Cats only meow at humans?

Page 1 of 1 [ 15 posts ]

Joe90
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 23 Feb 2010
Gender: Female
Posts: 26,492
Location: UK

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.

_________________
Female

Wolfram87
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 14 Feb 2015
Age: 36
Gender: Male
Posts: 4,976
Location: Sweden

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.

_________________
I'm bored out of my skull, let's play a different game. Let's pay a visit down below and cast the world in flame.

Romofan
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 15 Jul 2020
Age: 50
Gender: Male
Posts: 579
Location: Carcosa, Texas

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.

_________________
"We see the extent to which our pursuit of pleasure has been limited in large part by a vocabulary foisted upon us"

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

Space50
Deinonychus

Joined: 28 Mar 2018
Gender: Male
Posts: 322

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
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 13 May 2019
Gender: Male
Posts: 14,202
Location: .

24 Sep 2020, 4:31 pm

I wonder what they are saying?

_________________
.

kraftiekortie
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 4 Feb 2014
Gender: Male
Posts: 87,510
Location: Queens, NYC

24 Sep 2020, 4:32 pm

FEED ME!

funeralxempire
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Age: 39
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 25,499
Location: Right over your left shoulder

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.

_________________
Watching liberals try to solve societal problems without a systemic critique/class consciousness is like watching someone in the dark try to flip on the light switch, but they keep turning on the garbage disposal instead.
戦争ではなく戦争と戦う

Feyokien
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 16 Dec 2014
Age: 29
Gender: Female
Posts: 7,303
Location: The Northern Waste

24 Sep 2020, 4:34 pm

Can humans only meow at cats?

funeralxempire
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Age: 39
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 25,499
Location: Right over your left shoulder

24 Sep 2020, 4:37 pm

My car only meows at stationary observers.

Space50
Deinonychus

Joined: 28 Mar 2018
Gender: Male
Posts: 322

24 Sep 2020, 4:39 pm

funeralxempire wrote:

Wolfram87 wrote:

Meowing is the cat equivalent of baby talk.

funeralxempire
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 27 Oct 2014
Age: 39
Gender: Non-binary
Posts: 25,499
Location: Right over your left shoulder

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
Deinonychus

Joined: 28 Mar 2018
Gender: Male
Posts: 322

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
Veteran
Veteran

Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Age: 69
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,136
Location: temperate zone

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
Veteran
Veteran