Do your Bengals Meow???

Sasha hasn't learned the art of meowing yet. He chirps and squeeks. He has never growled or hissed either. Is this normal for all Bengals or just Sasha?

Sorry I can't answer your question.

I just wanted to tell you that you have one beautiful kitty there.

it's probably Sasha's characteristic. We have 5 bengals. Minnie Mouse, our little snow bengal, has a squeak, hence her name Go to The International Bengal Cat Society's website, and listen to the asian leopard cat ... they dont meow , they kind of 'chirp'. It's interesting BTW, Sasha is pretty.

she is very pretty

uuh huh! hubba hubba!

Simba has a rather unusual Meow. It's this wobbley little sound that sort of goes up in pitch at the end. Sounds like a cross between a meow and a question. I should go listen to the Asian Leopard cat to see if the sound is similar.

Tigger how does one find that website in order to listen to the sound of the Asian Leopard cat?

Here's my little Bangel Boy, Simba.

Simba is a cutie here's the link: http://www.bengalcat.com/

Wow! I just listened to the voice of the ALC, and you wouldn't believe Simba's reaction to it. It was like he recognized something in it from deep down inside him. He jumped up and ran to the computer looking all over for the origination of the sound. He kind of started prowling looking and he sort of became very agitated. The other 2 cats in my house didn't pay any attention to the sound. They are Siamese cats.

Simba's meow is closer to a regular cats meow than that, but I do hear a little bit of the Asian Leopard cats Yeowl in Simba's funny little warbling meow he makes.

My previous Bengal, Mozzie, was incredably vocal and it was his constant chatter, amongst other things, that really started my fascination in the breed, and was probably why the house seemed so empty when he crossed the Rainbow Bridge. We now know we will
always have a Bengal in our house from now on.

Our Snow Bengal, Pau Sau - or Pauie for short, has so many different meows, and tones, its like a whole new language.

Whenever someone is at the door, he tuns to the door and stands there and has this very big loud aggressive, short sharp meow. If you are talking to him, he will adjust the meow to the similar tone in your voice. As he is apparently quite ill ( he's doing really well on the Homeopathy, at the moment, no-one who'd see him would believe he has Bowel Cancer ! ), when he was really sick, I'd rock him in my arms like a bady, and softly say to him " are you my poor Pauie ??? My poor, poor Pauie ??? " and he'd half close his eyes and in a pathetic but heart melting whine in a similar quiet tone, whine back " yeeessss ". He still does it after pill time, as he gets the attention he craves.

He has another meow to tell us " I'm going to be sick " and another
one for " I need the toilet, but I need you to make sure the kitty
litter is clean first ".

When he wants feeding, he'll have another entirely different meow.
If you ask him if he wants the food, he'll meow in that tone, and because we've cruel and he's so insanely cute, we ask " sorry what was that " so he'll meow again. When he's had enough of that game without getting the required result, he takes to 'shouting' his
meow, in the same tone, but louder, and with an added snarl face like the MGM lion. He then starts to get aggitated so we don't keep it up anymore.

He has meows for hello, and when he sees us go out, he wails, and
paces the house looking for any person he finds, and then does this kind of " Oh thank God ! " kind of yelp and purrs his head off.

When he wants to play with Puffycat, he has this chirrup reving up period, and with every chirrup comes a little circle of excitment
of the impending pounce and bite, while Puffycat calmly lays there thinking " *Sigh* here we go again ! " This can go one for 10 minutes, before the attack. He lunges for the neck and holds it
a few seconds, before letting go and running away, and doing this victorious long meow. Puffycat occassionaly has the odd scab which is worrying, but he never seems to react and touch wood has always been fine when checked out by the vet. Thank God he has long hair !

When he wants to play with me, he is more demanding and will
just give short sharp loud blasts of meows. When he's going to
do something naughty, like stalk the birdcage - or the food from your plate, and you ask him " Whatcha doin ??? " he'll give a very innocent quick meow ". If he's actually in the act, so to speak, he'll not answer at all. If he's not answering, and you so
" Noooo ", he yowl back in the same tone like a little child mimicking you. If he ignores us, and grabs the food from the
plate and I tug of war with him ( even down to prising open his jaws
and taking the item from him, as he desperately tries to swallow )
he'll have this really weird, wildcat sounding, yowl, meow, growl thing, then straight away after its been removed from him, he'll
adopt the " Butter wouldn't melt " look and tone of voice.

