Cats only meow at humans?

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Joe90
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24 Sep 2020, 3:28 pm

I heard this fact a lot but I have proof that this isn't necessarily true.

I used to have a cat and she was the most vocal cat you can ever meet. But one day another cat was stuck up a tree in our garden, and from the kitchen window we could hear our cat pacing near the tree looking up and meowing.
You'll probably say that it was a growly "get off my territory" meow, but it wasn't. It was the exact same tone she used to meow at humans, but she didn't know that we could hear from the kitchen window (the tree is near the kitchen window and the window was open).

So this legendary cat has proved that cats don't only meow at humans.

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Wolfram87
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24 Sep 2020, 3:35 pm

The claim isn't that cats only meow at humans. The claim is that meowing evolved as a means for cats to communicate with humans. To what extent this is true, I don't know, but likely the 5000-odd years that humans and cats have hung around eachother symbiotically probably has had some effect on them.

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Romofan
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24 Sep 2020, 3:39 pm

My apartment complex is full of abandoned cats who eke out a miserable existence from dumpsters. Every now and then as I pass the wary unfortunates, I will meow.

They often stick around waiting for me to complete my sentence.

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Last edited by Romofan on 24 Sep 2020, 5:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Space50
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24 Sep 2020, 3:47 pm

What I have read has said that adult cats don't meow to each other. Adult cats meow only to kittens and humans.

Dogs do bark at each other.

Mountain Goat
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24 Sep 2020, 4:31 pm

I wonder what they are saying?

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kraftiekortie
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24 Sep 2020, 4:32 pm

FEED ME!

funeralxempire
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24 Sep 2020, 4:34 pm

Wolfram87 wrote:

Meowing is a normal sound for baby cats to make towards each other or their mom. Neoteny is typical of domesticated animals, generally adult domestic animals make 'baby noises' compared to their wild ancestors, like dogs barking.

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Feyokien
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24 Sep 2020, 4:34 pm

Can humans only meow at cats?

funeralxempire
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24 Sep 2020, 4:37 pm

My car only meows at stationary observers.

Space50
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24 Sep 2020, 4:39 pm

funeralxempire wrote:

Wolfram87 wrote:

Meowing is the cat equivalent of baby talk.

funeralxempire
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24 Sep 2020, 4:40 pm

Space50 wrote:

funeralxempire wrote:

Wolfram87 wrote:

Meowing is the cat equivalent of baby talk.

Basically. Just like how dogs (or domestic foxes) bark and make other noises that adult wolves (and foxes) don't make.

Space50
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24 Sep 2020, 4:47 pm

funeralxempire wrote:

My car only meows at stationary observers.

Your car meows? I've never heard meowing coming from a car. As far as I knew cars didn't communicate except for the check engine light.

naturalplastic
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24 Sep 2020, 5:01 pm

An expert on the radio said that the "meow" call is really two calls. The "me" part, which is what adult cats say to other adult cats of the opposite sex whom they wish to mate with, and means "come hither". And the "ow" part, which is what they say to rival adult cats who are invading their territory, and it mean "back off". So when cats say "meow" to humans they are in effect saying "come hither, AND back off".

AuroraBorealisGazer
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