Communication

Tell me, do cat's have their own verbal communication? And if they do, to what extent? Do cats communicate in sentences, or instead just calls? How many "words" do they have?

This is a poll.

You are still going to get answers to a poll. I believe they can communicate in sentences.

My cat is one of few words until you upset her... then you get an ear full!!! lol I'm still learning what the different meows might mean.

First off cats don't communicate like people- they do it differently, so your poll is really invalid. They communicate in many different ways mostly body language and a person can understand their cat if they understand the body language. They communicate by sound, meows and purrs, and they also communicate with their tails and claws-

Cats communicate in concepts - they transmit complete 'thoughts' whether you wish to call that a 'sentence' or not, it really isn't too transferable to the way humans verbally communicate. They use their voices, their eyes, their ears, their tails, their whiskers, and their whole body to get across their message. I am also pretty convinced that they also telegraph their messages telepathically as well. Freija will just sit and look at me, then I will get this message that her food dish is empty - and when I check (with her following me to the dish) it is, so I fill it up - and she goes and eats.

Kathryn

Limerick has a 2-3 meow answer for me.... he loves to talk. He does it mostly when I come home. It's like he's telling me about his day you saying "where were you, what took you so long, I'm hungry..ect" It's really cute!!!

Originally Posted by hissy

First off cats don't communicate like people- they do it differently, so your poll is really invalid. They communicate in many different ways mostly body language and a person can understand their cat if they understand the body language. They communicate by sound, meows and purrs, and they also communicate with their tails and claws-

Click to expand...

I thikn you're reading way too much into the poll. It's not like Gallupis conducting it or anything... just an FYI type thing. Yes cat communicate with thier entire body, my kitten uses his voice most often. I ask him questions he seems to answer then with a meow or a coo or somesort of verbal reaction. It's cute and at times funny. Let have some fun people!!!

I agree with Hissy. Both of my cats communicate with sound and the like, but I think they communicate more through body language. When I approach either of my two cats, my first instinct is to observe their body language. My older cat, Charlotte, is relatively quiet. However, she has a very strong body language if you pay attention to her ears, tail, mouth, body, the way she walks, and even in her "personal" space. My kitten, Izzie, is rather talkative, but she too has her way of speaking through body language.

I wish there was an "I'm not sure" option.

I've never seen two cats that sat and talked to eat other. Mine are never vocal with one another. They understand each other fine, but they don't talk. It's more body language (or possible telepathic communication ) than spoken "language".

However, with human, yes, cats can communicate in small sentances. They can also learn to connect human vocal sounds with action and things. They don't understand what "food" means, but they equate that sound with their food. Our last cat was the best. She understood a lot of our sounds. "Mommy's home", "Get down", "Come see", "Time for bed", "It's dead" (used for when she was afraid of something), "Want some?", "What do you want?"... etc. The list went on and on. The three I have now understand "Wodesorel's home" (I ain't using my real name), "lunchtime", "Time to eat", and "Mom's home". They'll eventually learn more.

I also have learned my cat's vocal sounds. "He's bothering me", "I'm hungry", "Come love me", "You have to follow me", "Please?", "I want some", etc. Each of my three use different sounds to communicate the same idea, but they use the same sounds each time. There are still some sounds/phrases they use constantly in trying to get across an idea, but I have yet to learn what they mean.

Cats are much more intelligent than some people give them credit for. Eponine understands what "Wanna play hide and seek means" because she will immediately dive behind the nearest piece of furniture, sneak her head out to look for me, and then pounce! We have to play hide and seek each morning for at least 10 minutes before I go to work.
She is most vocal to me when she is in a different room than I am. She lets out this series of meows that means "Come in here and give me attention." She knows better than to do that when I'm sleeping though

MIne communicate with me and each other in different ways. Body language is important but they also have verbal calls. I know when Persil is saying to Ellie 'Let's play', and when Dushka says 'Leave me alone'. And from me they understand 'Down' and 'Find your mouse' and 'go fetch' and 'out' and 'come on' and 'dinner' among other phrases. They have all copied from each other a little trilling sound that means ' I am here', that they sometimes use when chasing each other or when they leap on me in bed! They all ignore 'no' unless it is accompanied by their own name!

Simon communicates in epic novels, often rhyming. LOL!

My observation is that a meow can mean one thing when eye contact is held, another when the ears and tail are flicking, and so on. I know Simon understands me very well...and I'm learning how to understand him (I sometimes think cats are smarter than we are; they understand cat and human language...while we don't.)

Esse doesn't fuss at me like Simon does, thank goodness, but she definitely is communicating something. Likewise with Pie. Charlottes main communication is growling, but she doesn't mean "I'm gonna scratch and bite you!", it's more like "geez, can't I sleep here? Why not? I mean, really, c'mon, mom!. And I've not yet heard Penguin, and I might never.

However, I can generally see what's going on by watching their bodies and seeing what they're being aware of and what they're ignoring, irrespective of if they talk about it or not.

Best-
Michele

Franz so far, just uses short sentences...but we have Hooked on Phonics, so we are working on that. Maddie for the most part communicates with "the look" it's rather Garboesque...with a bit of Ava Gardner thrown in...or perhaps she just watches too many old black and white movies with me.