Why Do Cats Meow at Humans?

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Generally, in my opinion, accurate article. One quibble. Cats in heat will meow/yowl. Er, that ain’t addressed to humans. Likewise 2 male cats meowing/Rowling at each other in a territorial dispute ain’t addressed to us humans.

The most beautiful story of cat/human interaction I know happened to me when I lived in a somewhat rural/suburban environment… large unkempt back yard, high weeds, lots and lots of semi tame outdoor cats.

I noticed one of the cats had a litter of kittens. Occasionally you could see one of the babies. One day, I was out in the back and noticed the momma kitty. She didn’t run from me, but none of the kitties were visible. I said to her “would you show me your babies?” It was an honest and heartfelt question but I didn’t expect the result.

That dear cat made a special call, sort of mew, but more intricate. All of a sudden one by one kitties came out of their hiding places. Seven of them in various spots in the yard. I was overwhelmed to see those beautiful animals. Then it hit me what just happened, and I started crying uncontrollably, as I thanked the momma.

I will never, ever forget that once in 10,000 lifetime event.
 
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'Nice story! 😂 :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:
And good points on the exceptions to the article.
 
And of course some cats are more talkative than others, and the talkativeness can in some cases be predicted by breed (e.g. Siamese and Bombay cats tend to be really talkative). I’ve also seen cats hiss and yell at each other, but I guess that doesn’t count as meowing.

Probably the most talkative one I ever met was the little guy in my profile picture. When I first motioned that I wanted to pet him, he started rapidly “chirping” as he came over and let me pet him, and he continued chirping as I pet him. We soon found out that that was only the beginning of his talkativeness. He also one time led me through the dark house by periodically meowing to let me know which direction to go. That was really cute (and also a little selfish because he wanted to sleep with me).

One of the other cats in the same house was also really talkative. He was also really loud when doing so. One time he started screaming bloody murder, and it could be heard throughout the house, and we all rushed down to see what had him upset. We never did figure it out. We guessed that he saw a squirrel in the yard.

The third cat only meowed when he wanted something or wanted us to stop doing something. Even then, he preferred body language like reaching for what he wanted or pushing our hand away. Meowing was a last resort. It made him the most adorable of the three when it came to trying to get what he wanted, and it helped that he had the most pitiful meow I’ve ever heard on a cat.
 
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Theo520 said:
Most people don’t seem to know that cats only meow at humans.
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It’s adult cats that don’t do that . . . kitten meow at their mother . . .
StephieNorthCo said:
That dear cat made a special call, sort of mew, but more intricate
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Awwwe . . .

We have a mother and three kittens that have taken up in our yard, but they don’t come near us (the have no compunctions, however, at drinking the water from my garden irrigation . . .
ZMystiCat said:
And of course some cats are more talkative than others,
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And some just won’t shut up! 😜 (yes, siamese who just jumped in my lap while typing this sentence, I’m talking about you . . .)
ZMystiCat said:
he started rapidly “chirping”
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I had one that chirped. I didn’t find out until years later that they have a limited ability to learn to mimic the sound of their prey (crickets, in this case).

That one also headbutted to get you to follow. Usually to his food bowl (he never did figure out it stayed full when noone was there:roll_eyes:), but one time to show us that the kitten had died :cry:
ZMystiCat said:
We guessed that he saw a squirrel in the yard.
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Our dumbest one proudly marched to the door last fall with her vanquished prey, and wanted in. Nope. And then it turned out that the Mighty Huntress had defeated . . . a pomegranate!

The siamese also fetches. Not the “bring the tab back to where he was playing with it” variety that people usually mean, either. He will bound across the house over a bottle cap, watching for you to throw to get a head start. And then he brings it back and stares while he waits for you to throw again.

