How long is a cat’s memory span?

Question: How long is a cat's memory span?
- Keywords:
  animal behaviour,
  cat
Asked by coops666 to Amy, Karen, Sarah, Vijay, Will on 11 Jun 2012.
- Karen Reed answered on 11 Jun 2012:
  
  I don;t know – its a good question. I’m afraid I’m not a cat person (I’m allergic to them) so have no experience with cats eithier
- Sarah Martin answered on 11 Jun 2012:
  
  Hi coops666! Cats do find their way home from some distance, and are good hunters, which makes them very intelligent animals. But cats are all very different – I have watched cats concentrate for hours while hunting, but our neighbour’s cat is pretty daft, and fogets things in 3 seconds! It can’t use a cat flap, because it forgets that outside exists when it closes!
- Amy Birch answered on 11 Jun 2012:
  
  Hi coops666,
  That’s a good question! There are lots of different types of memory, and cats will be adapted to be good at some types of memory over others.
  I would guess that cats have good spatial and working memory because they need this to navigate in their environment and remember where they found food or shelter. I know of some studies that show that their short-term memory is not very good (they forget which box a treat was hidden in after only 60 seconds), which is quite surprising!

Question: How long is a cat's memory span?