers when cats interact with their humans their brains release a chemical called oxytocin also known as the love hormone oxytocin is the chemical responsible for forming strong social bonds scientists can literally measure how much your furry friend loves you but is that just in the moment or do our cats remember their favorite people when they're away a 2013
study showed that when played a series of record ings of human voices talking cats consistently responded faster when the person speaking in the recording was their owner this was especially true if the owner was talking to their Kitty in baby talk so if you're one of those people who likes to talk to your fur baby like they're an actual baby then you'll be pleased to know that science backs you up does my cat miss me when I'm away don't worry unless your kitty has experienced some kind of trauma or has a medical condition that causes
them excess anxiety they're unlikely to get too worried about your absence while you're at work or doing your weekly food shop in fact amusingly enough during the covid pandemic a lot of cat parents reported that their kitties seem to be showing more signs of stress since they started working from home if your cat is used to you being out of the house at certain times of day then just like a human friend or family member they might have got used to the me time and be annoyed if it gets taken away way but longer less
regular trips can be a different story your cat doesn't really understand the concept of Vacations or work trips or visiting family and might assume that you leaving for a few days means that you've gone forever some cats who've seen their humans go away before might even try to prevent them from going again by climbing into their suitcases or perhaps they just want to go on vacation too while their human is away cats might show that they miss them by going around the house searching for their missing family member meowing a lot more than usual or
being extra clingy with the members of the family who are still at home in extreme cases they might even start going off their food becoming aggressive or peeing outside the litter box this is called separation anxiety leaving your cat with a sitter that they know and trust is one way to combat separation anxiety as is leaving them with something to snuggle up with that carries your scent like your pillow or an old t-shirt this will help them feel close to you while you're away your cat is more likely to miss you if they view you
as their parental figure to find out whether your fur baby sees you this way check out this video on how to tell whether your cat sees you as their parent
