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Do you talk to your cats? And........

post #1 of 37
2/19/11 at 8:08am
Thread Starter 
And do they talk back to you?

Mackerel does. I swear she does! She understands!

Anyway, I didn't know that this was such a strange thing until my most recent exhousemate moved in. The second or third day after she moved in, I hadn't realised that she was still here- she'd slept in, and I thought she was already at work, so I was pottering around and talking to Mackerel. And I looked up to find her standing in the corridor leading from the bedrooms with a very very strange look on her face. A kind of... what on Earth are you doing, Jali?! look.

The thing is, Mackerel responds at the spots in the conversation you'd expect her to, and with the tone that you'd expect, as well. For the last few weeks she's been sick. Very sick. And though we had some very surprising and good test results yesterday, she came home with me on Monday after a couple of weeks in the vet hospital with the vet's advice to make her comfortable and keep an eye on her with the thought that we should end it before she suffered too much, probably within a couple of days. I was upset, as you'd imagine... but on Monday night we went out to the local park and sat by the lake and listened to the ducks quack and bicker, and we were talking, and when I started to get really upset she climbed up on my lap and we had a cuddle. Every single time over the next few days, the same thing happened.

She understands.

She even laughs at me when I'm being an idiot. XD
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post #2 of 37
2/19/11 at 8:12am
Yeah flash and sooty answer me back and smooch only answers back when he's told he can't do what he's trying to do
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post #3 of 37
2/19/11 at 8:22am
All the time. It is never silent in here. And they talk back, often.
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post #4 of 37
2/19/11 at 8:23am
My kitties have become pretty vocal (well Wesley always was), and I found it doesn't really matter WHAT I say but HOW I say it. I figure for them its like my experience overseas where you kinda get the idea from body language and tone rather than understanding the words, heh!

Nothing works for "come here" the way "mr-gr-gr-eow" does, which is mimicking Wesley when ever he wants someone to come. If I just say "come here", psh, ignored. But thats the only "cat" I speak...
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post #5 of 37
2/19/11 at 8:25am
Yup I talk to Jake like he's a person. I even have videos of me and him outside with him on his harness and when I watch the video back I realize I sound like a nutcase because I talk to him in full sentences like "Jake, do you realize you can't catch birds if a human is following you around"
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post #6 of 37
2/19/11 at 8:28am
Thread Starter 
Haha, Ducman that's really clever! I shall have to see if I can pick up Mackerel's tone.

Does it work for all your cats? Or just the one that you mimic?
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post #7 of 37
2/19/11 at 8:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jalindal View Post
Does it work for all your cats? Or just the one that you mimic?
Works for both. Thats why I mimic it, as whenever Wesley makes that sound, Buttercup comes running up to him and smells him. I try not to abuse it though, heh. But who knows, they might just come because its a weird sound I don't usually make, perhaps a monkey oooh-ooh-AHH-AHH would get the same response, lol!
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post #8 of 37
2/19/11 at 8:49am
Oh yeah, who else would I talk to when DH isn't here?

She talks back but only when she's not angry at me.

I just had to move her from the bed, and she didn't like it so she answered me with a glare.
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post #9 of 37
2/19/11 at 8:49am
Thread Starter 
Maybe it's something akin to 'crying wolf'! D: "Timmy fell down the well!" And one day they're going to get tired of you lying to them! Hahaha.
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post #10 of 37
2/19/11 at 9:36am
I talk to my cats ALL the time, and they answer me back. Especially Pipsqueak and Presley, my big talkers. But they all love it when I discuss things with them, and I like to believe they listen
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post #11 of 37
2/19/11 at 9:37am
Calvin does talk to me when I talk to him. In fact when I talk on the phone, he thinks I am talking to him and he chatters back!
Hobbes does not talk yet.
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post #12 of 37
2/19/11 at 10:08am
And here I thought that everyone carried on in depth conversations with their cats!

I talk to mine because they respond in return. Scarlett and Muddy actually let me know before I open up a can of cat food if they are interested in that flavor. It goes like this:

Me: how about some chicken and liver this evening?
Them: silence
Me: Ok then, how about some turkey and giblets?
Them: MEOWL, MEOWL, MEOWL

Guess which flavor they get?
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post #13 of 37
2/19/11 at 10:46am
Yuppers I talk to kis all the time and he replies much of the time but not always. I also meow at/with him a lot - when I meow he ALWAYS replies.
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post #14 of 37
2/19/11 at 11:01am
Yep, i talk to Brendan allll the time. He isnt much of a vocal cat so he just listens. He usually only talks when he wants food or to go outside.
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post #15 of 37
2/19/11 at 12:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by otto View Post
All the time. It is never silent in here. And they talk back, often.

Everyone thinks I'm crazy when I say that not only do they talk back, they also understand!
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post #16 of 37
2/19/11 at 12:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Momofmany View Post
And here I thought that everyone carried on in depth conversations with their cats!

