It's not just the vowels in the meow that vary. If the person doesn’t respond, the cat becomes frustrated and the ow-sound becomes more pronounced, almost like a howl. Then you know the cat really wants something from you. The longer the ah-sound, the more insistent the demand. “When the cat doesn’t get what it wants, it meows with a longer and longer ah so that eventually it becomes a me-ahh-ow. “That’s the cat’s way of demanding something,” says Braastad. The meow that cats use most with humans has a long ah-sound. If the e of the meow is stressed, it can signal physical discomfort, such as that the cat is hungry or cold. Mama cat also use this sound for her kittens when she comes home. That’s what my cat says when it comes onto the bed at night – the cat says mrr, I answer mrr and then we go back and forth a little bit. “It’s a greeting to connect, and it can also be used to display social relationships. The m- or mrr-sound is a pleasant sound that the cat uses for people it likes. “One way to discern the meaning is to notice which part of the meow (or miaow) vocalization the cat stresses,” says Braastad. A meow isn’t just a meow - it can hide nuances that can mean vastly different things. Meowing by adult cats is a language specifically intended for humans.īut we’re not always very good at distinguishing the meanings of different vocalizations, Braastad says. RELATED: Does it harm animals to have two homes after a divorce?.Some researchers believe that cats tamed themselves by choosing to live close to humans. The farmers probably thought it was good to have cats nearby that kept the rodents at bay.Ĭats are not that genetically different from the wild cats they originated from and were not tamed in the same way as dogs. Rats and mice enjoyed themselves in the grain stores, and that attracted wild cats. They do pretty much as they please, but humans and cats have had a close relationship for a long time.Ĭats probably started to keep company with humans as early as 10 000 years ago, when humans started growing cereals. These are some of the same ones humans use when we’re tired or need help, so we’re very sensitive to the pitches of cats’ meowing. “We respond very quickly and strongly to the sound frequencies cats use. They meow for attention.Īnd this is usually pretty effective with their humans,” Schötz says. I think many adult cats retain this attribute, so they behave almost like kittens when they’re with people. “When cats are young and living with their mother, they meow a lot when they need help or attention.
She is a linguist and teaches phonetics at Lund University in Sweden. Body language and touch are other equally important forms of communication. And cats will hiss or growl when they feel threatened or aggressive. Female cats that want to mate can call in a male. But they don’t use the same behaviour towards other adult animals of their own species,” he says.Īlthough cats don’t vocalize with each other in the same way they do with humans, they do use sounds. “Animals that live with humans tend to use their baby behaviour towards humans because they find that it works. So when cats meow at humans, they’re using what were originally kitten sounds, and this is pretty typical behaviour for various domestic animals,” says Braastad.
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