Different purrs

I always used to think that cats all purred the same. Boy, was I wrong!

Marcie sounds like a cross between a chainsaw and an idling Mack truck with a slight whine. She can wake the dead with the loudness of her purring

Darcy, on the other hand, has never made an audible purr until lately. We have had her for a couple of years, but never heard any purring. Last year, she started to get more affectionate and I could just sense a slight vibration to her if I put my hand on her neck. In the last couple of weeks, it has increased to the point that, if the house is really quiet, I can just hear the quietest of purrs. I call it "the Prius Purr"

How do your cats purr?

Genever's got the silent purr, you have to feel her neck to feel the vibration. Once in a great while, if she jumps on the bed for a snuggle in the middle of the night, I can just barely hear her purring. I love it! I wish she purred audibly more often!

Polly, who is across the country with my mom, purrs really loudly, it almost sounds like snoring because it goes along with her breathing.

We are getting two kittens on Friday, and I sure hope ours have audible purrs before too long. If not, my son (7 years old) is going to think I have been lying to him all this time.

^Kittens tend to purr more loudly than adult cats.

Mine all sound different, but so do their meows so I'm sure that has some effect.

All of my cats sound different when purring. Utu has different purring voices depending on why he is purring, for example: regular purr, then there is extra happy purr which is the loudest and sounds like it comes from his nose, and stress/unhappy purr when he is being held against his will, nails clipped, combing his belly fur, when examined by the vet etc.
Kuura does the silent purr, you need to be very close to him or touch him to hear/feel the purring. Tomu has funny, a bit higher purring sound than the others and baby Luna has very loud one, I wake up if she starts purring while I'm asleep and you can even hear her from another room..!

Sam probably had the loudest purr that you could ever hear. His entire chest just vibrated. My wife said she could actually hear him standing a meter away from him.

Dusty has a loud chainsaw purr. Rusty on the other hand rarely purrs but when she does, she has a loud purr with a trill to it. It is so cute!!

Milo has a higher-pitched, breathing purr. I call it a "breathing purr" because his purrs come out in short bursts that coincide with him exhaling. If I pet him in a really good spot, like on his chest, his purrs often have a small warbling noise behind them. Kind of like he's cooing or something, haha.

Aya almost never purrs. She didn't start until she was 7 or 8 mos old. Even now she only does it once a day. Sometime in the evening for about five minutes she comes over (ususalyl while I'm on the computer) and wants to be loved for about five minutes. Then that's it. No more purr means no more petting pls.

Freya sounds like someone running a lawnmower in the room. You can actually hear her purr from a few rooms away.

Cotton has a quieter purr that's more of a rumbling vibration. You can touch him and feel him purring, but he's really quiet unless he really gets going, then he gets a little trill in his purr.

Wow I didn't know other cats had the breathing purr. Isie has a breathing purr as well and she is very loud. One time she gave herself the hiccups by purring too much.

EG depends on how happy he is. The happier he is the louder the purr. However he will purr even if you just pet him a few times. It just starts out as the silent purr.

Archie - deep, loud rumbling can hear it quite a few feet away

Jakie and Prowler - medium tenored rumbling with a hint of squeaky flywheel
(They are brothers and have the same purrrrrrrr!!)

Casper - deep loud rumbling one tone, similar to Archie's sometimes slightly opened mouth --- and sounds like kuuurrrrrrrrrrrrr

Ghost - breathy two stroke engine -uuppppp,,dooowowwwwnnn.... uuuupppp, doooowwwnnnnn.... he opens his mouth a little to preach and it sounds like kkrrrrrrrrrrrr, like Cas'

Tex - no purring. Sometimes he feels like he's vibrating but I don't feel anything in his throat and don't hear anything

Rex - very soft, low ppprrrrrrrrr.... only started recently when he decided that me skritching him is a good thing!

Meowing is a whole other category!!!

Molly has a teensy little meow but a big, rumbling purr. I can hear it from a few feet away. It's soooo soothing too.

Polly has a loud meow but a quiet purr. Sometimes I have to feel her chest or neck to know she's purring.

Does anyone else find their cats' purrs to be really soothing?

yes I do ...times five for my five furry babies

Zeke sounds like he has a little motor. You can hear his purr across the room. Toby's purr is so quiet, you can barely hear it.

My cats' purrs match their personalities.

Lua is very laidback and sweet. Her purr is quiet and kind of breathy. If she's really content, she'll sigh and purr-chirp.

Bailey is my bouncing-off-the-walls kitten. Her purr is loud and rattling.

I love when they both sit on my lap and purr together

I love this thread!.. There is something about a cat purring that makes all right with the world. It is super soothing to me.

Autumn has a soft purr (more like a vibrate) for when I pet her when she is behind me on the couch, and a bit louder when she is around my shoulders.

Her loudest is when I get home and pick her up or call her from somewhere in the house (if she feels like coming of course!), it goes up and down with her breathing.

All of our cats each have multiple purrs. I thought this was normal. ?????

We categorize them into three basic purrs - regular happy purr. It comes from down inside somewhere. When they first start purring, sometimes you can only feel the vibration and you can't hear it - but over time it gets louder.

Then there's the extra happy purr - like a trill. It's a higher pitch and seems to be more up in the throat - and sounds like a trill.

After a couple of years, each kitty went beyond even that, to what we call the rumble purr - which is loud and just seems to be nasal, throaty, and from deep down inside somewhere and REALLY vibrate the entire kitty all at the same time - it's a very deep tone.

Flowerbelle is a little different. She purrs a lot of the time, and she's such a wee thing you can see her ribs vibrating and - I don't know how to describe it - like she's exhaling hard. I should take a video.

Suzie does not purr at all, yet. do they start at a certain age?My older cat, Josie, has a slight little vibration sometimes. Jes used to purr so loud and hard , it would look like she was shaking slightly, she really got into the purring thing!

Genever's got the silent purr, you have to feel her neck to feel the vibration. Once in a great while, if she jumps on the bed for a snuggle in the middle of the night, I can just barely hear her purring. I love it! I wish she purred audibly more often!

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oh good! someone else has a silent purr too! I have never had a cat do this. Peaches is very much like this, I heard the tiny purr once. It's kind of odd because she tends to talk and make little chirpy sounds all day, but soooo quiet in the purr department.