I talk to mine because they respond in return. Scarlett and Muddy actually let me know before I open up a can of cat food if they are interested in that flavor. It goes like this:

Me: how about some chicken and liver this evening?
Them: silence
Me: Ok then, how about some turkey and giblets?
Them: MEOWL, MEOWL, MEOWL

Guess which flavor they get?

I always have to make sure that what I serve passes "inspection" with Geronimo (I guess he figure it's his duty or something ). I have to make sure that I let him smell what's in the can before putting it in the bowls. If he doesn't approve of what's in the can with a few licks, it's a no-go. What a hoot he is!
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post #17 of 37
2/19/11 at 12:20pm
I can't imagine not talking to my kitty! Sometimes Wessie talks back, especially in the mornings or when he is hungry.
A couple of times after he became an inside cat I asked him if he wanted to go outside, and he seriously nodded. And I am very serious.
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post #18 of 37
2/19/11 at 12:36pm
I talk to all of them, but Sophie doesn't speak much apart from when she sees their kibble bowl being filled.

Jack speaks back to me

Rosie....what do you all think?!
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post #19 of 37
2/19/11 at 12:55pm
Yes I do talk to all my cats and they talk back.
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post #20 of 37
2/19/11 at 2:15pm
Of course I talk to my cats. Doesn't everyone?
Miss Patchwillow is the only one who talks back to me, though, and she doesn't do it very often. Guess I just have a quiet bunch. Well, make that nonverbal. They aren't exactly quiet when they're drag racing through the house. More like a demolition derby.
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post #21 of 37
2/19/11 at 2:32pm
I talk to my girls all the time. They will sometimes talk to me, depending on their moods. When Dusty is under the covers and I touch her through the blanket, she will mew in protest!
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post #22 of 37
2/19/11 at 9:47pm
I always talk to mine! Sing to them, read to them Luna will answer back, she's a very talkative kitten
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post #23 of 37
2/19/11 at 11:10pm
In this home, it goes both ways! I definitely talk to Maia all the time, and very often she talks back to me with chirps. When she is in the mood for a chat, she calls me, and keeps calling till I respond! She definitely understands a lot and she has several different vocals herself that for the most part I understand........
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post #24 of 37
2/20/11 at 7:01am
Quote:
Originally Posted by -_aj_- View Post
Yeah flash and sooty answer me back and smooch only answers back when he's told he can't do what he's trying to do
jericho is the same way! he is whiney as well. he loves being in the bathroom and hates to leave so he will roll around while im getting ready or cleaning and as soon and as i say "alright lets go" he does a whiney meow that is something like a little kid saying "nooo mommmmmm" as pathetic as possible of course haha. but he will respond to me when i talk to him about going for a ride or when i ask if he wants some food.

btw YAY for the improvement mackerels made! im happys shes on the road to recovery and everthing is looking better for you both
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post #25 of 37
2/20/11 at 10:39pm
i talk to Lucy all the time, but she doesn't ever talk back. i sing to her too, sometimes but she just stares at me.
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post #26 of 37
2/21/11 at 4:24am
I talk to all of my cats all of the time! I talk to them just like I would anyone else. Imhotep though is the one I have the most "conversations" with. He always looks me right in the eyes when I talk to him and constantly meows back.
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post #27 of 37
2/21/11 at 6:28am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by RiffxRaff View Post
btw YAY for the improvement mackerels made! im happys shes on the road to recovery and everthing is looking better for you both
Thanks RiffxRaff.
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post #28 of 37
2/21/11 at 6:59am
Speedboat was my talker. He answered everytime someone spoke to him. I miss him terribly as he was my lapcat too.
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post #29 of 37
2/21/11 at 7:09am
I talk to them. However, whenever I start talking to one, others come running, and soon I'm having to pet, talk, brush, or whatever 3 or 4 of them. I have a lot of inter-cat jealousy going at my house.

I've always found that my cats like to be sung to, especially if the song is about them. I make up the songs (spontaneously) and am sure to include their names in them a lot.

It was interesting to me that when I got Tonya in September she was totally silent. I was concerned that she didn't have a voice at all. I talked to her former foster father (who works at the shelter where I got her and who had her home with him for a few months nearly 2 years before) and he said he had her before she was spayed, and she was in heat and yelled her fool head off. Slowly she started vocalizing, I suppose in response to me talking to her.

They all will answer me if I talk to them, or even look at them too long. However, they are mostly quiet with each other, unless they are complaining to each other. And they complain to me about each other, too.

Robin
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post #30 of 37
2/21/11 at 1:27pm
Cindy didn't get the nickname "Chatty Cat" by accident! And there's no question that she understands when we speak to her in whole sentences, especially when she's campaigning for a scritch, which she prefers to have delivered on our bed. I'll say something like "OK, but give Mum a minute, I just have to [insert task] first -- won't be long, promise", and there she is waiting at the door when I come back, to herd me into the bedroom. Fawn's conversations tend to be with Daddy, and more often than not on the subject of treats, namely how few of them she's had lately .
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