How long is a cat’s memory?

[chemenger]

Say, for example, if on Friday there was roast chicken in the fridge, how long before opening the fridge door doesn’t trigger frenzied meowing and begging for chicken that isn’t there any more?

Resistance is futile. Buy more chicken. It's the only way.

About 10 days. That's how long it took for mine to stop standing in front of the "mouse bush" - a bush where a mouse had conveniently ran out of and into his passing mouth. It was a long 10 days of sitting in the exact position waiting in hope that the mouse would appear again.

Millennia I think.

My girl cat would remember forever. My boy cat forgets where we fucking live.

Dcat found a mouse’s nest last summer and brought in three babies (one we managed to revive, but two died). He still hopefully looks in the area in which it was...

My last cat used to be given squirty cream as a treat. Due to a number of reasons (largely living in a country where you couldn’t get it), I didn’t buy squirty cream for about 6 years. I bought it for something else, and when she heard the noise, she came running into the kitchen, licking her chops expectantly.

My other cat failed to recognise me after I came back from holiday...

One of mine has catty dementia we think. Memory is very variable.

I fed my cat from the fridge ONCE, just ONCE in her entire 2 years of life and she still comes running every time she hears the fridge open.

Ah, for all eternity! They remember they were worshipped as gods in Egypt and it's kind of gone to their heads! 😼

My comes running if she hears the fridge door just in case.

It's easy to tell if Archcat remembers people because he's incredibly nervous with strangers but affectionate to people he knows. DD1 is away at uni for months at a time yet he always remembers that she's familiar as soon as she returns.

And then there's the waiting around for weeks wherever he last saw a mouse (which is long gone because we've removed it, alive or dead).

Chicken in a fridge? You're doomed.

This thread has made me laugh! I love cats!

Because I do Slimming World I eat bacon medallions but I'm really particular about my bacon so I buy the really nice stuff and trim the fat off with scissors.

You can't open a package in our house or cut paper etc without two furry assistants doing the "Is that bacon" dance.

Catface seems to forget we feed her every day. She jumped on my pillow an hour ago meowing. Claiming she was definetly going to starve this time.

Oh definitely years, they hold grudges too.

You could always buy her wafer thin sliced chicken as a weekly treat.

OMG grudges.

My previous cat, Charlie, would sulk. But you had to know he was sulking so he would sit in front of you with his back turned.

If he had been to the dreaded vet then he would come out of his carrier backwards.

He was once sulking at me, so my friend picked him up and faced him towards me and said, "don't sulk at sashh' so he turned his head away, friend turned Charlie's head back to me so he turned his eyes away.

I once had friends round, so each seating place was occupied by a human and he had to sit on the floor, if took him ages to find a spot where he could turn his back on everyone.

Fed my ginger boy some ham from the fridge many years ago. Now every time he hears me peeling back the plastic he comes running from nowhere.

Unluckily for the cat I'm having a vegetarian week, she got the chicken to use it up. I've offered strawberries and avocado instead but she's not keen. I may have to lift her up to look in the fridge to prove there is nothing nice there (although actually she is pretty keen on cheese so that might not work). Alternatively, since she's a foster, I could just feed her chicken every time the fridge door opens and then let her adopter cope with the long term effects. Or I could stop using the fridge.

I was once told they have a 3 week memory - I don't believe that for one moment. They remember everything

They remember The Vet, that the Fridge Holds Ham and that 'up' is good. They don't remember anything associated with the words 'no' or 'down'.

Fed my ginger boy some ham from the fridge many years ago. Now every time he hears me peeling back the plastic he comes running from nowhere

So why did the Ham supply dry up for such a handsome boy?

We never say no to him, he works his moggy Magic every time.

These are said cat’s kittens, in a brief break from tearing round the house.

Don’t think the picture loaded last time.