What's in a name? Vianne’s daughter Anouk had an imaginary pet friend called Pantoufle in Chocolat. An adman-cum-home chef refers to his most trusted meat cleaver as “right-hand man”. And, an elder sibling we know calls her sister Semi for she’s not just a full person. While names may or may not be vital for existence, they do ascribe specialness to a thing, face or figment of imagination. Through epithets, they become a private entity. But that’s human thought. Do cats react to nomenclature alike? If they could, would they call their humans by name?

A recent study published in the journal, Scientific Reports, revealed that felines not only remember names of their parents but also, develop a warm intimacy with other cats they happen to share a home with. The findings of the study prompted us to look for congruous everyday examples. City-based cat moms and dads share their purrr-fect experiences.