ultra quiet purr

Since getting my cat Memphis in early September, I have been calmly and patiently awaiting his first purr. It took over a month, and the addition of a kitten, for me to hear his first meow. Recently, I think I have been hearing purring when I hold him. He used to not like getting held, but now he'll rub against my legs to let me know he wants to be a space ship. When I put my ear against his back while holding him, I can hear very low rumbling. Is this purring, or some sort of loud breathing? My kitten Tails purrs loud enough to be heard from another room, and these are the only two cats I've owned so I don't know what the range of purrs is.

Volume of purring varies quite a bit. I can barely hear Willow's purring even when she's sitting in my lap, where Gizmo sounds like a motorboat.

Our Punkin's purr is so quiet, we have never heard it...only felt it, when we pick him up. No, he doesn't like to be held. He just purrs when we do it, all the time he's struggling to get down!

Almost no meow on him either. Very quiet cat.

For the longest time (to me), Ritz had a subvocal purr; that is, I could feel her voice box vibrate but not hear anything. Within the past four months, I have now heard her purr, it's not real loud, but definitely audible.
Question: do cats purr while they are sleeping?

Parkers purr is really quiet as well. I basically can only hear it if he is right next to my head. Which makes me sad, because there is nothing more soothing than falling asleep to a loud purr (at least IMO).

Ritz: None of our cats purr when they fall into a deep sleep. I find they do when they are in the dozing stage though.

For the first couple of years that Callie owned me, I never heard her purr. I could lay my hand on her side and feel her purring, but I never heard it. I'm not sure what changed, but after those 2 years, I ALWAYS heard her rattley-raspy purr!! I think she finally felt confident and safe enough to turn up her motor!

Yes I agree--as Ritz became more comfortable with me and confident, then her purr grew louder.
Now, her MEOW when she wants food, that has always been quite loud !

My cat Hemi was so quiet and timid for her first couple weeks....now she purrs loud enough to hear across the room, she even purrs hard enough to get a little high-pitched whine over top of it (I call it her turbo-whine). She "talks" too...once she got comfortable she turned up the volume, saying "hello" when I get home and such. Our other cat Ollie purrs quite quietly though and purrs less often. Each cat seems to be different, just like some people are louder or more expressive than others.

Some cats just purr quietly. Genever is one of those cats. I can only feel her purring if I touch her throat, not hear her, except sometimes in the middle of the night when all is silent and she gets under the covers with me, then I can hear her.

Dorothy has a good volume purr, not quite lawnmower, but we can hear it at least! It's nice to hear purr again.

Holland has a very quiet purr too. Sometimes I can't hear her unless I put my ear to her. Every once in a while I can hear her when she's sitting on my lap purring, but only when she's REALLY content. She's just an all-around quiet cat. The only time she meows is when I ask her if she's hungry.

Lynxx was a quiet purrer. He only sounded loud because he purred against my ear. Other than that, you had to have your hand under his chin, to find out if he was purring or not. He did 1 night while curled up on my bed, purr so loud that my parents could hear him in their bedroom. So he could purr loudly if he wanted to. We used to say that purring loudly must take up to much energy, which is why he didn't, because he was always a lazy cat

Luna will purr softly most of the time. If you keep patting her (most of the time she doesn't let you pat her long enough), her purr will get louder. So she can purr loudly if she wants to.

Midnight purrs very loudly, you can hear him even if he's in another room. When he first came here that's all he did was purr loudly nonstop. He has a very loud purr, but a very soft meow.

The purr may become louder with time.

Wesley has a big-cammed V8 purr from day one (that he uses manipulatively), but Buttercup used to be inaudible and could only be felt or if you put your head up to her, but now its a half-decent purr that can be heard a few feet away if you're doing an extra special job (two handed stroking while speaking softly, heh).

I didn't hear Mazy's purr for years. I can hear it now, but that's only recent, and she is almost 7 years old. She was purring all those years, just very quietly.

Mazy's purr is still quiet compared to Tolly Jennie and Queen Eva, they are loud purrers.

My two little (8 lbs. each) black, DSH females are the two I have now with loud purrs you can hear across the room!

Can't hear my boys purr, but they do, a lot, and can tell by touching their throats.

As far as Ariel, who knows? Can't hear her, and she wouldn't, usually, let me touch her throat.


I can't remember, myself, that purrs get louder over time as cats get older and more comfortable. I've just had some with loud purrs and some with inaudible ones.

I'm surprised by the differences in voices. Several of the little, black, DSH females I've known have very raucous, unpleasant meows - if you can even call them meows. But the big, strapping boys will have the sweetest little meeeeoooowwws imaginable.

Ariel has one of the raucous, irritating voices that she uses to keep me in line.


Robin