In the meantime, I am curious because he never meows. He's been around
the neighborhood for several years, and no one has ever heard him
meow. He doesn't even try. His sole vocal ability seems to be hissing
and purring. If he lost his voice at some time, I would think he would
still make the attempt, even if nothing came out. He doesn't growl
either. I've never heard of a mute cat. Has anyone else?
Most books on cat behaviour seem to say that miaowing is a *learned*
behaviour for *pet* cats. Cats, left to themselves, would vocalise a lot
for sexual behaviour but not for social behaviour. I've also read that
cat vocalisations among-themselves are too high for us to hear. It's
assumed that on discovering that the Large Hairless Tin-Opener cannot
understand tail/ear talk, they learned to put their voice into a lower
register.

Our Murray (sadly missing) would miaow for feeding and in distress, but
would generally not miaow to go out (had flap, preferred to have the
door opened). He would just sit in the hall and stare at the door
intently.
--
Woof B