My cat does not meow, has almost no voice?

My kitties are both talkers, especially around feeding time! I have known some cats that only make little squeaky meows, and that's the way they are. Cats can also meow at a higher pitch than we can hear, that's why sometimes when they open their mouth to meow we don't hear anything.

HI HAVE TWO CATS (BROTHERS) THAT WE ADOPED AT A SHELTER AT 3 MONS OLD THEY ARE NOW 9 MONTHS, 1 MEOWS, BUT THE OTHER ONE DOESN'T, I DON'T KNOW WHY, THEY ARE BOTH HEATLTY HAD ALL THEIR SHOTS, BUT AS HE GETS BIGGER HE DOESN'T MAKE A SOUND, PLAYS WITH HIS BROTHER BUT NO SOUND, THE OTHER ONE MEOWS BUT IN A WEIRD WAY OR SOUND. IF ANYONE ALSO KNOWS THE ANSWER TO THIS PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

Our 10 year old cat barely had a thing to say for the first 6 months we had adopted him.  Maybe he was shy around us? 

He still isn't very vocal; he communicates by actions and quite well I may add.  The only time he gets talky seems to be when my BF leaves the room and heads upstairs to work in his office.  For some reason Casper will conveniently "forget" how to walk up the stairs, and will sit at the bottom of the landing yowling to him.  Most times if BF calls him he'll then run up but other times he just keeps yowling until he comes and scoops him up!  He loves being with him in that room; as there is a piece of furniture that my BF put a pillow on, right by the window that Casper can lounge on while he's working.  And it's petting distance from his hand lol. 

And I mean "yowl".  Not, meow.  I don't think we have once in the year we have had him ever heard an actual meow from him.

The only other times we hear him is when the neighbor cat comes to the back door to taunt him.  Then all hell breaks loose but one would expect that   !!!

Laurie

I came upon this thread because I have one kitty that doesn't meow, he does have a little chirping sound that he makes sometimes. I have tried to get him to meow with a little treat but he won't. He purrs very easily when I talk to him or pet him. He was a rescue with his brother from a field near my house and his brother has voice and meows all the time for food etc. I have an older cat also that meows quite loudly so he does hear them but he refuses to be a vocal part of the clan. He is my favorite kitty because he is adorable and he has totally made himself comfortable with me.

I've seen cats that I thought were mute.  Our Punkin comes close, but he talks a little more than he did for many years.

I can only speak from my own experiences, but I have found that the cats I have owned that have been allowed outdoors (my family lives on a farm in the middle of nowhere, so many of our cats roamed quite often) were quite a bit more vocal than the cats I have owned that have been indoor cats their entire lives.

One of my aunt and uncle's cats was as mute as a cat can be while still making an audible noise. I have seen that cat meow for food as excitedly as possible with his mouth wide open, yet all I could hear was a tiny little mew. He's 18 years old now and still as healthy as a kitten.

I wouldn't worry about a lack of a meow... every cat I've owned has been different. High pitched, full bodied, or almost nothing at all (silent meows are the cutest!). Crumb hardly ever talks... the occasional tiny squeak at dinnertime if I'm taking too long with the food. But on car trips, if he gets mad at being on the road too long, he yowls in disapproval!   Harvey meows to get my attention. Or sometimes he'll be in the next room and start meowing. I think he gets lost sometimes. He's not the brighter of the two. 

I'm curious about the idea above that cats don't use meowing to speak to one another... Crumb has always trilled instead of meow. Churrrr this, churr that... whether surprised or curious. Harvey picked up the trait as a result, and I often catch them groom one another or playing while churrring up a storm! It's like a conversation. They use it to find one another when they are separated, too.

My ten year old Loki is like that, he croaks as I call it. But I found out one day when I had to bath him for the first time(I didn't have him his whole life, just got him this past march) boy oh boy did he MEOW lol! But after that? Back to the croaks. Some kitties just don't feel the need to be that vocal with us for some reason.

Some cats just don't have a pretty voice. My grandma freeman had a cat named Precious who had a very hoarse meow. It sounded like she constantly had a frog in her throat. lol    Its normal, you could always have a vet check her throat out but I'm sure that's just added stress for both the cat and you lol

My Caz has the air hi every morning. He can't speak either. Everybody here has their own speaking voice. So I don't worry. I like the different kitty sounds through out the house.

I have a 4-year old orange tiger cat that we adopted about 2 years ago from one of the adpotion centers at the pet supply stores who does not have a meow like a regular cat.  He has more of a raspy sounding croak or grunt type noise that he makes.  Every once in awhile, he will howl and sometimes will even get a real meow out, but not often...it usually sounds like he is trying to meow but has a sore throat.  What is funny is that he actually is quite talkative even though he does not have much of a voice.  Everyone always gets a kick out of the noise he makes when he tries to meow, and many times if you make a howling noise at him, he will do it back.  I don't know how accurate it is, but I have heard that many times cats do not develop the ability to meow if they are taken away from their mother too early, and/or have limited human contact early in life, because cats mainly only use their meow for humans and their mother, and use other types of grunts and howls when communicating with other cats.

Mine has this quiet little squeal and you can't hear her if she is locked up in a cabinet or room. She had her physical vet said healthy. She was a rescue cat from a shelter. Otherwise she is precious.

Meowing is not a natural sound for cats to make, it was adapted as cats became used to living around humans, just as it is not natural for a dog to bark, wild dogs will not bark, not even if they see a human, they "huff" but they will not bark.

cats do not "meow" at one another, they hiss, growl, chirp, trill ect.so meowing is not naturally part of their vocabulary

none of my cats make a peep unless they want attention or food is involved in any way, shape or form.

Finn has a cute little squeak of a voice that tapers off into an air escaping sound.

Emry has always had a quite raspy voice

and Paint is a boomer lol, she lets out these loud "MOW!" 's
 

Tohey--who was originally a stray kitten and spent her first few weeks at least living in a barn--was originally very quiet and almost never meowed. She only "found her voice", so to speak, once she realized how much better us humans responded to verbal commands.

But yeah, some cats do naturally have odd or quiet voices. One of our old outdoor cats, Butch, sounded a bit like a squeaky bicycle wheel, and Annie's meow (if you can call it that) was this faint, breathy "hhhhaaaehhh" kind of sound, almost like a swing set creaking very softly. It was definitely the most unusual meow I've ever heard from a cat... but there was nothing wrong with her at all.

My 2 kitties have different sounds:  one is like a loud MA! when he wants food and the other - a she - demurely says "mrrrh" - when i first got them they didn't 'say' anything but...over time "kitty mommy" has had to 'direct' one or both of them with a MAO or a ssss. i also respond to their sounds...and then they talk to you!!  still, they seem to like quiet most of the time & seem very happy & well-behaved 

just try 'talking' to them in cat language if you want to get a response esp when you pet them or give them treats  

Eventually all breeds of cats that we call "pets" will probably loose their meow's because of genetic traits that are passed down.  Cats in the wild need to be vocal as they are using their "voices" to survive.  House cat's need only to find the litter box and food dish, and if neutered or spayed will never need to call for a partner.  It's the way it goes.

Cats don't meow to other cats. Cats meow to people because they recognize sound is an important communication vehicle for people. I knew a feral that made raspy noises like you're describing, as if she was trying to meow but couldn't quite do it because she had grown up feral and had no practice. It did turn into a faint meow after a while.

My Cassie has that silent meow too. Its normal!