Cat Sounds and What They Mean

Hey everybody, this video is brought to you by the good folks over at ArmorCat, makers of quality cat trees for over 20 years. Thanks ArmorCat! All right, welcome gang, Jackson Galaxy, your cat daddy here, and today we head into the world of the meow, or the rrr, or the pfff, I can't do a purr, all of those sounds that make up cat. Today we're going to dive into some of them, because we can't do all of them, but we're going to do some of them, and this all begins with you and I getting catified. So you know, if you've been watching this channel, if you've been watching my show, if you've been reading my books, I hope you do all of those things if you've been doing that. You know that we take a look at everything that makes up the cat day and try to understand how it applies to us, how they could be asking us things, communicating things. Just a few weeks ago we did a video on body positions, and those body positions also can communicate discomfort, or comfort, or I'm hot, or I'm cold, or I'm scared, you know, those kind of things. Well the same can be said about cat vocalizations. Outside of birds, cats have the most known vocalizations, at least among domestic animals. I mean, think about it, dogs have about 10 vocalizations, cats have over a hundred, and of course I'm not saying that makes cats smarter than dogs, I'm not saying that. Okay, I love dogs. So we're going to go through these from a general perspective, but then I'll circle back and remind you that your cat is your cat, and your cat has a unique experience in life, and that's why they do what they do. And away we go! Let's talk vocalizations. Oh, get it? Let's talk vocalizations. Well the first one that we're going to talk about is the most common, the one that you guys all think about when you think about your cat vocalizing, and probably, and that is probably the meow. What's really interesting about that sound, meow, teeny tiny little kittens make that sound. They make that mewing sound, that meowing sound, as young as just newborns, as they're trying to find their mom's nipple, they are basically sending, because their eyes are closed, they're sending out that vocalization, and then mom responds by helping them find that nipple, or gathering them in, because of course their eyes don't open until they're about 10 days old. So that sound is very, is very prevalent in kittens. However, as they get to adult age, not so much. They stop making that sound to any other cat once they're past that small kitten stage. What's even more interesting is that cats do not make that sound to other cats, they make it to us. They make it to serve a purpose for us. So it's amazing when you think about the fact that the meow is only propagated through the rest of their life, because, I don't know, we give them treats when they get it, or we give them attention of some sort. They know it works, so they keep doing it. A lot of times that has to do with how long they were with their mom, and how much we then sort of took over that position. They are forever infantilized in our world, and so that meow becomes a, hey mom, I need something, type of sound. That is a special delivery from your cat to you, the human, not to other cats. Pretty cool, right? What is the second most common and commonly asked about vocalization? Probably the purr. It's a really interesting sound, the purr, and believe it or not, still shrouded in mystery. I mean, sure, there's a lot of different theories about what causes a purr, but we're talking about like neural oscillators in a cat's brain, the ossification of the hyoid, and the vocal folds. I'm telling you, there's a lot of studies about why cats purr, and how they purr, but there's not consensus. We do know one thing, the house cat, the small cat purrs. Large cats do not, with the exception of one, and what is that one? It is the snow leopard. How do you like them apples? Why do we purr? Again, it is something that is up for debate. The first one, the most obvious one to all of us who have ever been with a purring cat, whether teeny tiny purrs, big loud purrs, is when they're happy, when they're content. That's when the purr comes out the most. There are other reasons why a cat would purr, so this is, again, why I want you guys to understand this. Just because your cat is purring does not mean they're happy. It depends on the circumstance they're in. A mortally wounded cat will purr. The oscillator in a cat's brain will adjust that purr to the right hertz, the right sort of vibrational range, to actually facilitate the knitting of bones and the healing of wounds. Whoa, how cool is that, right? There's a lot of offshoots of why a cat will purr, but the most important one is when they're cuddled up with you and feeling fine and groovy, and that's why they purr, so there's the purr. Next, we're going to talk about a term that, honestly, I really don't know the difference. I think that they're all the same thing, and I looked this up. Yes, I google sometimes, and I think that they're sort of the same. The chirp, the trill, and the