Broken meower

in article , Marek Williams at
wrote on 9/4/03 7:31 PM:

Has anyone ever run into a cat that never meows?

There is a stray I am in the process of adopting. When I started with
him he was semi-feral. He wouldn't let anyone get close enough to
touch him. If anyone was successful in touching him he hissed at them
and lashed out with claws and mouth.

After a month of playing the cat-whisperer, I have gotten him to the
point where he loves to have me pet him, rub his ears, and talk to
him. He comes running, tail in the air, as soon as he sees me coming.
He's actually starting to act just like a cat. I have a ways to go,
and there are other worries -- like when I get him to my house will he
understand about litter boxes and such. No way to tell yet.

It's pretty instinctual. When the time comes, mix regular dirt in with the
litter and slowly let litter take over.

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?

--
Bogus e-mail address, but I read this newsgroup regularly, so reply here.

I had a cat that did not meow. Until he got stuck in the trunk of a car one
time. It was enough to be heard, but I never heard him meow any other time
and we had him a long time.

Karen

in article , Marek Williams at
wrote on 9/4/03 7:31 PM:

Has anyone ever run into a cat that never meows?

There is a stray I am in the process of adopting. When I started with
him he was semi-feral. He wouldn't let anyone get close enough to
touch him. If anyone was successful in touching him he hissed at them
and lashed out with claws and mouth.

After a month of playing the cat-whisperer, I have gotten him to the
point where he loves to have me pet him, rub his ears, and talk to
him. He comes running, tail in the air, as soon as he sees me coming.
He's actually starting to act just like a cat. I have a ways to go,
and there are other worries -- like when I get him to my house will he
understand about litter boxes and such. No way to tell yet.

It's pretty instinctual. When the time comes, mix regular dirt in with the
litter and slowly let litter take over.

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?

--
Bogus e-mail address, but I read this newsgroup regularly, so reply here.

I had a cat that did not meow. Until he got stuck in the trunk of a car one
time. It was enough to be heard, but I never heard him meow any other time
and we had him a long time.

Karen

In article , Marek Williams wrote:

Has anyone ever run into a cat that never meows?

I had a cat that hardly ever mewed. He would tune up when he was in
distress, as when he was in his carrier for a trip to the vet. Then he
sounded like a case of cat abuse. Otherwise, not a peep. When he wanted
something he would sit and stare at you. Long hair breeds tend to be
quieter than short hair breeds. Some kinds of cats like the Chartreaux
cat have the reputation of not "talking."

In article , Marek Williams wrote:

Has anyone ever run into a cat that never meows?

I had a cat that hardly ever mewed. He would tune up when he was in
distress, as when he was in his carrier for a trip to the vet. Then he
sounded like a case of cat abuse. Otherwise, not a peep. When he wanted
something he would sit and stare at you. Long hair breeds tend to be
quieter than short hair breeds. Some kinds of cats like the Chartreaux
cat have the reputation of not "talking."

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

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

Marek Williams wrote in message . ..
Has anyone ever run into a cat that never meows?

There is a stray I am in the process of adopting. When I started with
him he was semi-feral. He wouldn't let anyone get close enough to
touch him. If anyone was successful in touching him he hissed at them
and lashed out with claws and mouth.

After a month of playing the cat-whisperer, I have gotten him to the
point where he loves to have me pet him, rub his ears, and talk to
him. He comes running, tail in the air, as soon as he sees me coming.
He's actually starting to act just like a cat. I have a ways to go,
and there are other worries -- like when I get him to my house will he
understand about litter boxes and such. No way to tell yet.

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?

Our cat never meows. I've never heard him do it (he did hiss once,
though). What the little boy does do is to 'argue' with either me or
my wife when he is ordered away for the nite (away to his own seperate
bedroom where his active enjoyment of the nitelife will not disturb
our sleep, that is). Anyway, when he is told "Chop-Chop!!" (he knows
this means away to bed), as he trots by, he will 'mouth' little
sounds, almost like he is back-talking us! It's so funny! Sometimes,
he goes on and on as he jumps off the bed and makes for his exile.
I've never heard of an animal back-talking before. He's so cute!



IBen

Marek Williams wrote in message . ..
Has anyone ever run into a cat that never meows?

There is a stray I am in the process of adopting. When I started with
him he was semi-feral. He wouldn't let anyone get close enough to
touch him. If anyone was successful in touching him he hissed at them
and lashed out with claws and mouth.

After a month of playing the cat-whisperer, I have gotten him to the
point where he loves to have me pet him, rub his ears, and talk to
him. He comes running, tail in the air, as soon as he sees me coming.
He's actually starting to act just like a cat. I have a ways to go,
and there are other worries -- like when I get him to my house will he
understand about litter boxes and such. No way to tell yet.

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?

Our cat never meows. I've never heard him do it (he did hiss once,
though). What the little boy does do is to 'argue' with either me or
my wife when he is ordered away for the nite (away to his own seperate
bedroom where his active enjoyment of the nitelife will not disturb
our sleep, that is). Anyway, when he is told "Chop-Chop!!" (he knows
this means away to bed), as he trots by, he will 'mouth' little
sounds, almost like he is back-talking us! It's so funny! Sometimes,
he goes on and on as he jumps off the bed and makes for his exile.
I've never heard of an animal back-talking before. He's so cute!



IBen

Thank you, Rona and Woof, for that fascinating info, I don't remember ever
hearing that about cats not meowing much in the wild (though I had heard
about the higher register thing, which explains why sometimes my cats meow,
and it looks like they've got laryngitis and nothing's coming out)! Really
interesting stuff, thanks again for sharing.

Ann

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak

Thank you, Rona and Woof, for that fascinating info, I don't remember ever
hearing that about cats not meowing much in the wild (though I had heard
about the higher register thing, which explains why sometimes my cats meow,
and it looks like they've got laryngitis and nothing's coming out)! Really
interesting stuff, thanks again for sharing.

Ann

http://www.angelfire.com/ca/bewtifulfreak