Why do cats respond to "kitty-kitty"? What are the names of cats in other countries?

What does kitty-kiss mean to a cat?

Domestic and wild cats have obvious advantages over people, or rather their hearing. Cats' hearing is much sharper and much better developed, it helps these hunters detect vibrations in the air in search of prey. A cat's hearing system consists of three sections that can recognize more sounds than a human. The outer, middle and inner ears recognize signals and transmit them in the form of impulses to a special center located in the brain.

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One of the characteristics of cat hearing is focusing. The cat's hearing aid is designed in such a way that it is able to group sounds surrounding the animal from all sides. Cat lovers who carefully observe the behavior of their pet have probably noticed that the animal actively moves its ears, turning them in different directions and not always in the same direction. Cats react to several sounds at once. The feathers of our furry friends are flexible and mobile. A large group of muscles responsible for mobility and flexibility allows the cochlea to rotate 180 degrees.

The cat's hearing aid is also equipped with a huge number of nerve endings - more than 52 thousand - that perceive sounds. Thanks to its hearing, a cat can easily navigate in dark places with minimal light sources, sometimes even with its eyes closed. The hearing of these small predators allows us to recognize not only the strength of sound. The height and distance of the sound wave allows the cat to determine the location of the sound source.

The special structure of the hearing aid allows it to receive ultrasound.

The range that a cat can recognize is from 0 to 60 kHz, while humans can recognize from 0 to 20 kHz.

Animals perfectly recognize ultrasound, which contains a lot of hissing sounds. Many cat lovers are convinced that cats react so vividly to the phrase kitty-kiss because their hearing aids perceive high-frequency sound well. Other cat owners, on the other hand, believe that sounds reminiscent of a mouse squeal attract cats, so they also respond to the cry “kitty-kitty”. Both animal lovers are wrong in their judgment. In the languages of a number of peoples, there is not a trace of hissing sounds left in the combination of words used to call a cat.

Habit is powerful

The main explanation for why cats call kitty-kitty is habit. From birth, kittens get used not only to their own words, but also to other sounds that the owner often repeats. To call a cat, owners pronounce kitty-kis completely unconsciously, regardless of whether they are calling the animal to play, pet or treat it with a treat. The custom of calling a cat to your home varies from country to country. Linguists know this well. However, since ancient times, people themselves have become accustomed to calling cats directly kitty-kitty.

Unlike other pets - dogs - cats are difficult to train. However, you can teach a mink to respond to simple sound signals. Cats refer not only to their name and kitty-kiss, but also to other phrases that their owners often use. It is based on conditioned reflexes, and not the ability to understand people's speech.

Even when the owner scolds the cat, he does not recognize the phrases, but perceives the tonality, sharpness and volume of the sounds.

Kittens develop a conditioned reflex faster. Each “kitty-kitty” cry is followed by a reward, affection or feeding. The animal remembers the sequence of actions and subsequently begins to actively use the new skill.

Considering that cat hearing has its own peculiarity - focusing, pets can be calm or even sleep soundly in a room where the TV is playing loudly. However, the owner can only quietly call the animal by name or say kitty-kitty, as the cat reacts with lightning speed, turning its ears towards the source of the sound or raising its head. The animal recognizes the sound, realizing that it is approaching it. On the other hand, music does not evoke such reflexes. This does not mean that domestic cats do not hear music, they simply filter out unnecessary sounds. People also have a similar feature; they simply filter out unnecessary sound and block it, if necessary, by concentrating their attention. Countless studies have been conducted to confirm that cats respond to familiar sounds. For example, pets living in other countries mean completely different combinations of words and sounds.

How do they call cats in other countries?

In Israel, cats are called "ps-ps"
In the Czech Republic and Poland, cat lovers call their furry friends chi-chi.
In France, it's a big deal. The combination of words comes from the French word minou, which means "kitten".
In the USA, cats are addressed with the words kiti-kiti, from the word kitty - “kitten”.
In Korea, everything is more complicated - cats are called nabja-nabija, although the word cat in Korean sounds like gojang-i.
In Italy, cats are referred to only as michu-michu.
Serbian cats can be attracted by the words mak-mak-mak. By the way, in Serbian the word cat sounds like machka.
In Romania, the word for cat is Pisica, so Romanians use the phrase pis-pis to call a cat.
In China, you can wake up a cat with ccc sounds.
Arabic speakers call cats with the words kish-kish, which our minchi would perceive as leaving.