A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not. ~
For as long as I can remember, I have loved cats. Their fur is soft as silk and they smell like stuffed animals. That is, they never carry the unpleasant odor of little children (or dogs–you know it’s true) who have been running around outside. They don’t jump up on visitors and they don’t need to be walked twice a day. Nonetheless, some of you don’t like cats. If that’s the case, you may not care about their communication techniques. Fair enough. But what if you just don’t know any cats well enough to have an opinion? A furry little feline might make you change your mind someday. Better to err on the side of caution. Read on.
Purring, the physiology
It might be best to start with the mechanism. Based on what I’ve read, no one is sure of the reasons cats purr. According to one magazine, Inside Your Cat’s Mind, generously provided by my brother, here’s how a feline’s body functions, at least with regard to purring. It starts in the larynx, the same place that roars begin in the bodies of lions and tigers. The difference is that the hyoid bone in cats is completely hardened, unlike their larger cousins. This effectively prohibits domestic cats from roaring and prevents some wild cats from purring. Cheetahs can purr; who knew? When the brain trips a switch, the muscles attached to the hyoid bone contract and relax rapidly, which produces a purr. The magazine’s source is a retired professor, Benjamin Hart, who taught at the School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis. Sounds credible, yes? But.
Part of this explanation is contradicted by an article in Science.org*, which conducted experiments on humanely euthanized cats. Their studies proved that no neural activity is required to produce a purr. This difference in the two sources makes me question other, unrelated scientific studies, but we’re sticking to cats on this post.
*The link isn’t behaving, but here’s the address: https://www.science.org/content/article/how-do-cats-purr-new-finding-challenges-long-held-assumptions
Purring, the why
However, some cats might inject a high-pitched cry within their purr when they’re hungry. This is a new one on me. I hear an entirely different sound when my highly vocal cat, Weber, is hungry, and I would never mistake it for a purr. The researcher suggesting this interpretation is Karen McComb, PHD, at the University of Sussex. She dubbed this sound as a solicitation purr, but I think any feline harangue deserves a label of its own, and not one associated with a contented rumble that can put me to sleep. She’s a doctor, though. Whatever.
Thanks to friends for sharing their cats' images for use in this post. Also pictured are my two and Cat Stevens from the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center.
Vocals
My husband and I have two cats, and they couldn’t be more different, personality-wise. Bob (yes, Bob the cat) rarely makes any noise. When he does, it’s obvious what he’s after–the laser for playtime or a bird he spotted through the window. The latter is more of a chattering noise than a meow, and the former is demanding.
Our other cat, mentioned above, is vocal from early in the morning until after we’ve gone to bed. It’s drama 24-7 with him, and he can be hard to read. I do hear slight nuances in his meows, though. If he’s attempting to get me up in the morning, his meows are long and strident. Once I put my feet on the floor, the noise cuts off like the needle falling off a 45 RPM vinyl. Just. Stops.
Back to the magazine, Inside Your Cat’s Mind, which not only mentions anatomy, but also random cat facts and communication tips. Here are a few from pg. 52:
- Meow. Obviously. However, what I hadn’t heard before was that a cat’s “language” varies depending on the home it’s in. Learning your cat’s vocabulary takes time, and you need to know whether your cat is asking you something or telling you to jump in the lake. Fun fact: adult cats only meow to get a human’s attention. They don’t communicate with other cats this way.
- Miaow. I had to look this one up. It’s more grating and definitely conveys a request. You can hear it here.
- Trill. This is one of the few distinctly happy sounds mentioned. If you hear this, your cat is glad to see you. It’s the equivalent of a happy sigh when you’re surrounded by those you love.
- Hiss and Spit. Obvious, even if you have no cats, but know a number of people. If you haven’t been observant, note that if the hiss turns into a spit, you need to clear out and give the subject some space.
There are others, of course: the aforementioned chattering, plus moans and squeaks. I haven’t heard the latter two, but my little dictators are so well taken care of that they have no reason to use those tones. Well, not often.
Bad kitty?
You may be hearing your cat utter rude comments to you with some frequency, or you might be observing an uptick in what would pass for a two-year-old’s behavior. If so, you might want to make some behavioral changes. That is, you might want to change your behavior. Additional reading in the cat magazine (page 37) reminds us that while our housecats are domesticated, they still aren’t human.
- We need to provide opportunities for them to mimic predator activities. Hiding their food or a dry treat so that they have to “hunt” for it is a way to add spice to their daily activities. Yes, they do sleep at least half the day, but while they’re conscious, they need active play. JUST like a two-year-old. I won’t force feed you with ideas on ways to make their meals fun, but any search engine can help you with that. Quickly. In only 2/3 of a second, Google offered me 1,380,000 options.
- Make sure there are opportunities for your kitty to climb. One of ours likes to jump from a table to the top of a bookcase to the top of the crown molding. I am not suggesting this as optimal, simply observing that my cat does enjoy heights. Most cats will likely be quite content with a kitty condo about four or five feet high.
You may have heard me say before that you teach people how to treat you. Well, your cat is telling you how to be a good parent. If our Weber is napping in a quiet, dark spot, I don’t disturb him. If Bob is on the hall tree, trying to remove the laser pointer from its hook, he wants to play. Pay attention. Your pet may be more of a comfort to you when you’re lonely than any book you’ll read or any television program you’ll watch. All any of our furry friends ask in return is the right kind of attention. I think it’s worth the effort to understand their needs, if not their language.
You?
My observation is that some people tend toward either cat or dog personalities.
Agree. Probably most people lean one way or the other. I wonder if more active people prefer dogs. Not the pocket variety, but the dogs that demand a lot of activity – are their owners more likely to prefer activity, too?
I’ve always been amazed at the differences between the personalities of the cats that have owned us. Our current black cat, an alpha female, purrs loudly and meows constantly when she wants to be fed. The other notable observation I have is how a cat’s behavior changes depending on what other cats are around. A subservient cat becomes more alpha when an alpha cat passes away and is no longer around to take charge, for example. I love the independence and honesty that cats portray at all times. If only humans would be more like cats… 🐈
Andy & I had the same experience with our first pair of rescues. Stan was the loud, demanding one and Ollie just hung back. Once Stan was no longer there, Ollie’s personality flipped and he became more assertive. Guess that’s the same for humans and their interactions with others who have “bigger” personalities.