A new study adds to growing evidence of the strong connection between cats and their human companions. Conducted in Bordeaux, France, the study played cats a voice recording of both their human parents and a stranger speaking in either pet-directed speech (i.e., “baby talk”) or human-directed speech (i.e., as they would speak to other adults). The cat parents and strangers said phrases such as, “Do you want to play?” and “Do you want a treat?” 

The cats responded attentively to their human parents when they used cat-directed speech, but did not attend when their cat parents directed the same phrases to another person. On the other hand, when strangers spoke on the recording—regardless of whether they used baby talk or not—the cats showed no particular interest in the voices.

The research reinforce other recent studies that show how strong the cat:human bond can be. First author de Mouzon said that the results are further evidence that cats are “sensitive and communicative individuals.”

Read the article at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-022-01674-w#change-history