If he hisses, which is rare, its so unlike a normal hiss, and seems
to resonate from within, and be rather drawn out, before he stalks away.

Generally, if he doesn't get his way, he will 'shout' his required
request at us. Recently, I've been teaching him to quieten it down
on command if he really shouts loudly, as he still is getting the
attention he wants - the demanding little critter ! As he meows
I merely repeat in a quieter tone " Quiet Meows " and he after two
or three shouts, will copy the tone and pitch, and finally hit a more
pleasanter volume. On the other hand, if you ask him to speak up
or shout, he'll do that too. Pauie is certainly very perceptive and
loves the tricks and things I teach him, and the tricks and things he trains me to do !

So, I may well be totally mad for holding full conversations with my Pauie, but at least my Pauie is communicating back...well...er...
...that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it !

Sonia, I'm so sorry to hear that Pauie has cancer. Your Bengal sounds like a remarkable cat.

I can't say that Simba does much talking at all. He's not very vocal, which I know is supposed to be a Bengal trait. He only makes his little warbling meow sound once in a while. Vocally speaking, he's a very quiet cat. However, he's extremely active, and playful, and he gets into everything. He also has no fear what so ever. When he goes after my 6 year old Siamese cat Shane, and Shane growls and hisses and runs away from him. My Simba goes right back after him. He won't let up, even when I raise my voice to him. He just keeps on going after the other cat. For Simba it's just play, and maybe the desire to get the Alpha cat position. I don't know. Simba is still a kitten, he'll be 7 months old on the 25th of November.

Bengals are really pretty/handsome cats.

I don't know much about bengals, but Sylvester or Sylvie, the mantle tuxedo cat we've been feeding on our back porch, just makes these little squeaky noises. I haven't heard a meow or yowl from this cat yet, and he is a very big, long legged, large pawed, magnificent looking cat, hardly one that should be "squeaking" for his supper.

Oops, I just wanted to add to this post that Sylvester/Sylvie, the black and white cat, is in fact a mask and mantle cat. I don't think he's a tuxedo cat because his face isn't black. He has a black mask or cap that covers his head and which extends down to his eyes and a black mantle or saddle on his back, including a black tail. His front legs, chest, face up to his eyes, nose, chin, and under belly are all white.

Wow Sonia it sounds like you are really in tune with your cats needs and language. That is terrific that you can understand the sonds that he makes My Sasha is not as vocal. I wonder if there is a way to get him to "talk" to me more. I will have to work on that!

We have a stray cat named Peaches in our spare bedroom, long story, but anyways...last night Sasha (the bengal) decides to "chirp" and pound on the door to try and get to Peaches. We were almost asleep at the time. Both Steven and I woke up and thought there was an alarm going off somewhere and someone was banging on our front door for help. Sasha was making an "alarm" type chirping noise! Strange!

Looks like Sasha wants a friend, Coco How does Sasha like the other cats who arent of his breed? I've found all of our bengals like our other 2 "moggies". I've also come to the conclusion that it seems to me that purebred cats are more accepting of their breed, than say moggies, but maybe I am wrong. I know that Cinammon and Fluffy hiss at the bengals.
My big chunky male, Scooter, I swear sometimes when he meows, it sounds like "mom"

I wonder what's wrong with my Bengal. He's not vocal at all. He doesn't chip or have a lot of sounds. He's somewhat interested in water, but not enough to get into it or play in it. The only real Bengal trait he has, is that he's VERY playful, and he gets into everything.

My bengal Toby is VERY vocal. On the topic of volume level I've heard more people say their bengal is vocal than not, but each kitty is different.

Toby has a petulant bratty boy meow. The meow of a cat who knows he's loved too much for his own good. (Imagine this: Momeeeeeee....I waaaaaant it. NOOOOOWWWWWW. *NOW!!!* - the last meow almost sounding like a curse) We have conversations back and forth it's quite funny. I'll meow and he meows back and vice versa, and we repeat the tones and rythms to each other.

At first I found the volume and constancy of his meowing a bit trying. But I've grown very accustomed to it, and he has settled down quite a bit. But it's great that he has so many different tones of voice to help me understand his mood. But body language says just as much if not more and doesn't disturb the neighbours! (which I have none thank god!)

Toby caught in this picture at the tail end of a meow:

My female Bengal, Majesty, meows constantly! If she smells anything meaty, she meows and meows and meows! Her meow is a "purrrow" instead of a "meow". She combines a purr with her meowing, so cute!