TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Behavior › Mewling!
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Mewling!

post #1 of 13
5/9/11 at 12:16pm
Thread Starter 
Or meowing, or singing, or yodeling, or whatever you want to call it! My kitties are doing it!

My sweet brothers turned 7 weeks old yesterday. I got them the week before, on their six-week "birthday." They've been almost completely quiet our whole first week at home - one of them will speak up when I'm in the bathtub because he wants me out & available to play/crawl on, but otherwise they were pretty quiet. Silent while playing, silent while wrestling, etc.

Starting last night but especially today they are getting very vocal! When wrestling they are starting to yelp a bit, and if they are sleeping near me and I move and disturb them, they are speaking up about it.

Is it normal for kittens to become more vocal as they get older? Do you think they are just feeling more comfortable at my house? (Though, there was never a time since I brought them home that they didn't feel comfortable - they did not need any hiding or bonding time when I opened the cage, just walked right out & started playing & crawling on me!)

I don't think it's a sign of anything wrong, as they are in good health, don't appear to be in any pain or distress, and are playing and sleeping normally. Just getting louder!
Reply
post #2 of 13
5/9/11 at 1:15pm
Quote:
Is it normal for kittens to become more vocal as they get older?
I think so. When I rescued Queen Eva she didn't talk at all. She purred yes, and she screamed when she disapproved of something. But no conversation. By the time she was 6 months old she finally started vocalizing. Now she sings all day long.
Reply
post #3 of 13
5/9/11 at 1:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by otto View Post
I think so. When I rescued Queen Eva she didn't talk at all. She purred yes, and she screamed when she disapproved of something. But no conversation. By the time she was 6 months old she finally started vocalizing. Now she sings all day long.
I agree. It was almost a year with the Hobo; and his mew is still pretty soft, he has to be close by to hear it. But, he does it all the time now.
Reply
post #4 of 13
5/9/11 at 2:10pm
ha, mine did the opposite! He was VERY vocal when I got him for the first time about 12 weeks.. but as he got older, he vocalized less and less. Now he'd talk to me when he's really bored or sometimes after his meal to tell me he enjoyed it. I miss hearing him meow all the time!
Reply
post #5 of 13
5/9/11 at 2:31pm
Holland has NEVER been vocal. I will occasionally get a feeble "mraw" if she thinks I'm not feeding her quickly enough , and she will cry when she's in the car, but only for a few minutes, then nothing but silence. She's almost 3 years old now, so I can probably safely assume that I just have a quiet cat.
Reply
post #6 of 13
5/10/11 at 8:08am
Peanut is very happy to tell you all about it, at all hours of the day and night. Usually he makes these really adorable trilling noises, but if he really wants something he'll yowl until he gets it- usually FOOD. If I shut him out of my room at night, he'll stand outside the door and howl... yes, my kitty has a good set of lungs on him!
Reply
post #7 of 13
5/10/11 at 8:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Draco View Post
ha, mine did the opposite! He was VERY vocal when I got him for the first time about 12 weeks.. but as he got older, he vocalized less and less. Now he'd talk to me when he's really bored or sometimes after his meal to tell me he enjoyed it. I miss hearing him meow all the time!
Do you talk to him a lot? I think for many cats the more they are spoken to (use their names) the more vocal they will be. Not all, of course
Reply
post #8 of 13
5/10/11 at 8:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by otto View Post
Do you talk to him a lot? I think for many cats the more they are spoken to (use their names) the more vocal they will be. Not all, of course
Well that might explain why Peanut is so loud... when I lived alone in my apartment during my last couple years of college and right before I married DH, I talked to him constantly! I'd pick him up and sing and dance with him, just have random conversations... yeah, anyone else would have thought I was crazy.
Reply
post #9 of 13
5/10/11 at 8:46am
Quote:
Originally Posted by otto View Post
Do you talk to him a lot? I think for many cats the more they are spoken to (use their names) the more vocal they will be. Not all, of course
I do talk to him, but not a lot where it appears to be a one-sided conversation! I tell him he's a good boy, a handsome kitty, a fuzz-butt.. I tell him I want a belly rub (and he'd turn over to let me snuggle his belly), lol.

I think the main issue is that I am hearing impaired, and I don't always hear him meow (especially if I am in the bathroom or asleep), and he probably thinks I am ignoring him
Reply
post #10 of 13
5/10/11 at 10:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by otto View Post
Do you talk to him a lot? I think for many cats the more they are spoken to (use their names) the more vocal they will be. Not all, of course
Yup, Holland is the perfect exception to that! I talk to her all the time, I use her name a lot and she will look at me (most of the time ) when I say her name. She just doesn't talk...
Reply
post #11 of 13
5/10/11 at 12:19pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mystik Spiral View Post
Yup, Holland is the perfect exception to that! I talk to her all the time, I use her name a lot and she will look at me (most of the time ) when I say her name. She just doesn't talk...
lol, same with Monet. he'd either ignore me, or run over to me to see what's up
Reply
post #12 of 13
5/14/11 at 7:10pm
Wesley never shuts up, but Buttercup used to be silent. You could barely even hear her purr.

Now she purrs so loud that she snorts as she purr-lunges at you, and as she's become more confident will meow her demands for playtime, food, you name it just like Wesley. Makes the house sound like a meow-mix commercial... meow,meow,meow,meoww....

So yeah, partially a learned behavior and partially just becoming more confident in their surroundings IMO.
Reply
post #13 of 13
5/16/11 at 4:44am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ducman69 View Post
So yeah, partially a learned behavior and partially just becoming more confident in their surroundings IMO.
That's a good point about the learned behavior. It definitely started with Simon first, and now Garfunkel is following.
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Behavior
TheCatSite.com › Forums › Our Feline Companions › Behavior › Mewling!