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Post by Maria on Feb 16, 2002 23:42:23 GMT
I wonder if anyone else has cats that are as quiet as mine? I suppose they are not exactly silent - they squeek at each other when they play, (that funny noise that comes from deep inside the chest), 'chatter' at the birds, purr like Harley-Davidsons and snore when they are asleep. What they rarely do is miaw, and if they do, it's just a teensy little pip-squeek, usually when I'm chopping up prawns or fish!
I'm used to it now, but i found it odd at first. My last cat was...well, rather vocal. She could be heard proclaiming her opinions miles away. She had a voice that was somewhere between a happy howl and an insistent shout.
Liffey got accidently shut in the back bedroom the other day (his usual trick of silently sliding past me like a theif in the night) and he must have been there for a couple of hours...poor boy. I tried to tell him that if he'd used his vocal chords, I could have gone to his rescue sooner.
I thought they'd learn to miaw, but no luck yet. I just hope I never get spotted doing 'speech therapy' with them. Ever seen a person on hands and knees on the kitchen floor, making human miaws at three bemused cats?
Maria
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Post by Lesley on Feb 17, 2002 0:03:39 GMT
i have 2 very vocal siamese. except when one gets (oops) locked behind a closed door. then she (coco) is silent! so i spend a lot of time keeping track of where they are in the house. however, she has spent a night or two the basement (ha, sorry uk, i mean cellar). if the cat would only call mommy i'd come running!
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Post by Ann on Feb 17, 2002 1:34:12 GMT
Spock and Dracs don't know the meaning of the word quiet. Spock is a real conversationalist and likes to have a chat at every possible opportunity. His lung capacity is awesome when he's making a point or doing his impersonation of an urban terrorist. His vocabulary is also amazing and I only wish I could understand what all the nuances mean. Dracs is usually only a talker when he wants something.
Honey and Shelley, the two girls next door (dubbed the bushy tailed bimbos by the boys) have feminine little squeaks. They sound so strange after being around Spock and Dracs.
Maria, I love the idea of giving speech therapy to cats and I can visualise it so well!
Ann
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Post by Linda_Wells on Feb 17, 2002 11:56:06 GMT
My little Celie was the exact opposite! I used to hold long conversations with her. If I went mrrrr? she would repeat it. I went wow, she went wow. I'll never know what we were saying to each other!
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Post by IggyAndBowie on Feb 19, 2002 22:32:18 GMT
My little boys Iggy and Bowie are the same way Maria. They chirp and chatter at each other but not much meowing. They makes this funny noise when they chase each other that kind of sounds like a horse "neighing". It is so funny. If I sneeze Iggy finds it upsetting for some reason and will run up to me and go "wahhee" and his mouth wiggles. It is so bizarre but unbelievably cute. Devon Rexes are supposed to be known for chirping. I too have been on all fours meowing at my perplexed cats so I can totally relate. It seems the only time they will meow is when we are trying to sleep in on the weekends and Bowie teeters on the chest of drawers meowing to wake us up.
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Post by Maria on Feb 20, 2002 22:38:50 GMT
Thanks for your replies everyone. I enjoyed reading them. I'm glad my cats are not the only 'non-maiwsies' and I'm also glad I'm not the only daft soul who tries speech therapy...LOL!
I love all the ways cats communicate though....including with their tails and ears. Call me an indulgant and soppy cat owner, but I'm convinced that I know what my cats are thinking just by the looks on their faces. Liffey is especially good at making the: "I'm very hissed off now!" face if he doesn't get his own way.
Maybe the message forum of the future will have a voice link, and Spock and Dracs, and the other vocal cats can do online speech therapy with all the quiet cats!
Maria
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Post by Miles on Feb 22, 2002 13:33:04 GMT
Our little Siamese kitten Bailey has something to say about EVERYthing....! It's really cute when he's eating - sometimes he's talking the whole time he's chewing..it sounds like "meeeyooo-mum-yum-yum..." and it just throws us into hysterics listening to him...We've told him it's not polite to talk with your mouthful, but he's a Siamese...!  |
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Post by Gaby on Feb 22, 2002 18:59:01 GMT
Rufus has quite a vocabulary and is very, very vocal...and into everything. Lucy has this quiet...not sure what, but boy, she growls at Rufus like a German Shephard...and screams so the whole neighborhood can hear her when they fight... But basically, I talk to them and they reply. All those Scientist who claim animals don't communicate should live with my Rufus for six months  And we never have any misunderstandings, ever... |
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Post by Xinzerella on May 8, 2002 22:24:50 GMT
The loudest cat in the house is the Siamese - of course! My Havana tries his best but isn't quite as raucous, so he takes to jumping up and down on the bumpy floorboard in the hall. Which one is noisiest in the end??
