cat Chirping sound

I was wondering if anyone knows what this means. My last cat was very vocal, but I had come to know what all of her noises meant. Levi has one he does when he's stalking something. Like the birds outside the window, or a bug. He'll look at it & make this cross between a meow & a chirp, it's hard to explain. The first time he did it I was half asleep & was afraind he had a cold & was coughing, but when I watched him it was obvious he was making the noise in response to watching the birds. My question is what is this noise, or maybe the better question is what does it mean? It's very cute but I'm curious to know if it means anything to him and Jordan.

It's just normal, it's their prey response-

Some of my cats will do that too . I think they may tell that there is a prey and then all the others will come and check it out It is really funny to watch , having more cats .

Zoey chirps with ME back in forth.. its the funniest thing ever Mee eh eh eh eh

My cats all do the same thing too when looking at the birds!! It's normal, different theories on what that chattering/chirping means, but the one I think is plausible is that they're frustrated and know that they're not going to get the 'prey'.

Don't you get a kick out of the whipping/swishing tail too?

Sounds like mimicry. Maybe trying to lure it closer, hoping to put bird on the menu at dinner. (Birds aren't always easy to catch.)

Of course, not getting their prey may frustrate them.

That's a great point!! That was the other theory that I thought was very plausible too. I noticed that they did that especially when the birds were at a distance, and had wondered if it was mimicry. Then I kept seeing the swishing tail, and figured any birds would be on to that movement, and know that WASN'T a bird.

Yep, Sasha does it when he's stalking the starlings or brush bunnies. He even lifts his upper lip and gets all quivery with major excitement. He chirps to me when I first come in the room he's in, if I've been gone for a long time, too. Very cute.

That is so true about the mimicry and the luring. I notice that my kitties do that when the prey is far or the cats are watching from behind the window. But when they are stalking, not a sound from them. Isn't that amazing?

Snowball "chirrups" every time I come home from work. I guess it's sort of a happy greeting, but I can't help but be reminded of Marge Simpson's disapproval sigh.

On the subject of mimicry, there's also the theory that cats hiss to imitate the most feared animal, the snake.

Both my cats go ape over a bug, bird, fly, anything that's close to them.. They do a little teeth chattering when ever they see something.. Our little girl has to go bug hunting each night before bed, it's a ritual she has now.. We pick her up, take her around the whole place (she's checking out the walls and ceilings) and as soon as she spots something, the chattering begins.. very cute!

Somehow we've always ended up with "Orientals", or mixes thereof, so I find the "sound effects" quite normal. JC inteprets "chirps" from me as an invitation to play. It's interesting to observe how cats can communicate with their own kind, humans, and other species. Most people will tell you that animals will react to your tone of voice, but I think that's only partly true. I've always had pets, but my husband grew up without them. I'm American, and he's German. Shortly after we married in Germany, we moved to the U.S., and he had to deal with several "English-speaking" dogs and a cat. When we moved to Germany two years after our marriage, we took a dog and a cat with us. Both refused to obey German commands or to listen to people other than my husband who had the "wrong" accent, but they did learn the important words like "eat", "walk" and "out" very quickly in German. JC was in a French-speaking household when we adopted him, and we decided that he should be bilingual- I speak English with him, and my husband speaks German with him. He seems more responsive to English, but that is probably because I visited him before we adopted him, and I'm the one who feeds him, cleans his litterbox, and takes him to the vet. Cats definitely have their own language (e.g. flehmen), but they are quite capable of learning the various human languages, especially those they are dependent on for survival.

Another cute noise Levi makes is he meows with his mouth closed. When ever he does that I know he's looking for me or his brother Jordan. When he does it first thing in the morning I'll call out "Whose crying?" & when I say that he comes running to me & starts purring. I read part of a book & the man who wrote it believes that cats are just as capable of understanding word commands as dogs are.

Most people will tell you that animals will react to your tone of voice, but I think that's only partly true.

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I personally believe it to be true. One of our cats Orion is very very timid and if my fiancee walks up towards him and says "comon buddie" he runs under the table, yet when i say the same thing in my voice he doesn't seem to run, but i say it alot softer.. Also with the following commands, they only seem to really take note when i say it, as i use a much higher voice..

In regards to cats understanding english words, im pretty sure they do. Both our cats run to the command "din dins", "Bik Bik" Fish Din Dins" (they both bolt to the fish) "sit" (as i make them sit before i give them a treat, & "birdie time" (they bolt to the birds as this means im going to change their food and water). I suppose it is all routine for them, but they must understand because it's never done at the same time of day.

My little boy "Scoot" (6 months) chirps a lot. Seems to be a happy chirp, like when I come home from work, when I'm preparing his dish, or when he's trying to get my attention.