[derefr]

> So we'd go out in the morning and my grandfather would call out "Jack" and the Dog would come running down the yard, and then next thing you'd see the crow hopping down the yard after the dog.

Tangent: this is a handy effect, if you could get it to work, but it’s a bit surprising if it did work: animals have different audible frequency ranges, and, obviously, they’ll only respond to a name they can hear. Dogs and crows might have similar audible ranges (this is suggestive anecdata to that effect!), but I know that the range for cats is slightly higher, such that a name like “jack” wouldn’t even register to them. (You need a name with a close/front vowel sound in it, since humans produce those with a high pitch. Thus why the word “kitty” is thought to exist—it evolved as an optimal call-name! Or you can just “pspsps”, since that also comes out high-enough that cats hear it quite clearly.)

From what you said, there was also a cat named “jack”—did it come when called? If so, did calling it require a second, higher-keyed calling of the name?

[hailk]

Also, cats aren't as social as either dogs or crows (collaborative hunting wise). Cats not coming when summoned is a very common thing, even when they recognise their names.

[dghughes]

Cats will come over to you if you squat down, it happens almost instantly. In cat world I guess the human being low means you're nice.

Cats are heavily into patterns. My family always had cats and you could see how they craved for everything to be in order. You come home at 5pm, you eat at 6, you watch TV at 7pm, you turn off the TV at 10:35pm, you brush your teeth at 10:40pm and on and on. Cats know and expect your routine to be the same and they seem to love that.

My elderly parents' cat puts my father to bed. Then she goes off to her favourite sleeping spot. My dad's brother comes to visit at 2pm and the cat gets ready for the visit by coming to sit by the chair before my uncle arrives.

[Breza]

Confirmed, both from reading (I suggest The Lion in the Living Room) and from experience. My cats know my schedule better than I do.

[WalterBright]

> such that a name like “jack” wouldn’t even register to them

My experience disagrees. I often have a back and forth "conversation" with my cat, and she clearly responds to my voice, which is not high pitched.

[a3n]

But you still produce high frequency sounds: the "clicks" and such that differentiate consonants, for example.

The cat may be responding to those discrete high frequency sounds, rather than your overall voice.