Is there scientific evidence to prove that cats have long term memory?

Question

Let's say, will they remember if anyone has been either nice or mean to them? I'm asking this because while I was out of town for a week, I asked a friend to look after my cat. It's been 6 months now, but every time my friend comes over my cat hides from my friend, and nothing in the world will make my cat come out. What gives?

My cat is usually friendly and not shy at all. At the same time I find no reason to suspect my friend was ever mean to my cat, but I could be wrong.

Answer 1

YES there is tons of scientific evidence to prove that cats have both long term and short term memory! It is seen many time over at any vets office, day in and day out.
Say when you take your cat into the vet....how do they act. They run from the carriers right? The hiss or act nervous being at the vets? They cry in the car on the car trip.

While your friend may or may not have been mean...your cats may also ASSOCIATE your friend with you leaving THEM as an "aboration of improper behavior"....or what they feel is "improper" to leave without them.

To be on the safe side....I wouldn' let your friend take care of them the next time and let someone else. Then see how they respond.
My quess is they are associate your leaving with your friend.
GREAT GUESTION & WONDERFUL JOB FOR PROTECTING YOUR CATS! Blessings, patti

Answer 2

Anything with trauma will be remembered. We had a REALLY hard time getting our new cat used to the fact we have ceiling fans in the house, soon as he spotted them he panicked. We finally realised it might be linked to his being hit by a car before we got him (he was pretty battered when we took him in 7 years ago), he might have seen it going over him at the last minute. He'd never been indoors before because he didn't recognize the sound of the toilet, closing doors, the furnace going on--things a normal indoor cat wouldn't even think about.

It's possible your friend tripped over the cat or stepped on it's tail or foot really bad. Bad enough the cat thinks it's going to happen again with this person. It doesn't mean the friend did anything deliberately to the cat.

Or it could be that your cat was stressing that this strange person was in the house and YOU and the family were gone, potentially driven out by this stranger. The stranger stayed and finally left and then you came back. In his eyes, when this person comes over maybe he'd do it again and scare your family out of the house leaving the cat alone once more, who knows.

He's thinking with cat logic, and if it made sense to him the first time, it's a potential thing to happen every time the friend comes over.