28
They have long been thought to be indifferent, even insensitive. But cats are more or less receptive depending on how they are spoken to, according to a study just published in the journal Animal Cognition. To fully understand what we are talking about, we must first look at a first study published last October in the journal Behavioral Processes, which revealed that cat owners address their animal in a very similar way to that used for a baby or for a dog. The “cat-directed speech” borrows from the “baby-talk” its high-pitched sounds but is not distinguished by a slightly weaker modulation and slightly less short and repetitive sentences.