A cat is an animal that is popular with many people. It is planted in private houses for catching rodents. In addition, it is turned on in apartments. This small affectionate and fluffy animal cheers up all household members. Caring owners, undoubtedly, are concerned about the question of how the mental abilities of the beloved pet are arranged. For example, what memory do cats have?
How is the cat's brain?
If you believe experienced zoologists, then in all respects the feline brain is exactly the same as the human one. It differs only in size - 2 times less. Otherwise, they are similar. Cats also have gray matter in their head, which is responsible for mental development, and neurons that control memory. But still it remains unclear what kind of memory cats have. It is worthwhile to understand this in more detail.
Two kinds of memory
A lot of experiments were conducted on cats in laboratory and real conditions, allowing to evaluate the mental abilities of an individual. During their conduct, it was revealed that she has two types of memory.
- Short-term memory, the duration of which is no more than 16 hours. During this time, the cat can find the food that it recently hid, or a toy.
- Long-term memory that lasts a lifetime. For example, an individual remembers its former owners for a long time, and if it is lost, then there is a high probability that it will still find its way home.
It is worth noting that cats, as well as for all living creatures, are characterized by age-related changes. This means that young pets absorb information much better and retain it longer than older cats or cats.
About the amount of memory
Zoologists and breeders have been experimenting for a long time, trying to figure out what kind of memory cats have and how long it lasts. They wanted to estimate the amount of memory, but, unfortunately, they still have not been able to do this. What is the reason for this? The fact is that in the course of scientific research it was not possible to recognize in which cases the animal performs actions based on its own memory, and when it does this according to its inherent instinct.
But still, scientists were faced with the problem that it becomes incomprehensible how a cat remembers a lot of information if its brain is much smaller than that of a person. It was found that in the animal’s memory there is a powerful “filter” that helps filter out excess information and remembers only what is necessary for existence.
Learning ability
The caring owner is concerned about the question of not only what memory cats have, but also whether it can be trained in order to increase the pet's mental abilities. According to zoologists, this is not necessary, since all the necessary skills of the kitten are taught by his mother. When living together with an adult in the same house, he will observe it and learn. If a kitten was weaned early from his mother, then he still learns the skills necessary for life, but at the level of his own instincts. If a person nevertheless has a need to influence this natural process, then this can be done in several ways.
- Add more vitamins to your pet's diet.
- In addition to feed, give natural products, in particular fish and meat.
- Independently conduct training, for example, rearranging a bowl or a stove bench in a new place, and then checking how quickly the individual gets used to the new conditions.
- You can let the kitten go for a walk and see if he finds the way home, but at this time you need to carefully monitor him so that he does not get lost.
According to zoologists, the optimal age of the animal for the development of memory is 2–5 years.
Memory and aging
Studying the question of how much memory cats have, one cannot but touch upon the question of the aging of the animal. Just like in humans, the cat's mental abilities decrease markedly with age. She begins to forget her way home, ceases to remember where she has a bowl and a tray. Unfortunately, this is an absolutely natural process that can not be affected. It is only required to show maximum care for the adult pet and provide him with a decent old age.
Cats and people
We should also talk about what kind of memory a cat has on people. Perhaps, it was on this subject that the largest number of experiments were conducted. The cat was given into the hands of a man, where she was for several hours. Then they launched into a room with a group of people where the animal needed to find the person who had it in his hands. As it turned out, only a few cope with this test.
Cats are really able to remember people, but only those with whom they lived for several years. But in this case, the sense of smell works - cats remember only the smell of their master.
Some interesting facts
In the UK, a cat named Mark left the house and got lost. For a long time he lived in a different place, but after 6 years of traveling he was able to remember the way home, in addition, he joyfully jumped onto his lap to his beloved master.
A similar incident occurred in Rostov-on-Don. The young family moved to Lugansk for permanent residence, but for some reason the cat disappeared along the way. The neighbors' surprise knew no bounds when, after five weeks, they found him on the threshold of their own home. Accordingly, speaking about the memory of cats, it is worth noting that there are pets with special intellectual abilities.
Cat Intelligence Features
We should also talk about other intellectual features of a cat.
- They are able to carry out verbal instructions of people, for example, to come up to their call or, on the contrary, to run away with a scat command.
- They can recognize the mood of the owner.
- Each owner can notice that the pet even has a certain washing procedure, which he always adheres to.
- They are easily accustomed to the daily routine, they know when it is time to play with their beloved master, eat, sleep or walk.
So what is the memory of cats? As it turned out, in general, it is from 16 hours. But its volume is still unknown. These are unique creatures that remember only the information that they need for a full stay, filter out all unnecessary details.