What commands do your cats know?

[umpteennamechanges]

Inspired by a thread in the dog section...what commands / words do your cats understand?

My cats know:

• Name
• Other cats names
• Breakfast (time for food)
• High five (give a high five in return for a snack. No snack = no chance)
• Off
• No
• Come on (with hand pat = come here/jump up)
• He's a good boy/she's a good girl

I think there are certain things we say that they don't fully understand the meaning of but recognise it as meaning 'love' or 'time for snuggles'. For example when my boy cat snuggles up he often looks up into my eyes and I tell him 'Are you Mummy's handsome boy?' In a certain tone and he just purrs away looking up into my eyes 😻

Has anyone else tried purposefully training cats for commands?

My first one has been the high five - which they're very good at but unlike a dog are only interested in doing it in return for a treat. They give zero fucks about doing it for praise or a pet

Previous cat, Ragdoll/Birman,13 years, gorgeous but not very bright, knew:

Name,
Snacks,
Lick-e-Lix,
No,
Come on.

New kitten, Maine coon/Ragdoll, gorgeous and seems clever, who we've had two weeks:

Learning name,
Learning 'high 5", to touch paw to hand,
Learning 'gentle",
No,
Beginning to learn to retrieve toys / fetch.

Fantastic thread, my cats understand

• Names
• Down
• Up
• Wait
• Bedtime
• Dreamies (obviously!)

And I've discovered if I open the backdoor and whisper the word "chicken" the fat cat will come running from wherever he is. Not sure whether he might just have a very good sense of smell for a roast though...

My girl knows the shake of the dreamies from anywhere in the house or garden. She also knows when it's 5pm and stalks the hallway waiting for me to come home and feed her.

Apart from that she treats me with utter disdain when I speak to her

Name = dinner time
OI! = Bad cat/stop doing that
Pshh/PSHHHT! = Out of the way/MOVE FOR GODS SAKE!
click click sound made with my tongue = look at me
Quick double tap on side of the cat = get up off me I'm about to get up

That pretty much covers everything

down!
No
Out
Name

My eldest two (I lost them in 2019) understood commands in English and Italian as I spoke to them in both.

Cats now,
Their names
Want to go out
Bedtime biscuits
Biscuits/crunches
Do you want a fish treat
Here's your granny
Their birthday
Taking treats out of the packet with their paw
Shaking a packet
Opening a packet of cold meat
Good morning
Kiss

If I say FFS even quietly, there's a mass exodus as they think they're in trouble for knocking something over etc

'Down' is met with a disdainful look but they eventually do it.

'Ten minutes and no more' is what we say when they go out for the last time at night and they usually come back within ten minutes but I think that is more a fluke than anything.

DD has taught our two to sit. They now do it on command if we are holding some chicken.

They are not as clever as they sound as they only know one cat's name, so both come when we call that cat's name.

Ours know their names, no, off and bedtime.

Mine very rarely acknowledge I'm talking to them

Mine know their names, 'where's your brother?' And one of them knows 'find mouse' and if I say 'cuddles' he'll stand on his back legs and waves his front legs for me to pick him up

I have three.

5yo - his name, "dinner", come here (but only if the dog isn't around).
4yo - her name, "dinner", "sit", "paw" and come here.
7m old - his name, "dinner", come here, "up" and "off".

Urmmm... He knows his name, come here (with sofa or lap patting gestures), get off the (fekkin) table, and 'gentle' which means he puts his claws away and plays nicely for about ten seconds.
Ooh and bedtime which means come and be an idiot in a different room

I have to say - my OP only covers 3 of my 4 cats.

The 4th cat is beautiful and thick as mince.

She doesn't even know her name but basically comes if I say any word in the right tone of voice. She gets confused very easily and can't even manage to jump over the fence so we've had to cut a bloody hole in it for her to go through

My two grey cats are the best to train, not because they're the most intelligent (that's my tortie half-Burmese) but because they're so food driven!

'Get Down', Usually aimed at DS but we hear the thud of a cat jumping off the kitchen counter.
'Tumtum' for belly rubs.
On the whole, it's them who give the commands, we are well trained to interpret a wide range of sounds.

She knows her name & "treats". Thats about it lol.

'Out' (of the kitchen while I'm doing his food), he's very old, very persistent and very skilled in tripping me up so he's banished to the doorway til it's ready. He only obeys that one because he knows the alternative is that I shut the kitchen door (which he hates) and he pretends not to understand any others.

@umpteennamechanges

I have to say - my OP only covers 3 of my 4 cats.

The 4th cat is beautiful and thick as mince.

She doesn't even know her name but basically comes if I say any word in the right tone of voice. She gets confused very easily and can't even manage to jump over the fence so we've had to cut a bloody hole in it for her to go through

My two grey cats are the best to train, not because they're the most intelligent (that's my tortie half-Burmese) but because they're so food driven!

I suspect your 4th cat knows exactly what she is doing. After all she got you to cut a hole in the fence for her!

My cat understands;

No! I am not giving you dinner now You get dinner after the 6 oclock news is done.
(20 seconds later)
NO. I am not giving you dinner now. You know it is not time yet.
(20 seconds later)
No. It's not time. Be quiet and stop looking at me like that.
(20 seconds later)
Oh FFS come on then
(10 seconds later)
Do you prefer prawns or salmon today?

CatBaby knows
Sit (up on bum, front paws ready to catch a treat)
Catch (jumps and catches it in crossed paws, then loses it in floof for several seconds)
Clicked fingers over tower/chair/newel post (results in snuggles and we don't have to bend)
Where's Daddy/Mummy/DD? (Finds us and chitters till we follow her back to the one who asked or feed her)
Her name and her nickname
Bedtime (goes and lies on DDs bed)
DS is coming (jumps up to her snooze shelf or legs it elsewhere before 1yo DS comes to shout at talk to her)