Ragdoll Cat Forums

This is a bit of a random post but Im just curious to see if anyone else has heard of this, and if so, if theres any truth to it or if its just an old wives tale?

My Mum has always said with all our cats that if they misbehave or do something they shouldn't (bite, scratch etc etc) we should loudly say OUCH as its the 'CH' sound in the word that will warn off a cat????

And a lady at work said the other day that its always better to give cats names ending in an 'eee' sound (Charlie, Smokey, Alfie etc etc) as cats respond better to anything ending in this sound?????

I may be talking complete and utter rubbish so I apologise in advance! LOL!

I've never heard that, but I can say the name thing doesn't work well....we call Simone with a long e sound on the end, and she still doesn't recognize her name I don't think. Or maybe she just stays in that "take a message and I'll get back to you" zone all the time.

I've heard that about dogs, but not cats. After we'd named Sophie and Ellie, I heard that the best names for dogs have emphasis on the first syllable because the harder emphasis gets their attention. I don't know if that's true, but we accidentally did it right and they definitely know their names. However, all the cats know their names. The hard first syllable was, again, unplanned. Of all the nicks, Malachai reacts most quickly to "Ittycat". However, I think that's because he has always heard it in a positive voice with lots of love; especially as a sick baby. The other names are usually more general and with less emotion, as in when we are calling all cats.
When I think about it, our voices do fall away after the first sound, so it does make sense. I'm going to vote that it's the first sound that is most important. I'd need to see some evidence of the last syllable is important.

janilee