Does a Cat Growl?!

[Sus]

Hello pet-talkers!

Wonder if anyone would help me with a small language problem? What does a cat do, when it makes a warning sound - you know that sort of long, singing tune of warning two rivals would make when they accidentally meet in you backyard? My dictionary suggests "growling" but to me (and my danish ears) this sound more like the thing a dog would do...!!??
I need the word to be able to tell you about some peculiar behaviour of Bella's! :) :)

Lots of love,
Sus and the Bellacat

[Laura's Babies]

A deep "GRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" is how they growl. Mine growl in phases. Chester suddenly learned he could growl when he was about a year old and he growled at everything for about a month. I would ask him what he was doing, he would look at me and growl. Tell him company is coming... he would look at me a growl.. It was a new noise for him and he loved using it and used it a lot until it got old and he quit. Giz has learned how and a few months ago, she went through that same phase.

[Barbara]

Ask Edwina's Secretary what Filou said when she picked him up to tell him some nice things:D

I call it growling:p

[aguu]

They definitely growl.
I've heard Mishka growl twice. Once when my friend was visiting with a dog. A few moments after they left and I was sitting on the bed with Mishka comforting him - the doorbell rank. He jumped up and let out the deepest meanest GRRRRRRRRRROWL... I could not believe it.

And recently I heard Mishka growl when he was having his shrimp and Bean approached too close!!!
:rolleyes:

[catmandu]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/catmandu/catphotos1040.jpg

The Found Catys,are leraning,how,to GGGGRRRRR,as Scrappy 2,insists,on using thier tails,as A Toy,and pushing,in front,of them when they are hungry.GGGGRRRRR,in this Case,Means Darned Kitten!GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[sirrahbed]

Here is Lizzie with her favorite fuzzball that a friend sent.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v170/sirrahbed/more%20kitties%202005/lizball.jpg
Her brother is looking at her and she is (in the picture) making that low singing/humming sound in her throat. I call it growling, too:D

Maybe what dogs do could better be described as snarling??:rolleyes:

[Lacey]

Zelda definitely growls (and I swear I heard her let out a little growly bark the other day). Goodness knows she's been doing a lot of growling at Kahlua. Mowgli hasn't learned how yet. He hisses instead.

[christa]

Josie growls ALL THE TIME! Mostly when she & her brother are play fighting . . . she sounds like a LIONESS!!! :eek:

[Edwina's Secretary]

And I clearly understood Filou when he growled at me as my sweet little princess....Edwina...growls rather frequently. :D :D

[nibblets]

Oh my yes! Miss Julie will get her fluff up and growl at my son when he is 'bothering' her during her beauty rest. Of course me, being Meowmie, can 'bother' her and she doesn't growl.

[Randi]

Fister used to growl when he was little. In the yard, he would try his best to chase Pjevs out - usually with succes. :( These days, if Fister goes down, Pjevs will be there waiting for me, and he just ignores Fister totally, and Fister him. :)

[Logan]

Butter has never growled to my knowledge, believe it or not. But Mimi, the Queen of this house, definitely has a low, threatening growl!!!!! :eek:

[sarifish]

oh yea my cats growl its a low growl but its distinct

[chocolatepuppy]

My cats definately growl! :D

[janelle]

My little one growls when the bigger one holds her down. But then she is my little tiger striped and tigers growl. My Siamese hisses more but he isn't the one being held down. He can be such a bully at times.

They are both very quiet cats it's just when the older one is being a bully will the little one says much. I have to break it up and he runs into the bedroom under the bed. Geesh, kits.:rolleyes:

[Sus]

Thank you all! So it is OK to use the word "growl"... Some wonderful stories there! They also explain a lot that I've been wondering about, ever since I got Bella some 10 years ago! She was the one to introduce growling into my little family! My first cats - Pepper and Chili - who were brothers from the same litter never growled. They fought sometimes - in a sort of friendly, brotherly manner, and they always fought silently, except from the occasional groan, when one of them got a good punch at the other. Unfortunately, Pepper died early - at the age of 4 - because of a heart condition. When I got Bella (who was supposed to be a boy!) one year later, it very quickly became apparent that she was of a different founding and that the cosy coexistence between the three of us was lost forever. She growled!! And Chili didn't like it one bit. She growled at the stray cats outside the window, she growled at me when I had to give her pills or when I had to remove her from the bedspread at night. She growled when we tried to play, which was almost impossible because she got angry instead of playful and sometimes she just growled for no other reason than surplus energy. Wheras I found my way round it all with her, Chili didn't. He attacked her every time she seemed to boil over for some reason or other. As if she overstepped some houserules of his - not mine.

I sometimes think, I should have given her a new home instead of keepting her on. But these things are difficult! It wasn't too bad in the beginning - when Bella was young. And I loved her right from the start. Besides - she wasn't exactly a "dream pet", the way she behaved - who would have wanted her?

Anyway, peace has returned to my life now. When I had to have Chili put down a year ago because of kidney problems (he was 16) I decided that Bella would be better off as a single cat. And it seems to work out fine. She sure didn't miss Chili that awful day when I came home alone - she never searched for him or meowed. And she has become much more relaxed. She still growls like a dog (!) when we play one of her favorite games: Which is when we are pulling at each of side of a pillow, and she still growles when she gets a "fit" of surplus energy. But other than that, she is getting sweeter every day.

Thanks again! I really enjoyed reading your stories.. Sorry, forgot all about the smileys! I'll try to improve!

Lots of love
Sus and the Bellacat

[janelle]

I think it helps if you can play with them before the adoption. I got my second cat from my SIL. Her cat had a litter so I was able to play with each one. When I played with her sister she compained about everythinig. No matter what I did to her she meowed at me to put her down. Chianti let me hold her any which way and she didn't make a peep. She is the mellowest cat I have ever seen. Only thing wrong with her is she is a demolition derby. She scratches the furniture. She is so little to do so much damage. I put soft claws on her.