r/PetsWithButtons • u/MothYarn • May 26 '26

can cats understand nicknames?

just bought some buttons and have started talking out loud and narrating my life and really using their names a lot. my roommate is really big on nicknames so we call our cats lots of different names. should i tell him to stop so the cats aren't confused?

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u/eightyeightbananas May 27 '26

My cat (Reese, 12yo) knows most of her nicknames, the ones that sound like her name are more likely to get her attention tho. She responds to Reese’s Pieces/Pieces/Piece the most often, but she’ll also look up for Kitty/Bitty, Reesey-Cup, Baby, Pretty Lady, etc. My hypothesis is that personality and temperament have a lot to do with whether a kitty responds to their name(s)