Cat-To-Human - Let’s Talk Cats Talk

Dear Diary,

This pic always makes me laugh.

I’d love to know what was going on in his little head at that moment. It seems to be the perfect summary of ‘Ok, she’ll never get what I want. I give up’ - a true head against the wall moment. Utter resignation.

This inspired me for a wee post series about meow talk or some cat-to-human translations.

Believe it or not but there’s an actual app for it … Meant to translate your cat’s talks into human language. Rubbish. I’d say it's all about reading your cat’s body language and with time you know what all the meow is about.

So first off, let’s talk cats talk.

Vocalising Sounds

You might be surprised about how many vocal sounds your cat is able to produce. More than 20 individual vocalisations have been recorded so far! Some breeds are more vocal than others. Jamie is definitely a very vocal one.

Meowing

The classic cat sound we all know - meowing.

But did you know that meowing is a language cats have created to communicate with humans? They don’t use it in between each other … Which tells you already a bit about the purpose of meowing.

So basically, meowing = attention-seeking. Cats meow when they want something of you. ‘I’m hungry’, ‘I’m frustrated’, ‘I’m bored’, ‘I’m meowing just because’ …

Jamie does it a lot after he had his food. I would interpret this as ‘Uhm, hello?! I’ve finished. Was that all?' Any chances of getting more?’.

Sometimes he meows without any reason. When I first got him, I got irritated a lot when he started meowing quite loudly in another room. But once I came to check in on him, there was nothing particular going on. He probably just wanted to test how long it’ll take me to come running … Yes, cats can be very sneaky.

By the way, I love to meow back to him. You can have a proper meow conversation with your cat. Not particularly leading to any meaningful outcomes, but still very entertaining. Give it a try!

Purring

A cat’s purring has healing powers. It’s true. The vibration that is created carries a frequency that is associated with healing bones in human medicine. They also do it to calm themselves or even to heal any pain.

When I come home after work, Jamie is usually waiting behind the door, ready to greet me with loud purring. ‘Finally, you’re back!’.

For me, purring is the most relaxing sound ever. I’ve actually fallen asleep to it many, many times.

In general, you can say a purring cat is a satisfied cat.

Trilling

I wasn’t aware that cats can do this sort of noise. Imagine a pigeon or dove cooing, that’s the sound. And most of the time you’ll hear it mixed with purring.

Jamie does it a lot when I’m petting him. Preferably underneath his chin and on his cheeks. His sweet spots. So you can pretty much guess already what it means. If your cat is trilling you can translate it to: ‘I’m happy. Keep doing what you’re doing’. Or as a very urgent petting request.

Chirping and Chattering

You will most likely hear the chirping and chattering when your cat is busy bird-watching. Your cat is in an alert position, wagging tail, and eyes focused.

It’s a simple hunting sound. Hard to describe but you can see your cat rapidly opening and closing its mouth, whilst making a chirping noise. A bit like teeth chattering.

Bad news, it usually happens when your cat can see the prey but can’t reach it. So it does come with a bit of frustration which needs to be vocally expressed.

Hissing and Growling

So far, Jamie has never hissed nor growled. I’ll take this as a good sign. Well, he’s a very relaxed cat, hard to properly annoy him.

Hissing is not necessarily a sign of aggressive behaviour, it’s more a defensive gesture and should be seen as a warning shot. ‘Stop whatever you’re doing, or I might lose my temper. You better f off now’.

Cats in general want to avoid confrontation whenever possible. So they will give you several warnings before they’ll actually attack you.

Stay tuned for some cat’s tail talk coming up next!