Actually I am not sure about the can't but we have a feral we have had going on for 3 years now that is a complete baby and super friendly but he only chirps or trills. We have never heard a meow out of him. He is the only male we have and the females all meow and are very vocal about telling us what they want. All cats are fixed if that makes a difference. Thoughts ...
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Feral That Can't Meow .......
- Thread starter keeneland
- Start Date
Hi!
Although I don't know for certain whether he was vocal before we got him at about age 5 in 2010, my Big Guy didn't ever say the least bit of boo of any type, style or musicality when we got him, so I'm guessing not.
However, about four years ago and unfortunately I don't know what the prompt was (although it might have been a comment regarding our ancestry after we rather abruptly got him into the cat carrier), he started tentatively with a meow in normal situations.
As he learned how awesomely effective that is in training us, he became more and more vocal and now we have conversations that include the most DARLING purry-meow (of course, that is after we start doing whatever it is we're supposed to be doing LOL).
Although I don't know for certain whether he was vocal before we got him at about age 5 in 2010, my Big Guy didn't ever say the least bit of boo of any type, style or musicality when we got him, so I'm guessing not.
However, about four years ago and unfortunately I don't know what the prompt was (although it might have been a comment regarding our ancestry after we rather abruptly got him into the cat carrier), he started tentatively with a meow in normal situations.
As he learned how awesomely effective that is in training us, he became more and more vocal and now we have conversations that include the most DARLING purry-meow (of course, that is after we start doing whatever it is we're supposed to be doing LOL).
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I have a former feral that only makes a sound like "Meep" He has never let out a full blown meow. He call him the Meepers!
I have another one that I brought into the house this past December. He hardly makes a sound and when he does it's nothing like a meow, more of a chirp. The rest of mine ( all former feral and one rescue) are all very vocal. One in particular. He drives me nuts some day!!
I have another one that I brought into the house this past December. He hardly makes a sound and when he does it's nothing like a meow, more of a chirp. The rest of mine ( all former feral and one rescue) are all very vocal. One in particular. He drives me nuts some day!!
From what I've read, cats don't meow to communicate with each other, it's their way of communicating with humans. Since feral cats aren't raised by their cat parents to communicate with humans, this is an activity they only learn when in a household with other cats who meow around humans. Mia, my feral kitty, has never mowed, but she does trill sometimes. My feral Cupcake, didn't meow until my very vocal Sonny tutored her in the art of meowing to get attention from me and now I have a very noisy cat choir.
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #6
Our Spot has been tutored as our other 3 all meow but he must be a slow learner LOL! It's been 3 years and he's not picked it up yet but is a big purrer!
- Thread Starter Thread Starter
- #7
It's actually a running joke at our house over this cats neurons. My wife is a dog person and is always joking about dogs being smarter than cats. So I needle her back telling her that cats have more neurons than dogs. We have one little female cat that is very smart that you can just see the wheels turning in there where she is constantly thinking things out. My wife is always telling me if our male has all these neurons he doesn't use his and our little girl does LOL! Maybe one day his neurons will kick in and he will learn to meow!
Cats can be so much fun
