Many cats are vocal animals and it would be advantageous to know what your cat’s know what your cat's meows mean. Vocalizations vary from cat to cat but some breeds tend to be more vocal than others such are Siamese, Burmese, and other Oriental cats. Compared to dogs that can only make about 10 different sounds, cats can make over 100 different sounds.
In addition to vocal communication, cats also communicate with body language (especially ears, eyes and tail) and scent. To really know what your cat's meows mean, we need to be in tune with all forms of cat communication. In general though, cats do not meow to each other. Meows and its variations are generally limited to cat/human interactions. Cat to cat communication tends to be by body language, scent, and more expressive vocalizations. Cat when meeting will go nose to nose and sniff each other. Caterwauls by rival tomcats generally irritate those trying to get some sleep.
What your cat’s meows mean can be grouped into three categories; 1) murmurs produced when the mouth is shut, 2) sounds produced when the mouth is opened and then closed and 3) intensity sounds produce when the mouth is held open during the sound. The sound that most cat lovers want to hear is purring, which is a murmur vocalization. Purring generally mean that a cat is very content.
Open/closed mouth vocalizations are all of the variations of meow. As a rule of thumb, meows and other calls that are short in duration and high in pitch are happy, non-urgent calls.
When your cat’s vocalizations are long and drawn out and/or low in pitch, they indicate anger which are intensity sounds. Growling and hissing definitely indicate dissatisfaction with something in a cat’s environment. An attack will be sure to follow if the item bothering the cat is not removed.
Here is an interpretation of some of what your cat’s meows mean:
One short meow – hello or welcome!
Several short meows – an excited hello!
Pleading meow – I need you to do something for me
High pitched meow – pain or anger
Long meow – a complaint
Many cats are able to get their owners to give into their demands such as feeding on demand, petting on demand, etc. This attention seeking is a learned behavior that can cause excessive vocalization. Cats who learn this behavior will continue to meow unless their demands are met and can usually outlast their owners! To break this behavior, owners need to be able to outlast the cat’s meows even as the cats increase in volume and duration. Eventually, the cat will realize that excessive meowing is not rewarding. Exercising a cat with excessive vocalization will give the cat the attention it seeks and is an outlet for bored, lonely cats.
If you take the time to listen carefully and watch, you can begin to distinguish the differences between the different meows and know what your cat’s meows mean.
