When you think about your cat and its memory, do the strains of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals fill your mind? That would be weird.
That would be weird. But the question of whether cats have a good memory is an intriguing one, whether or not they’re on stage.
Let’s take a look at how long is a cats memory, and along the way, learn a little bit about how memory works in general.
Studies suggest that some cats can recall particular types of information after ten years or more! In some cases, recall seems to have been life-long.
Long-term memory is split into a few categories in order to distinguish the types of information it stores.
Implicit memory refers to how a cat remembers the techniques of grooming themselves or stalking prey. Once learned, these memories seem to become permanently ingrained.
This is what most people think of most when talking about a cat’s memory. Some examples include recognizing a familiar person or remembering how to return home after a day’s wandering.
Connected to this explicit memory in some way is visual memory. Some cats have been proven to recognize the faces of their humans, for example.
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