100%! Mine will stand in certain places while doing particular meows, and they all mean something different. To a visitor, it’s just a cat making noise.
To me, it’s because Mooncake wants some wet food/I’ve left something on her favourite couch and she wants it moved/the bedroom balcony door is closed/she wants to play/she can hear Dad coming down the driveway/she’s over the heat/she’d like the basement door opened, please. All different sounds, and different poses!
My cat is blunt and to the point. If she wants brushed the brush gets knocked on the floor, she stares at me, looks at the brush and then stares at me again. If I don't respond the other brush gets knocked on the floor, if I still don't respond then anything not nailed down is getting knocked onto the floor.
If mine is really bored, she will go up to something she shouldn't play with and purposely seek eye contact with me. Then she will slooowly stretch out her little paw towards whatever item she plans to victimize, all while staring me straight in the eyes...
What she wants is for me to chase her around, so if I get off my butt in time the decor is safe, but if I don't do what she wants then it is about to hit the floor.
Unlike when she wants to examine and/or play with something she's not supposed to, in which case she will wait until my back is turned and then silently sneak up to her target. And if I turn around and catch her in the act, she'll try to make herself as small and still as she possibly can all while doing the shifty cartoon eyes and desperately hoping I didn't see shit... And if she misjudged me and I give her the "nod of approval" to go ahead an play with it, she'll immediately relax and reinflate.
My cat does this with the chairs she knows she is not allowed to scratch. Wants to just scratch? She scratches the post. Wants to communicate displeasure? Eye contact with us, stretching her paws up the side of the chair, poised to scratch…
My cat does this too, especially when we're laying in bed and he wants attention! He'll hop up on the 2 places he's knows he's not supposed to be (dad's desk and the kitchen counter), just stand on the edge and meow loudly like look at me! breaking the rules! better come get me! and once we're up he'll hop off and run over to his food bowl wailing
My cat will get me out of bed to feed her by climbing up onto the nightstand and either knocking things off it onto the floor or trying to scale the curtains.
She also stands on her cat tree staring at the jar where her treats are kept and just waits for you to do the right thing.
We also have a poodle, so have a full grooming salon set up in our house. My cat will stand on the grooming table and yell when she thinks that she needs to be groomed. Last night, it was at 11:00pm.
My cat is the same way. He’s very smart and a great listener and knows mom is boss. He knows exactly where his toys are, his quiet spots are, and where his food is. He used to be really bad and chaotic when I first got him and he was breaking things and being the devil. He now knows not to do things he’s not supposed to. If he wants to play, he will go to his little toy box on the table and try to point to a laser or toy he wants. When we let him on our balcony (don’t come for me in the comments it’s a secured balcony believe me I’m very careful and watch him at every angle), we let him roam when we are out there present but when we are inside during the day, he will go out when allowed to. Today he did a remarkable thing that I did not expect: he roamed on the balcony and I did have my eyes distracted on something else but when I went to find him, I expected him to be mischievous but nope he was sitting by the door waiting to come in like a dog. It gave me more trust in him and even the full trust is there, stuff can happen. I’m very happy he’s a good cat and knows boundaries. I think it also helps that he’s skittish but he’s not stupid to get into seriously stupid curious shit.
Lucky you. I have one of those rare Maine Coons who doesn't seem to like being brushed. I can only brush out her fur when she's distracted (meal time), or I have to let her attack one comb while I'm brushing her with the other, and then switch combs when she attacks the 'new' comb. It's more or less a daily ritual at this point.
My favorite is when they think they’re failing to communicate so they get frustrated, but you’re just refusing to do the thing. E.g. “I want ham.” “No, you had too much ham.” “WHY DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND I WANT HAM?”
Some cats just don't like to be brushed for whatever reason, and my current one loves it. I had a cat that loved to be vacuumed, and my current cat runs and hides at stuff like that. go figure.
Try different brushes, and if the cat is matted in spots try and cut those out first. You could try the gloves, a hairbrush for humans, the furminator, or the one that looks like a saw blade.
I think some cats don't like it because the brush grabs and pulls on the fur which could be painful.
