I thought about it for a while, and then it occurred to me, that there are actually many ways one could possibly understand that -- thus replying e.g.:

- cat

- "cat"

- 'cat'

- panther (not exactly a cat, but kinda -- that's why it was in quotes, no?)

- [one could type "cat" in one's terminal]

- "Whiskers", etc. (i.e. name of one's cat)

then, one could make a typo (thus e.g. "ca" or "catt"), or finally something more or less totally random, given that it's an open question (thus e.g. "no", or "How are you?", or whatever).

So, not that stupid a question I thought initially :)