Any cat owner knows that the correct way to get their pet’s attention is to sing “here, kitty kitty”, rather than utter a flat “come here cat”. Now research suggests cats may routinely tune into their owner’s tone of voice to detect when they are talking to them, rather than to other humans.
Most people automatically adopt a higher-pitched, sing-song tone when speaking to animals and human infants. Although previous research has suggested that such “baby-talk” is more likely to capture dogs’ attention, less was known about how cats react to being spoken to in this way.
