this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2023
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Something I once read is that different cats don't seem to use exactly the same noise to mean the same thing, ie, one cat might use a certain sort of meow to show that it is hungry, but another cat might use a similar meow to show that they want attention. Further, that wild cats usually stop making many such noises after they grow up, but domestic ones keep using them to communicate with people. If this is true, then the cat noises don't really represent a cat language as such since each individual cat would have it's own different set of vocabulary it develops in an attempt to get humans to understand it, being forced to resort to being all dramatic and acting like a kitten to get their message across because humans are sometimes too clueless to understand their body language.
This is true, and it's absolutely fascinating, because it's literally the birth of a tiny language every time. The cat makes noise and notices that the human does something it wants, which makes the cat associate the noise with the action. The human hears the noise repeatedly and notices that the cat is happy about what they are doing, so they associate the noise with the action. It's a shared language between two individuals, which is just so precious!
Your explanation is so precious!
No you’re so precious!
MYYYYYYYYYY PREEEEECIOUS
I've got two cats who are sisters and they indeed have very different meows, not just sound but how they use them. One has a very distinct greeting meow literally only reserved for when she hasn't seen me in a few hours that is isn't in any way replicated by her sister.
Is it a "meep ippit urp rrr" kind of sound? Cause that's how mine does it.
No its a very high pitched 'weeoooweeeeeee'. Her sister does more of soft mew followed by a brrp.
i imagine it's like when we can't find the words to explain something and we just point at it and go "there, see that? that thing! over there! i'm pointing at it you dolt! aaargh!"
Cats just meow to get our attention. Fun fact do you know that meowing is them mimicking the sounds of a baby?
Not a human baby (how could they, most cats have never seen a human baby), but as a kitten they meow to their parents to get food etc. So we're their parents now and I guess they never really grew up and became independent.
Well adult cats raised around humans figure out what meows work the best and that is one that sounds like baby
Cats meow in the same register that human babies cry. They aren't saying that cats are specifically trying to cry like a human baby, but that cats as a species have grown over thousands of years to meow in the same pitches as human babies.
Human: "Hello mister mittens! Kiss kiss kiss!"
Cat: "Coochie coo, idiot human, don't forget to feed me."
They're baby talking right back at us.
While I'm still not sure if this is true, there was a very interesting clip I saw to support the evidence, where a tiger enclosure was somehow across the street from a farm's cow enclosure. The tigers had started "mooing" along their edge of the fence in an effort to make the juicy, meat-filled cows feel safe around them.
I've also heard that cats try to mimic birds. It's one of the theories behind that weird clacking noise they make when they see prey that's out of reach.
No its not. You were mislead.
Fun video from a while ago about the cat's meow ;) https://youtu.be/qeUM1WDoOGY?si=79AhTSHaMsZZ19j6
And when our cats meow, there's one thing almost every owner in the study said they did: talk back.
Honestly so adorable.
How rude would it be if I came home and ignored my cats greeting!?
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/qeUM1WDoOGY?si=79AhTSHaMsZZ19j6
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
my human is bilingual, but they're still getting the hang of it
Well, if you were speaking actual jargon to your cat, if your cat was knowledgeable about the niche topic of discussion, surely they would respond.
Wait.. you guys can't understand your cats?
I read a headline on the internet once (in other words: What I'm about to say is almost certainly bullshit) that cat owners can understand THEIR OWN cats.
Anecdotally as a cat owner, it seems we train each other, cat makes a noise to get attention, human gives a kind of attention when hearing that noise, cat starts making that noise to get that specific attention. My cat has a food meow, an attention meow, a bath water meow (my cat likes to drink from the tub faucet) and a "it's 3 AM and my brain can't handle it" meow, and I can definitely tell them apart. There's also a difference between the "enjoying a shoulder rub" purr and the "make me breakfast make me breakfast make me breakfast make me breakfast" purr. Hand me a different cat and that cat speaks mandarin Swahili.
Basically OP is their own cats April Ludgate.
"The usual? Cake and pop?" "No, April, the unusual." "Fish and pop?" "No." "Cake and fish?" "No fish!"
You called?
Yes