I'm with 4Feline. I've read that cats will purr during any kind of extreme emotion. That comes as surprising since most are familiar with the purring of a content cat on a lap or lying in a patch of sun. Although, I do remember when I was much younger, our family cat had injured himself outside and I went to rescue him and was surprised to find that he was purring!

As for the meow thing, Marius doesn't meow, but he chirrups. I was wondering if this was a genetic thing, or if maybe he was injured or abused before I found him as a stray. Who knows. When he does meow, it's a tiny pathetic peep of a meow, which is amusing coming from a 16 pound male cat! Most of the time he chirrups though.

Karen definitely said it in that people with pets live longer lives. I remember reading about a study that was done about the effects of pets on people's lives and they concluded that people whith pets had lower blood pressure and less stress. That's why I think it's great that some retirement homes and medical facilities have adopted the practice of having animals brought in every week to visit with the patients.

The next question...What exactly is a purr and where does it come from???

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"In a cat's eye, all things belong to cats." - English proverb