Cat Talk

[mamculuna]

For all you cat owners out there, this may be interesting. Non-cat folk may or may not wish to skip this:

Interesting question. Have to admit that for an animal communication guy I don't know a ton about cats. So I did a little looking in animal behavior journals. As per usual for domestic animals, not a whole lot of research has been done. I was able to find that domestic cats do make "meows" to other cats, though relatively rarely. Looks like the general consensus is that there are actually many types of meow, though most are associated with negative affect. Meows vary in tone, pacing, length, amplitude and punctuation.The most common is a "frustration meow" which seems to express low level displeasure or unfufilled need. "Feed me", "pet me", "pick me up", that type of thing. They may also have aggressive meows, hunting meows, and mother to kitten meows. According to Katherine Houpt from Cornell, cats have a subtle but persistent sociality. Given a choice, they prefer to hang out with other cats (though at a bit of distance) and many of their calls serve a function in this environment - primarily spacing, interacting with family, and dominance. There's also a chance that meows have been bred for in recent artificial selection since they offer a pretty good way of interacting with human care givers. Certainly people reinforce meows by trying desperately to shut cats up ("Have some food? No? Want a pet? No? Water? No?! Arrrgghh!!!"). In this context it probably does begin as a kitten's frustration mew that becomes more specialized or given individualized "tweaks".

This is from my wonderful nephew Jason, whose Ph.D. in psychologoy was in animal commuication, though his specialities are primates and birds. However, he and I have shared acquaintance with a number of cats over the years, and known them maybe even too well (a certain Duchess comes to mind!) as his final comments demonstrate.

Of course now I'm wondering how to account for the vocal differences in calicos, Siamese, Persians, and gruff old cats like my own Orange/Anaranjado, who limits himself to one "Waugh!" each morning to bring me down to open the can and is silent otherwise, even to the point of just sitting and looking at a closed door. But since Jason was kind enough to do actual research in response to my query, I'm not going to trouble him with this stuff--I'll just keep spinning my groundless theories (or, hmmm, I actually know how libraries work, too, don't I?)

This whole thing arose from a discussion with redredshoes (in a post I can no longer find) about whether cats meow to each other or use that sound only for humans. According to this, there was some validity in both our ideas.

Comments

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

What's a good one or two word summary for that loud yowl which tries to attract every cat of the opposite sex which invariably draws cats of the same sex and starts fights?

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Hee. Can't put it into words either, but sure know it when I hear it--and it's definitely meant for other cats, not humans.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! (And thank Jason for me, too.) I think the conversation you're remembering is this one. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/redredshoes/515255.html?thread=3426231#t3426231)

[carakarena.livejournal.com]

Wow! I love your nephew's field of study!!

[fraydecat.livejournal.com]

Nice post. For me, and my current brood, I have observed a few things. I have five indoor cats, who meow very little. My Himalayan meows so rarely that I am delighted and shocked to hear his tiny mew. The only time I have really noticed them communicating within their ranks with a meow is, well, never. They will scream when they get in a tussle with one another, but that is it. It is only associated with fighting.
I think meowing is adaptive. The only time they meow is when they want something from me. I can hear, especially in Tinkerbell, an expressive quality to different meows, so I can tell what's up, just from hearing it. His "feed me!" demand is very different than his "please let me in this room I am not allowed in", poor pitiful, longing cry. He also squawks if I pick him up, acting like I am forcing the air out of him. Lily, my oldest and only girl kitty, blurbs: a sweet rolling kind of thing.
I am very interested in their body language. I think this is their real mode of communication.
I wonder if cats whose humans are deaf have different meowing patterns?

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Those are some really interesting observations. I have usually had not more than three cats at a time, and don't hear them mewing at each other in the way they do at humans. I hear them fighting over territory with strange cats, but that's a sound they never make with humans.

I'm just really convinced that mewing and purring are things baby kittens do with their mothers (I've had a few litters earlier--now I always have my cats spayed and neutered). I really think cats relate to humans as if we were mother cats, because they also purr and chirp to us, as kittens do. And snuggle, though I have had grown cats sleep on top of each other in cold weather!

Interesting thought about deaf humans.

[midnightsjane.livejournal.com]

Interesting. My three cats meow quite a lot, and it's interesting to me that I can recognize their voices easily. I have heard them meow to each other occasionally, but it's usually a "hey! outa my chair!" kind of thing. They talk more to me, and it's usually a feed me, pick me up, put me down conversation. What amuses me is the way they chitter at the birds sitting outside on the wires.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that bird talk has got to be fowl.

[macaholic.livejournal.com]

I have had (or should I say I have been privileged to live with) a number of cats over the last 30 years. Some "talked" a lot. Some seldom talked. They communicate with people and each other through a variety of vocal and physical cues. I do agree that many cats do not vocalize to each other ... except for two notable exceptions. One is a vocalization of anger through hissing, growling, and angry meows used to warn and/or call for assistance from "family." The other is to locate a "missing" playmate and acts as a come hither call "to come play with me." In particular, one cat I have now will do this when she wants to play with her housemate and will continue to do this until he responds or she gets so disgusted with him that she comes and looks for him.

Otherwise, I wanted to disagree with the paragraph you quoted in a more general sense, but on reflection find that I can't. Most cat to cat communication that I have seen as been using visual and physical cues. Meows have been used mostly with their non-cat housemates...e.g., humans.

Do you think it is because we are not smart enough to understand cat? Or, perhaps, because we are unable to communicate telepathically with them?

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Glad you found that post. You know, I think the really interesting question in all of this is whether cats developed a special communication system for humans, or whether they relate to us as if they were still kittens and we are their mother cats (the latter was my hypothesis).

I too have heard the call for the missing. I've heard mother cats use it for kittens, and then when I've had very geriatric cats, they'd do it when they were downstairs and we were upstairs, etc. So I do believe that's a cat-to-cat communication, but again sometimes adapted for cat-to-human cries.

Also the chirrup--I'm sure you know that sound. Like a very trilled R, sometimes leading into a meow. I think mother cats use it to talk to babies, and adult cats use it to signal their presence to humans--but I have occasionally heard one adult cat use it to another.

Now, I've never had purely indoor cats except for one who chose not to go out when she was very old. So I expect things change in that context.

Have you read The Tribe of Tiger?

[macaholic.livejournal.com]

Yes, I have heard the other communications. The one I like best from a cat is the tail held high. That denotes a happy cat. And, when mine do that when the see me...it is a special thing.

No I have not read that book. What is it about?

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

I love how they all have their special ways, too--meows only you can interpret, etc.

The book is about cat behavior. She wrote a more famous book about dog behavior--can't remember the title of that one.

[macaholic.livejournal.com]

Ah. Will look for it next time am in book store. Thanks.