The dumbest question you have seen all day

matth3w

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Cats are adorable when they meow. Is there any way to encourage this? I know they are adorable regardless...
 

ali012281

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Aww. Not a stupid question at all!!

Maybe meowing back at your kitten will prompt it to talk back a bit more. Some cats will hold a conversation.
 
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matth3w

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Originally Posted by Ali012281

Aww. Not a stupid question at all!!

Maybe meowing back at your kitten will prompt it to talk back a bit more. Some cats will hold a conversation.
Workin on it


She still hides from me under the bed, although sometimes she allows me to take her and play with her. She purrs at me a lot and seems to trust me.
 

zissou'smom

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In my experience if you try to meow at a cat they just give you a puzzled look. Talking normally seems to encourage it more, especially conversations like this:
Zissou! What are you doing? How was your day?
Pause a second, wait for a response. If you don't get one just keep going.
Zissou! What? What? What? (in the high pitched, baby-talk sort of voice) Most cats will start answering you eventually.

Or I'm crazy and sit alone in my apartment talking to my cat...

Either way any kind of interaction encourages 'communicativeness', including just acknowledging any noise they make spontaneously.

If you ignore a cat's attempts at talking to you, then they stop.
 

ali012281

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Ha. I'd talk to my cat too. She'd play games and hide. I'd meow for her, she'd meow back... like cat hide and seek.

Some cats like it when you sing for them too.... (and some will let you know if they don't!)
 

goldenkitty45

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Why would you want to encourage it?????


You might wish you hadn't but if you really want to do it, then use "speak" when he meows and have a treat right away to give. Won't take long to make the connection.............but as I said - you may be sorry you encourage them meowing.

Personally, I only want them to answer me if I called them or if they really want something - otherwise constant meowing will drive you nutz.
 

loveysmummy

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Originally Posted by Zissou'sMom

If you ignore a cat's attempts at talking to you, then they stop.
You should tell that to my Rocky!!! I have tried and tried to discourage him from non-stop "chatter" at times.....


He just likes to talk to hear himself I think....


My other one doesn't meow at all with the exception of his kitten "mreep mreep" (How's it going Mom?) when I walk in the door or if he wants out....I like it like that!
 
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matth3w

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Originally Posted by Loveysmummy

You should tell that to my Rocky!!! I have tried and tried to discourage him from non-stop "chatter" at times.....


He just likes to talk to hear himself I think....
Well, my kitten doesn't even come out from under the bed unless she wants to eat, pee, poop, or run right back under.
 

tari

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Your kitten sounds like my Harvey when we first got him (except that Harvey was 9 years old then
). He spent his first several months under the bed in our guest room. It took some time and patience, but he got over it eventually. If a 9-year-old cat can learn to be more social I'm sure your kitten will, too.

You might encourage her to spend more time with you by sitting on the floor with some of her favorite treats near you, but not too close. When she comes out to get them, don't grab her or pet her, just give her a chance to learn that there are only good, non-scary things in that world that's out from under the bed.
As she gets more used to being out, move the treats farther away from the bed and/or closer to you.
 

duchess15

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I think that is a great question! I wish I could get Lexi to talk more! Sometimes days even weeks go by without me hearing anything out of her. On the other hand, Maya never shuts up!
 

buzbyjlc10

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I both talk regular and meow to Oliver and often times he responds... he definitely meows when he wants to let me know something (ie: "where's my grass/treat/wet food?" or "I'd like to be put in my harness and taken outside.")... but I talk to my animals regardless of whether or not they have the ability to talk back (like the fish, frog and hermit crabs) haha.... I guess I'm a little crazy, but I see them as part of the family, so they shouldn't be ignored! haha
 

yosemite

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Bijou isn't a talker except to John when he wants to be let out. Mika on the other hand is a "nag". She "huffs" to be picked up, taken outside, loved on, played with, etc. I said it's a good thing she hasn't got a proper voice (misshapen voicebox caused her to have only little "huffing" noises to a meow). If she had a real voice, she'd drive us nuts.
 

rone

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Originally Posted by Matth3w

Is there any way to encourage this?
Becareful what you wish for
. We were told by our vets that our adopted cats have some Siamese in them. Ginger 'talks' less than Fred; like most cats, Fred meows when hungry/attention/play but he also meow for no reason. It didn't help that hubby find this behavior extremely adorable and he will meow back, constantly, at Fred.
 
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matth3w

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Originally Posted by Rone

It didn't help that hubby find this behavior extremely adorable and he will meow back, constantly, at Fred.
Haha..........
 

diego

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I think meowing back is a bit silly. Talking to them is much better, I talk to Neko and he talks right back. Yesterday I could see in his crafty little eyes he was going to do something naughty, like jump onto a table. I said to him don't even think about it, he looked at me and then looked back where he was originally looking, so I told him "I just said don't even think about it, so turn around and walk away" He looked at me again, said "meow" and then turned around and walked away. Amazing little cat I might add. Now if I had have just said meow meow to hi, he would have just looked at me as if to say "are you feeling ok?
.

But as others have said, are you really certain you want to encourage the meowing? it might seem like fun for a little while, but you might just get sick of it sooner than you think.
 

goldenkitty45

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Speaking of talking "cat"......had to relate this story.

I was watching this nature program with a tiger in it. At the end of the show the tiger was low roaring. So out of fun (I love imitating animal sounds and can talk a lot of different kinds)...I started imitating the tiger in the same "voice".

At the time I had 2-3 of the rexes in the room. When I started talking Tiger, 2 of them just flattened themselves down on the floor, ears back, eyes wide. Only one rex "recognized" me as me - took the other 2 rexes a few mins of me talking normal before they would approach.

So I have no idea "what" I said, but it sure scared them for awhile
 
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