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Post by Denny on May 9, 2002 0:13:57 GMT
Henry, our siamese boy is very vocal as is Oscar the oiental, especially if he can't find us outside, he shouts his head off, as soon as he finds us the voice changes to his greeting sounds. Lily the wee girl is quiet for a Siamese, except when she gets shut in somewhere, which is quite often. She does purr loudly though, they all do! The cats remind me of security guards - whenever I open a cupboard or door, they all march in to check it out, usually talking about it amongst themselves. They even climb into drawers. For a long time Henry had a fixation on a spot on the wall about 4 feet up from the floor. He would sit staring at it for a couple of minutes and then spring up at it and gallop away through the house making little trilling noises. Just the joy of being alive I think!
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Post by Ann on May 9, 2002 10:28:59 GMT
Denny,
They do have real communication between each other don't they?
I'm fascinated at how Spock and Dracs clearly understand each other. One miaow from afar can produce no reaction, and yet another brings the other cat to the scene immediately. I've also noticed that the pair of them can be haranging me in the kitchen when they think I'm preparing food that they might like (just about anything), then after a while, if none's forthcoming, they look at each other, metaphorically shrug their shoulders (you can almost see it) and wander off together.
Ann
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Post by topaz on May 9, 2002 20:00:40 GMT
Our Rigsby must have been deaf for months before we found out. We had a dog then so she used him as guidance, i.e whenever it was dinnertime etc she would follow. I wonder just HOW important hearing really is to a cat when it has so many other sophisti'cat'ed senses.
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Post by Silk on May 10, 2002 20:42:22 GMT
I think it is still one of their primary senses, and most certainly helps in early warning systems.
Felia is often caught out by not being able to hear what's coming, another reason I'm glad they're all indoor cats.
But then again, she is also the loudest cat in the house... by far.
It is also very funny, (and kind of sad) to watch her stalking the others, especialy on loud rustley surfaces and then look very confused as to how the others knew she was there.
However when it comes to communication, I agree that there are a lot more nuances to their lauguage, that i doubt are even perceptable to us.
I have actualy witnessed what has been called by some experts as cat-club meetings. Where a group of neighborhood cats, that will often fight on sight, will all sit around in a circle, in what appears to be total silence. At the back of my old place in Sussex, I could see the park from the back bedroom window, and once in a while you would see them all there. Duke (our cat who rarley left ours or next doors garden) and his mentor (who's name I can't remember, but was next doors cat) who were both gingers, and the two cats from across the road (two makrell tabbies) who they both hated with a vengeance, the torties from down the end of the road and the black and whites from the street behind. They would all sit in the park quite close to each other and just sit there. It is a strange thing to see.
The common theory is: that they are actualy exchanging what they determine as the local gossip, ie who's TC of which part of the street, who's moved in/out where the birds are feeding and who's giving out the free snacks this week.
Then on the other hand I've also seen the call to arms. It happens in our house every now and again.
One of them presumably breaks some taboo or other and the one having the trouble calls them all in, to sort it out.
The last time it was Shonie that had done something, there was a scuffle between her and Freyja. When Freyja had her cornered, rather than finishing the job herself she just sat back and called, (kind of similar to an on heat call). Within seconds every cat in the house was there (even Felia, who probably just followed Drizzt, her brother), Freyja then chattered something to Silk (who is the Top Cat) and he then went in and thumped Shonie a few times.
I have no idea what it was all about, but there was no doubt that Freyja decided that it was Silk's job to administer some sort of justice. (and belive me, even a closed claw thump from Silk is enough to make most of them see stars)
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Post by Maria on May 10, 2002 21:41:00 GMT
It is exectional the way that cats communicate with each other. I tend to wonder whether my cats don't feel the need to be very vocal as they seem to communicate in every other way. I watch the three of them together and they appear to be sharing a secret, silent language.
I am sure they have lengthy conversations. Probably about me. When I am doing something daft, like dealing with food and not giving them any, they look at each other and the ears and whiskers flick and move and their eyes seem to be 'talking'. It's fascinating. They do the same to me and of course, I understand absolutely everything!
Maria
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Post by tutsmom on May 12, 2002 0:42:12 GMT
Quiet cats--isn't that a contradiction in terms? When the cuddle is quiet, I get very suspicious and go searching for them. Poor dear Sebastian sometimes talks so much that he gets laryngitis and meows in a whisper. I have to try very hard not to laugh at him when he tries to yell out and rasps out instead. He always looks so embarassed. Of course, this never seems to happen when he wants to chat at 2 a.m.
Tutsmom
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