Chattering

My kitten Sarah, she is not a lanky 5 months old. She is one chattery kitten. Its not a problem or anything. I was just wondering how many people who have chattering cats. Sarah has something to say about everything, even when she is half asleep. She howls and growls when she is playing (especially when chasing her reflexion in the tub), she tells me things when she goes by, comes over. She meows to herself when she is walking around. She even has a whisper meow when she has stuff to say but its like she doesn't think its that important. She is a very happy little girl. She wakes up and the very first thing she does is say "mmm" then start to purr. She also purrs a lot! She is a regular chatter box.

My other cat, Isabel, hardly ever meows. She only meows for her dinner or meows to announce she is sitting on the stool and believes she should have a treat now.

ooops I mean she IS a lanky 5 mouth old

Oh how I smiled when I read your post. My Goldie girl and her two children do a lot of chattering and talking. They are veey Vocal kitties! Little Red does a lot of taling but thru her meows. The other 4 will do that chattering when looking at the birds and chipmunks out the doors and windows. It is too funny.
I can usually tell what my fur children want just by their tone and intoations and extent of the meeeeeeeoooooooowwwwwww!

Snowball is another vocal cat, and like Debra, I can tell what he needs or wants by listening to the variations of his meows. He also meows in response to being spoken to.

I still don't know what my cats mean when they talk to me. I've only had Isabel since January and Sarah since May. But the cat I had before made me feel like we spoke the same language.

I like Sarah's talking though and she isn't very loud. It will be nice when I know what she means. Only thing I know right now is when her eyes get really big and shiny she is going to pounce on my toes!

Thanks for the giving me a smile as I thought about Sarah's chattering and her eyes giving her away.

Jinxy is not much of a talker - although she purrs very loudly when shes sleeping on my lap.

Corky is more chatty but normally when I wake up and go downstairs or come back from work.

She will always give me a warm welcom by miowing as soon as she hears the front door open before she even sees me, she then has a way of purring and miowing at the same time when I give her a stroke hello, a miurr maybe? The only other noise I can regonise is the loud "look at this great thing what I have got you" yowling when it means is when she has got me a present, anything from flys to pieces of grass. I am hoping the more I get to know her the more I will understand her chatters, as well as hoping she doesnt get overly generous with her presents.

Marie

My very first cat liked to bring presents home for my mom. And boy would she holler and yell but that cat kept bringing her stuff. She could never figure out how he got in the house without her seeing him bring them in either. He would bring birds and such and leave them either on the mat by the kitchen sink or the mat in her bathroom.

How cute! This also made me smile. Just goes to how that it's the little things in life that give the greatest pleasure! I would love for Whiskers to be "chatty" but she's not. Although she does let me know when she's hungry, if that counts for anything

Sarah sounds adorable and....very well loved indeed!

Isn't it wonderful that we can understand what are cats are saying to us.

My partner thinks its weird when I respond to mioews from my two - basic requests only - feed me, let me out, play with me, clean that litter tray now!

My neighbor must think I'm nuts because Ivo and I hold conversations. She greets me when I get home by crying until I open the door, and then dashing into the hall bit**ing the whole time. I have to ask her how her day was, and if her friends the birds came for a visit, before she will come back in to my apartment. Mornings also start with a long conversation interspersed with pets and cuddles. She may be talkative, but I wouldn't have it any other way. The only problem is I've started talking to my co-workers like I talk to Ivo...

My Trent talks to me a lot. He's like a little kid, though. A lot of what he says is "Hey Mom, look at me! Hey Mom, look what I found! Hey Mom, play with me!" Of course, there is always the "Hey stupid Mom, I need food! Hey stupid Mom, litter box please." We also have conversations about all kinds of things.

Actually, Ophelia is the one I have more "intelligent" kitty conversations with. She's pretty quiet, meow-wise, but she tells me things with her body and eyes. She is very vocal with Daddy, though. Although, she doesn't have conversations with him, just makes demands - "Pet me NOW! Come to bed with me NOW!" She has him trained pretty well. Other than that, she mainly just complains that we aren't doing what she thinks we should be doing.

In my earlier days of cat rescue and adoption, I was rather unfamiliar with cats as an ethnic group and carefully studied the sounds they made. The cats were all from the street and raised by different mamas, which apparently had some bearing on the diversity of their talking except for certain plaintive cries for mama or food, or to express acute distress and fear. No two or three cats seemed to have the same vocabulary.

I have had my large inter-species family now for over 5 years, and I find that the longer a cat stays with me, the more accurately they adopt the vocabulary of each other, until I can often tell a newcat from the old group just by the way they ask for things or greet me. Even in the dark of night, I can usually say -- that is one of the family, not a newcat.

I also found that the longer the cats related to me and to each other, the more chatty they became. Originally I had a siamese mix, who talked all the time, while the others mostly confined themselves to demanding something or saying hello. Perhaps because the siamese taught the others, or perhaps because I carry on continuous and lengthy discussions with each cat, they all developed the accepted Cat's Pride language. Some of them have also adopted a yip-yip like the dogs when they want my attention. As to body language, the cats relate to each other much in stereotypical fashions, but they alter their behaior to various degrees with the dogs -- less tail waving, more coolness and less sudden movement or growling, which they have learned freaks the dogs out. They also almost don't talk to the dogs unless they have had a frightening experience and are broadcasting generally their story. The dogs also do that. Both dogs and cats respond to such cries and exhibit sympathy by licking, rubbing, or literally clutching each other.

But a note on the chattering sound cats make with their teeth. They are not looking AT something, Debra. They are preparing to attack it. The teeth clicking is a sign of the hunter as he/she spots a bird or squirrel, or even a large fly. It means, I suppose, a stream of self-advice -- oh, a bird -- now don't blow it -- slowly-slowly -- oh, how I want to catch that -- I REALLY want to catch it -- I want that more than anything in the world ---

As to cats leaving gifts for the Alpha Cat (that's the human mother/father), there was a period when they did that all the time (under the pillow, under the doormat, on the sink shelf, on the computer table. They stopped putting things in plain sight after a while, because I always gave a highly inappropriate yell of rage and disposed of the gift directly into the garbage can. They also learned not to try to present me with a still living bird or young rabbit or the like, since I always demanded it and took it away -- destination depending on the victim's condition at that point. Cats are clever. They just have their own ideas about what and whom to pay attention to. Anyway, cherish the gifts while you may, because cats figure out pretty quickly that you really think certain kinds of gifts are disgusting.

Peace,

Thats very interesting.

I also like how cats voices sound different. My oldest cat, Isabel, has the nicest meow. It sounds very smooth, purposeful and feminine. I just love to hear it, I wish she was a talker.

MY ANGEL cat some times chatters at the birds.

I loved your post also. Nippie talks to me every chance he gets. He greets me at the door with a hello mommy and my favorite is when he chatters at the birds. It is the funniest thing.

I think my cat Sterling can tell the exact moment that I fall asleep because he starts to MEOW loudly in what sound like kitty sentences. Usually he is dragging a toy around with him at the time. Now we have to hide the toys before bedtime or he will meow all night. BTW he is meowing as I write this. Here is a picture of him...