Hi.
Sorry if this is a silly question. We've had our kitten for about 6 weeks now and we really are loving it!! He is roughly 20 weeks old but we are having trouble getting him to learn his name. I'm a bit worried then when we let him out and shout him (as we want him in a night) that he won't come.

Any tips? How long did it take your cats / kittens to learn their names?

Thanks!

i think its just a matter of time and repatition.

Whats his name?

short names are better with no more than two sylables, the name shouldnt sound the same as other words, like no or off etc.

I agree with jen, I wouldn't really suggest naming a cat something with more than 2 syllables. You can if you want... but it may make things difficult.

Personally I also find that cats don't only come because you are calling their name, but they come because they recognise the voice/tone etc.

Well we do try to keep our tone the same when we are calling him - unless he's been naughty!

We've called him Yasser Aracat! We were joking at first but then we met him and it just seemed to suit! We only call him Yasser though so nothing too long or complicated!

repetition is the key and positive rewards. call your cat when ever you have a treat or when you feed them their dinner. also when you have a toy and you want them to come play with you. one to two syllables I think works best for me. for instance... Trou-ble or Phoe-be or Su-gar or Mi-lo etc... those were all my cats names :P

kitty kitty kitty and kissy noises work too with mine.

Our 2 resident kittens (i say resident as one doesnt belong to me! lol) seem to react to the tone of our voice rather than their names, they havent learnt them yet, i keep gently saying Mitten as i pet her, hoping she will associate her name with a calm gentle voice and a positive action.

I would just say my girls names over and over especially when stroking. They understand it. Ella comes from upsatirs when called. Earlier we were in the lounge and I didn't know where Ella was so I called her name and she mioawed back. she then came in the room.

I worried it would be hard for them to BOTH learn their names and they would end up answering the wrong name.

Also if there is a fly or moth in the house (oh how they love it) We say "Where is it" and they both do their wailing and teeth chattering, Infact if I say it at anytime, they both do it even without the fly or moth - so they understand that.

They both know "good girl" and "bad girl". If I say bad girl, Effie bitch slaps me!

P.s it probably took more than 6 weeks for our girls. I guess they were four months or so and now they are eight months and KNOW their name!

Cats don't learn names, they just know the sound of your voice. The also learn to understand that different tones mean different things.

Think of cats like women... 'its not what you said it's the way you said it.'

i really think mine know there names, if i call tricky only he comes running, if i call nev then only nev comes.

i have 5 cats and they all respond to there name.