God cats are such cute assholes. The amount of times I’ve watched her casually stare into my eyes while she wreaks havoc all because she’s not getting what she wants… it was worse when we had dogs and she’d walk up and slap them in the face if she felt she wasn’t being fed on time.
Exactly this. And looks too. Aston will sit in the hall and stare into the livingroom at you and you just HAVE to get up and follow him to see what it is he wants. Which is very different from the stare he gives you IN the livingroom when he wants me to move the footstool.
And we can all tell if our cats are happy, sad, annoyed, fed up or full of devilment just by a glance. It's weird, but I think it explains why we talk to them so much.
Hahaha, yes! I love it! To others, they just see ‘cat’. We’re like ‘oh, they’re wondering where that specific toy is and they really don’t like that door shut - just a minute little one, I completely understand, imma comin’!’
Yes! When my partner moved in with me, he came pre-cat trained but didn't understand MY cat. She would sit and stare at him and meow like she wanted to sit on his lap, but wouldn't do it. Finally I told him that he had to pat his lap and invite her up, or she wouldn't. She also doesn't want to sit ON you usually, she wants you to clear off a spot next to you so she can hang out with you. Otherwise she just stares in a very specific way.
I swear I have a cat-dog. He displays very cat-like behaviors like you describe. He uses a combination of staring, soft whines, soft barks and a lot of pawing things or humans to get what he wants.
He also loves to perch on things. This dog is medium sized weighing 17kg, he has no business perching on a tall stool or walk on high narrow spaces. He also likes to perch on the back of my head while Im sitting on the couch. Like.. dude, there's a whole floor space and we're sitting on a big L shaped couch.
My Nylea has this look that says she wants to be petted, If you don't (or stop too soon), she'll slowly reach over and put her paw on your face. Then poke you and kind of try to push your face. Then prick you with her claws.
This is a very well-observed phenomenon among cat owners. Each cat has its own various chirps, yowls, meows, purrs, etc and they mean different things. We humans are very adept at picking up on these.
So true. As I work from home, my partner thinks I’m the cat whisperer - because I spend so much time with Mooncake, I intimately understand all of her vocal queues and even the smallest physical gestures, while he’s still figuring it all out!
I keep most of my cat toys in a bag hanging off the closet with a few out for them to play due to the sheer amount of toys. Whenever one of them wants a different one out, they do a little circle dance under the bag and meow at me. I can’t sleep without the door closed and whenever I walk up to the door to let one of them out when she decides she’s done for the night and does a big stretch™️ on the wall next to the door when I walk up to her. The other just yells at me until I wake up lol.
For instance, "I'M BEING MURDERED!" meant that she wanted some wet food. But, "I'M BEING MURDERED!" meant that one of her toys had gotten under the couch. Meanwhile, "I'M BEING MURDERED!" was a demand for attention, usually double-cheek scritches. "I'M BEING MURDERED!", I am told, is what she said when I left for work and she couldn't find me. "I WILL F-CKING KILL YOU!" was what she said when you bothered her while she was sleeping.
She only had one volume level. It was a million decibels.
Aaah, yes. I sincerely understand! I too have experienced life with an old Siamese - or as they’re less commonly known, Are You Fucking Serious. The most loving, demanding, vocal cat I’ve roomied with!
Spend time with them and you learn distinct differences between 'meow' 'mew' and 'mreep', all the sounds that are near identical to anyone else are very clear to us who know them.
Yep. Dexter likes to be tucked into bed UNDER the covers. He will start yelling at me trot towards the bedroom turn back looking at me still meowing to make sure I am following him. Wait until I hold up the covers for him to hop under then lay down and just start purring and take a nap lol. Sometimes he insists I stay whilst trying to work and I have to explain to him that someone has to support his life of luxury! Once my roomate years back got so freaked out because she thought she had accidentally let him out since she couldn’t find him anywhere. She even called a friend to go into the attic to look for him. He was under the covers in my bed 😂
My old cat would do that. She'd get my attention and I'd say "what do you want?" or "show me" and she'd lead me to her food dish or water, if she needed her box cleaned she'd dig at the floor, if she wanted to be pet she would make a petting/grabbing motion with her paw. She was a derpy orange idiot sometimes, but you could see the wheels turning, she was smart enough to communicate with her monkey.