Of course, he often brings it to the wrong person, or drops it out of reach, but . . . he used to consistently do it more than a dozen times; now he rarely goes that many without losing it . . . He first did it after glomming on to a very stressed out friend who had come by. We passed my friend a bottle cap, as he had always chased and battled them, but this time he returned it!

hawk
 
dochawk said:
Our dumbest one proudly marched to the door last fall with her vanquished prey, and wanted in. Nope. And then it turned out that the Mighty Huntress had defeated . . . a pomegranate!
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The cat I mentioned actually did one time chase down a squirrel. From what I heard, he broke one of the screens surrounding the back porch and chased down the squirrel. On his way back in, someone, for some reason, knocked the squirrel out of his mouth. It turns out that the squirrel wasn’t dead yet. It managed to get away because someone quickly restrained the cat.

On the complete opposite end of the hunter spectrum, the one with the pathetic meow was an absolute klutz. He always wanted to escape the house, but he only managed it twice. One time, he stopped to smell flowers before someone grabbed him. The other time he face-planted after getting two steps out the door.
 
We have observed the dumb one sneaking up on birds, inches at a time.

We suspect, though, that if she ever got close enough, she’d be more likely to snuggle than pounce . . . :roll_eyes:

She has caught and devoured several lizards, though (and terrified my wife, as they foam up her mouth like a rabid animal!)
 
My son was once in his mother-in-law’s apartment, waiting for her to come home, when he noticed her cat standing right in front of him, staring at him hard and mewing in a different tone of voice from her usual one. When she caught his eye, she took a few steps toward the corridor leading to the bedrooms, and then came back and started the whole procedure over and over. Eventually it dawned on him that the cat wanted him to go with her. He stood up, the cat went straight to the corridor, continually looking back over her shoulder to make sure he was following her. In the bedroom he found one of her kittens had slipped down between the bed and the wall, held fast by the neck, with just her head showing. The mother had summoned help for a rescue job she couldn’t manage by herself.
 
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Awww. That is a cute story. Cats sure know how to get their messages across when they want to.
 
StephieNorthCo said:
Awww. That is a cute story. Cats sure know how to get their messages across when they want to.
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I kinda feel my cats are saying,
My DISH, it’s half empty. Keep it full!!
I’m sick and tired of repeating myself.
dang! I got stuck with the dumbest servant on the block.
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Yeah. That is about right.

Remember, dogs have owners; cats have staff.
 
They train their humans too. If a particular meow gets the right result, they’ll repeat it.

I had one incident with mine where I apparently wasn’t getting the hint fast enough. So she walked over, put both paws on her bowl, and looked up and meowed loudly.
 
My one boy who doesn’t meow will start soft biting my ankle or stretch up my leg and extend his claws. If I’m using the notebook he starts chewing on the corner of the screen until I get up.
 
Theo520 said:
My one boy who doesn’t meow will start soft biting my ankle or stretch up my leg and extend his claws. If I’m using the notebook he starts chewing on the corner of the screen until I get up.
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Mine hasn’t done this for awhile, but if she thinks that I’m being too slow to respond to her, she’ll smack me on the top of my knee with one of her paws, and then she’ll give me a soft nip too, to also get my attention to feed her! :crazy_face:

Her latest maneuver though to get my attention for food, is to climb up on top of my chest, and to get right in my face, and to yell at me as loudly as possible, until I get up to feed her.

She’ll persist in doing this, until she wakes me up to feed her. 😆
 
petra22 said:
Just wondering what it means when a human meows at a cat???
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I think it always translates to “Yes Master”

My boys have a clock in their head and ‘force’ me to go to their dish even when it’s still over half full, at specific times daily. Not sure if they want it to be overflowing, or want me to watch them eat.

It seems to be more of a problem now that I’ve switched them to wet food. Oddly they still prefer dry over wet. I’ve gone wet because I read it increases their hydration and prevents crystals in the bladder (one had surgery for it recently).
 
I thought you might say a human meowing at a cat was just trying to communicate on their level… Our cat ALwAYS answered me with a meow…
 
I tried a similar test with dogs. When you wave at at them, some dogs wave back (with their tail), but other dogs just look at you disapprovingly.
 
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