Cat voices

[Beauty17]

My black cat Beauty talks a lot. She is a mixed breed shelter cat, but she seems to have a lot of Siamese traits even though she is black and far from svelte. She has a Siamese voice and she talks as if she were human - often in sentences, or little murmurs, or moans, or "wah" sounds. She makes us laugh. Sometimes when we get unwanted calls on our telephone, we put her on instead of dealing with the caller ourselves. On the other hand, our cat Indigo hardly speaks at all. She merely prinks (that little chirpy sound in her throat) or she mews with her mouth closed. Once in the rarest while she will open her mouth when she mews, and the slightest soft sound will come out. She is dominant over Beauty, however. She is also the more irritable of the two cats. Beauty tolerates being handled at all times - she is a cuddle bunny. Indigo only wants to climb onto your chest when you are lying down, and she never wants to be held. We love both cats very much.

[Flatcoatluver]

aww your kitty seems very special!

[Beauty17]

Thank you for noticing my kitty. Everyone here seems to have the ability to do fancy pictures and all. I can't - all I have is words. But my Beauty and Indigo are indeed special kitties - as I believe all kitties are. Each has his or her own special traits that are to be celebrated. Thank you for your noticing mine. I appreciate it.

[fairlady68]

You are truly blessed with at least one meow cat! My Julie is a talker, too. I never dreamed that a being weighing only eight pounds could be so much company. I love every sound that comes out of her. Especially the "sugar-frosted meows" she produces sometimes while purring warmly...Enjoy your babies, both the talker and the silent partner!

Love and purrs from
MARTHA and Julie ("Meow! Meow! Meow!")
The California Calico Princess

[Ingrid's dad]

My Ingrid was jet black with green eyes. For almost 18 years she was amazingly talkative. Not so much in a constant sense--not annoying--but in the variety of sounds she made, and the range of situations in which she'd make them. Her timing and the range of her inflections were so expressive that it was plain she had a firm grasp of exactly what her relationship was to different people. Everybody used to crack up to listen to our conversations. Ingrid asked questions, she ventured guesses, she made comments, she reacted to all kinds of different situations with funny little noises, she pleaded, she declared herself in absolute terms, she issued ultimata, she sniped, she cheered, she enthused, she mused aloud, she cried, she talked in her sleep, she muttered, she quipped, she said she was bored, she announced it when she was disgusted, she cursed, she made a grand entrance after everybody had settled in, she made it plain when she thought you were wasting her time, she flirted and cooed, she sang, and sometimes she talked to herself. Plus she purred, of course.

My new friend Matilda purrs like crazy when she's happy, and I know she can speak because she cried when I carried her out to my car from the place where I adopted her, but since she came home all she's had to say has been a tiny little squeak at her mirror image. She looks up at me and mouths "meow," but she's not even whispering.

[grybai]

Aw, that's so cute! My black cat is also quite a talker. He always trills whenever I say his name. My girlfriend makes fun of me because sometimes I carry on conversations with him. I'll say something, and then he'll meow back, and so on and so on...

[Beauty17]

I loved reading the long post from Ingrid's Dadd, and also the post that mentioned "sugar-coated meows." It is indeed a great joy to have a talking cat. She will converse quite readily. She will also complain when she is moved from one spot to another - "wah, wah, wah, wah," these little whispery, grumpy rapidfire little cries in a Siamese-y baby kind of way. I also discovered that she will come to me if I meow in a cat-calling kind of way - that voice they use to call one another with. She shows up in a hurry to see what the trouble is. She will converse with me whether I talk to her in cat or in human. I am sure she is sure she is making herself perfectlly well understood. And, yes, my other cat, who doesn't meow (she only prinks) *can* meow - she will meow if en route to the vet, for instance, though softly - but it must be an effort for her, because she simply chooses not to. Even her purr is soft, as opposed to Beauty's purr, which can be heard across the room and above the sound of a television. I love cat voices, no matter what kind.

[Ingrid's dad]

I've never heard that term. But I like it.

In part because I wanted to make sure that I didn't constantly measure her according to the standard of Ingrid--which would be unfair to Ingrid, unfair to me, unfair to the new kitty--I was hesitant to bring a new cat home to live with me. I thought it might be too soon.

Yup, Ingrid had an amazing variety of vocalizations.

Matilda hardly uses her voice at all. She makes noise in other ways: galloping around, turning over a piece of furniture (just her house, which is fine--that is for her to destroy as she sees fit, rather than ruining my other stuff), etc. She flipped over her house and got it to bang against the wall while I was in the shower, and it sounded like somebody had hit my front door with a battering ram. (I'm gonna have to put some sort of weight in the bottom of it.)

But talk? Not much. She cried softly as I carried her to my car when I adopted her, she cried softly when she got tangled up in my sheets and hung off the bed in sort of a cocoon, she squeaked when she saw her image in the mirror, she squeaked last night one time when I picked her up, but she does not talk. Looks at me and moves her mouth in a silent mime of "meow."

I've known people who had cats that started talking when they were ready. Sometimes after years. Sometimes after many years. I assume that Matilda could hiss or growl if she wanted (although I'm not sure). But this Harpo Marx thing is a new one on me.

Any advice/comments? Does she need a speech therapist or a vocals coach?