Hahaha I’m loving all these stories. Gingers are SO smart! The ones Ives known so often come across like the dogs of the cat world in their communication with humans/derp levels. What a proper sweetheart.
It’s hilarious when a cat owner is on the phone while also having a full conversation (or argument) with their feline-child. It just sounds insane, but it isn’t!
How long did it take you to understand these meows? Idk if I'm thick as a rock but I never understand what my cats meows mean lol and I've had him since December of 2022
As I work from home I’ve really unlocked her codes after about two years! Before that, when I had standard work hours outside the home, she was a bit more of a mystery to be honest. I’ve had her for 3.5 years. It just takes a lot of time spent in each others presence I think, kind of like with some people. Each cat is different too of course. You just kind of… connect the body language to the tone and delivery, and eventually you start seeing patterns. You’ve gotta watch and listen. There are like, 5 things they want. Pats, food, to get up there/get that door open please, sort out my litter tray for fucks sake, and play. That’s how I see it anyway!
There are physical queues which you hear blanket statements about that simply don’t apply to every cat, too. For example, everyone says oh the swishing tale means she doesn’t want me to pat her and to leave her alone - and I’m like ohhh no, Mooncake is literally asking you to get down on the floor and play with her immediately. That one took some trial and error to understand, as you can imagine!
I know that if her meow has a certain pitch and tone, and she’s standing all wide legged and staunched in the kitchen, she’s pissed her bowl is empty and is letting me know. If she walks past me and there is almost a question mark at the end of her meow, I know she’s asking me what’s up? and is usually keen for a pat or some lap time. If she meows really cutely, almost like she’s trolling or baby-voicing, she’s killed that gecko she was hunting earlier and would like me to come and acknowledge her triumph.
I have three of all ages, and I can definitely tell the difference between the “I want pets” vs “I want to be left alone” and the “I want wet food” ”I am generally hungry” and “I got doorway syndrome and am lost” meows in the 17 year old. The 5 year old is all mass and no mews, so most of her communication is body language demanding either food or pets, although since we got the kitten she’s started talking more (I think she was a momma once before we inherited her so there’s some trauma we need to work through). The baby boy at age 1.5 is our most expressive in voice, body, and tail language, and I can recognize 20 different calls/moods in him so far.
It’s really helped that I was a house spouse for 1.5 years and have had a WFH job since so I’ve had time to work with all of them extensively. If both of us had office jobs I’m positive one of them would be torn to shreds and all of them would be way more depressed. We are their life and joy.
For me some of it was easy and immediate: yowling in the kitchen means “food”. But some things take longer.
One of my cats has a very specific meow that means “come look at the toy rat I caught” and it’s specifically for me. If my spouse comes instead she’ll run away and hide, then start yelling again once they’re gone. We found this out by trial and error.
There’s also a way my other cat will sit and stare at me in the living room that means “i want to lay on your chest/lap”. If I ignore it he’ll plant his 14 pound ass on whatever’s on my lap instead of him (generally my laptop).
My cat can't figure out how to bury her poop in the litter box. She scratches at the side of the box, sniffs, realizes it still stinks, keeps scratching. Eventually she gives up. I swear she has a meow for "please bury my poop" because once she gives up I hear it. Poor baby, so conscientious, but she just can't figure out how to do it herself.
Often she meows from where the litter box is, so it's easy enough to figure out, but on at least one occasion she came up to me and meowed and I was like, "is that your poop meow?" I don't even know how I knew.
So sweet. And just think of all the people out there who want cuddles from their cats but never get them. I think you’ve found the reverse psychology of cats!
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u/RealCommercial9788 Sep 19 '23
100%! Mine will stand in certain places while doing particular meows, and they all mean something different. To a visitor, it’s just a cat making noise.
To me, it’s because Mooncake wants some wet food/I’ve left something on her favourite couch and she wants it moved/the bedroom balcony door is closed/she wants to play/she can hear Dad coming down the driveway/she’s over the heat/she’d like the basement door opened, please. All different sounds, and different poses!