He Likes To Be Called "puddy-tat!"

[Caspers Human]

Our cat's name is "Casper."
(Obviously... )

He was named "Casper" when we adopted him but, since he was abandoned, he was probably named something else before we got him.

His Girl-Human calls him, "Kitty-Kitty."
He actually does know his real name but "Kitty" is what he knows best.

So, one night, we were sitting in the living room, watching TV, I called him "Puddy-Tat" and he looked at me then came over to get some petting and attention. As time went by, we started calling him "Puddy" more often. Now he seems to like being called "Puddy-Tat."

We just came home from a shopping trip, as soon as I came in the door, I called out, "Where's the Puddy-Tat?!" and Casper came a-runnin'.

Of course, he responds to that name more and more because we've been calling him that and he's become accustomed to being called "Puddy" but I can't help but wonder whether he was called "Puddy" by his former humans or whether his original name was something that sounded like it.

Just curious...

 

[danteshuman]

My Bud thinks his name is Bud or re-acts to Bud like it is his name. Why? I only call him Bud when I'm happy/loving on him. I used to say his name "Dante!" when he was misbehaving as a kitten so they could tell who I was saying no to, since I had 2 cats. My solution? Keep calling him Bud but saying "punk' instead of "Dante" when he is misbehaving. Also to use his name in tons of positive ways. Your cat may always have a special I love you, name. You can re-train him to come to Casper. Treats & play with his name helps.

 

[Caspers Human]

Yeah! That's true!

Casper probably only gets called by his name when he's misbehaving.

Casper has few rules to live by so, technically, he doesn't misbehave a lot.

 

[duckpond]

He is a pretty! I have four cats with "real" names. Sometimes i really confuse my vet when i talk to him, cause what i call them at home is not whats on his files..lol

 

[susanm9006]

I think that cats somehow recognize a loving nickname. It may be our tone of voice when we use it or even our facial expression but they know and respond when we say something sweet about or to them.

 

[LAL]

Yeah! That's true!

Casper probably only gets called by his name when he's misbehaving.

Casper has few rules to live by so, technically, he doesn't misbehave a lot.

Likewise, my Melody usually is only 'Melody' when she has misbehaved; the rest of the time, she is usually 'Baby', or 'Baby Doll'.......which makes me feel like I am one of those 'crazy cat ladies'......but, I guess I am!

 

[Katie M]

Beau knew his name well, but one day my brother came into the room asking if we had any pickles left, and Beau reacted to the word "pickle" as if it was his name. My brother thought this was hilarious and started calling him Pickle after that. Beau responded to both

 

[jen]

He might respond more to one name over another but it is likely the tone of your voice he is responding to.

 

[Caspers Human]

Beau knew his name well, but one day my brother came into the room asking if we had any pickles left, and Beau reacted to the word "pickle" as if it was his name. My brother thought this was hilarious and started calling him Pickle after that. Beau responded to both

Yeah! That's how it happened with Casper, too.

I called him "puddy-tat" just as a playful joke and he turned around, looked at me and came over for some petting.

Casper is such a skittish cat, sometimes, he doesn't sit still for me to pet him longer than a minute or so. But, when I called him "puddy-tat" he came over, rubbed his head on my hand and purred.

He might respond more to one name over another but it is likely the tone of your voice he is responding to.

You're probably right.

However, when we talk to Casper we might say something like, "Who's a good kitty-kitty?" When I call him "puddy", I say it much the same way... "Who's a good puddy-tat?"

I seriously wonder whether his former family called him "puddy-tat," too.
Either that, or his original name sounded like "puddy-tat."

 

[aliceneko]

I think cats can respond to familiar sounds as since Toffee is more adventurous than him and gets into mischief more, we're often calling his name more, so sometimes when we're calling Toffee from another room and Fudge is in one room with us, he will respond to "Toffee!" and jump up on our laps so that we can pet him. He also responds to affectionate nicknames like little monster, cutie pie, etc.

 

[abbyemma]

My cat’s name is Emma, but we usually call her cat-dog or cat-sir (don’t even ask we are really weird) and she more readily responds to her nicknames. I often say the nicknames in a nice song song voice, and only use Emma if she is crawling up a blind, so I guess that makes sense

 

[Etarre]

I'm pretty sure that my Gwendolyn thought that her name was "muffin" because I called her that so often. But she had a lot of nicknames, and always seemed to know when we were calling her or talking about her. Juniper is the same, although she is most likely to come when called if we use her real name rather than a nickname. I know I talk to her in a specific tone of voice, and I'm pretty sure she is picking up on that, rather than most of her nicknames.

 

[Caspers Human]

We call Casper by all sorts of nicknames, too.

He gets called, "Casper," "Kitty" and all sorts of names.
I think he even knows when we are talking about "the cat."

He certainly knows the word, "cookie!"
(That's what we call his kitty treats.)

It's just so funny how, the first time I ever called him, "Puddy-Tat" he came right over for attention. It's almost like he knew that name, already.

It just makes me wonder whether he's been called that name, or something similar, before we adopted him.

 

[maggiedemi]

Maggie responds to "Beautiful" and Demi responds to "Baby". Somehow they know their nicknames, I think it's the tone of voice.

 

[Caspers Human]

Been thinking about this for a while, now...
It seems to me that what Casper really likes is when people baby talk to him.

He likes to be called, "Good kitty-kitty" and "Sweetie Pie" and things like that.

I was sure that, as others said, it's all about tone of voice but, at this point, I'm more and more convinced that, more than tone of voice, he wants to be fussed over and sweet talked.

If I baby talk to Casper he'll nose rub me and sit up to be patted on the head but if I just talk normally, he'll just walk on by.

No, I'm not really surprised by this. I've just never known a cat that wants to be sweet talked so darned much.