Cat Communication

[peter]

I was thinking the other day, my three cats use a range of different 'meow's' to communicate with me and E (ok - a small range, but they do differ a bit) that they never use to communicate with each other: In fact they don't seem to make any vocal sounds to each other at all. They will growl, even yell at strange cats in the garden, but they treat each other with silent distain (occasionally the daughter Rosie may give the slightest meow to her mum in passing indicating that she wants a wash - a throw back to her kitten days - but that's it). With us however they are rarely silent, and while most of this is about something they happen to want at the time - a stroke, food, to go out, more food etc - there are also meows of complaint, meows of satisfaction, meows of question and the like.
This means that cats have, in the course of their domestication, evolved a vocabulary specific to their intercourse with humans. One would imagine that this would need to be learned, mother to offspring .......... but then, they spend so short a period until weaning and going to new homes that perhaps it is simply an evolved instinctive behaviour. I wonder if this is the only example of an animal developing a new communicatory pattern specific to its relationship to humans - I can think of no other at present; indicative perhaps of the high level of intelligence cat owners know that their moggies posses!

[Savor Dam]

The observant servant to our Feline Overlords will notice that the Cat will inform you of its desires with its gaze and its body language. It is only because humans are so dense that to convey this information the Cat must resort to vocalizations that are entirely beneath sophisticated critters.

[Sorus]

Feral cats don't meow. I had one who'd lived feral for the first few years of his life, and he'd grumble and mutter, but never meow. (He had every eating disorder in existence, and the grumbling and muttering was usually due to me stopping him from licking the finish off furniture. Or tearing chairs open to get at the tasty foam filling.)

So yeah, they've basically invented an entire language to communicate with us, and most of them know quite a few human language words, but we're still guessing what 'meow' means.

Cat: "Build me a temple and worship me like my ancestors were worshiped."
Human: "Oh, you want more kibble?"
Cat: "I guess that will do for now. You idiot."

[Avatar]

Hahaha, yeah, they pretty much only meow as small kittens, or to communicate with humans.

--A

[peter]

I read that our domestic cats are essentially infantilsed versions of what they would have been in he pre-domestic adult state (I think Sorus touches on this point above). They do remain kittens in their heads due to having all their needs met without ever having to earn a living for themselves - not unlike some humans really. But they are smart and very manipulative to boot. They learn the routines of purrs and leg strops that get us to give them treats.

[Sorus]

Oh, they're very manipulative. There have been studies that show that cats will pitch their meows to the same frequency a hungry human baby uses. It gets results. The really interesting thing is they'll do it even if they've never encountered a human infant. Probably some instinct from back when they first tamed us.

[Avatar]

Yeah, was gonna say, they're not really domesticated, they're more habituated to us.

They'll use us, but if we all died tomorrow they'd be just fine.

--A

[Sorus]

That's true, though there were times when I'd watch my youngest feral-born and wonder how he ever managed to survive in the 'wild'. He had a head full of butterflies and he'd sometimes walk right into walls and appear to be baffled about the whole situation. I actually hauled him to the vet once thinking he had a vision problem, but nope. Just a fuzzy little airhead.

[Avatar]

Hahaha, to be honest, the airheads are the ones who don't survive in the wild. Natural selection and all.

Little Harley would probably be one of those. My ginger is pretty canny though.

--A

[sgt.null]

had a cat who loved me, hated Julie. attacked her once.
she had a litter and brought them to me, one by one when she tired of caring for them.
I still miss that cat.

[deer of the dawn]

Good observation, peter. I saw some National Geo special on cats or something once, and they did say that "meow" is specific to interaction with humans by domesticated cats. They said the "me" part is what kittens say to their mommies, while the "ow" is part of their anxiety/threat vocabulary.

[Avatar]

Manipulative little buggers.

--A

[Hashi Lebwohl]

The common housecat is the most predatory of all the feline species--they will hunt, kill, and eat anything either smaller than they are or which they can overpower. They tolerate us because sometimes we give them food and scratches behind the ear but in general if we all died out they wouldn't miss us very much.

[aTOMiC]

I used to tell my wife that if we were 3 inches tall our cat would eat us without compunction. We've earned no loyalty through all the years of care we had provided to the little bastard.

[Sorus]

There are cats that like people, and there are cats that tolerate people. My current brood falls into the first category - they're happy when I come home from work, and not just because I feed them.

[Avatar]

But, if you dropped dead, they would still feed on your corpse.

theoatmeal.com/comics/kitty_hug

--A

[aTOMiC]

But, if you dropped dead, they would still feed on your corpse.

--A

Definitely.

[Sorus]

But, if you dropped dead, they would still feed on your corpse.

theoatmeal.com/comics/kitty_hug

--A

It's the circle of life.

Probably not quite what Disney had in mind, but cats are pragmatic.

[Avatar]

Yeah, I'd be fine with it actually. I mean, I'd be dead, so not like I'd care, and they'd still need food...

--A