chirrup. Honestly, look, I'm a guy who makes up words, so it's cool if there's three words that basically mean the same thing, but for our purposes, I'm just going to say they mean the same thing. So it's actually very cool. So what a chirp or trill or a chirrup, we're just going to call it a trill because the other ones just don't form in my mouth well, so we're going to call it a trill right now, and a trill would be that kind of a, it's like a, think about the rolling r in Spanish, which I'm really bad at doing. Let me see if I can do it. Oh, I did it. That is the sound, like that, but it's pushed through the vocal cords and out of usually a closed mouth. Here's interesting. Mostly, the prime chirpers, chirrupers, trillers are female because they use that sound with their young. Now, when my mom would get fed up with me and my brother lagging behind or something, and don't forget, we're New Yorkers, so we just yell about everything. Hey, come on, that kind of thing. Cats are much more refined, I guess is the word, because that little trill would be to the kids, hey, follow me, or come here. It could be just saying it's feeding time, or I'm trying to lead you to a place, so, you know. By and large, if your cat is trilling or chirruping, that means that it's a positive thing. It's usually a very positive thing. It's kind of a little more excitable version of a purr, let's just put it that way. So on to one that I get asked about just all the time, and that would be the chatter. That's the chatter that happens pretty exclusively when a cat is looking at a bird through the window, when they're looking at something that could be prey. To me, the answer is your cat does it out of just sort of predatory excitement. That inner raw cat, the raw cat is speaking to them, going, hey, you like that? You like that? You like what you see? Do you really like it? How much do you like it? And your cat's like, you know, that kind of a chattering sound. There are some who theorize that they are making the sound of the birds in order to entice the birds. Now, that's an interesting thing, but the only way that it would be propagated through time, through tens of thousands of years of cats hunting, is if it worked. What bird do you think is dumb enough that they're going to hear a cat trying to imitate their sound and go, oh, you're a friend, and just walk into their mouth? Cats are stealthy. They're quiet. They are absolutely, if you've ever seen a cat hunting, they will step like this, so as not to even crunch the grass. And you think they're going to be like, not going to work, man. So I do buy into the theory that it is just sort of a predatory excitement. It is something that is just built into them, that they are just so, just so built up about it. And that may explain why most of the time you see a cat chattering at the window, because they know they can't get to their prey. Now, there are certain sounds that you probably will only hear with a cat that is not yet fixed. And if you are hearing that sound from your female cat, I would say, why haven't you spayed your cat yet? Please go and spay your cat. But that sound is the caterwaul. Now, again, it is such a specific sound. Before they go into heat, this sound is meant to attract mates. So it is a, let's see if I can do a caterwaul here. I mean, like the loudest sound, if you could cross a cat with a rooster, that's kind of what it would sound like. But it is meant to carry, it is meant to carry far and wide. And for those of you who live in an area with a lot of intact toms and your intact females making that sound, they come from far and wide. They suddenly, you hear the males outside fighting like crazy because they're trying to get the attention of the caterwauling female. Like I said before, very specific sound. Please spay and neuter your cats. And now we come to the one that nobody really likes to hear, and that is the hiss. If you don't know what your cat hissing means, I would step away from the cat. A hiss is clearly a sound that a cat makes when they're trying to push somebody away. They're scared, so they're trying to make their prey scared as well. That hissing sound is abrasive, it's loud, and it's meant to just be scary. Most humans will take it as such. I don't count, and clearly I'm sure you're in your mind flashing on times over the years on my show where, you know, I bled. And that's because I wasn't listening to the hiss, but I was doing it on purpose. It's a method, there's a method to the madness. Anyhow, that's basically what hissing is. Now the hiss is usually the frontline behavior, right? So that's something that a cat will do to, whether it's another cat or another being, anything that they consider threatening, to say, back off, back off. So before a hiss usually is a growl. They're basically trying to graduate up, what do I have to do to tell you that I don't like this situation? I don't like you, I don't like something around me. Here's the thing, whether it's a hiss, whether it's that shortened form of a hiss, which is a spit, whether it's a growl, whether it's a scream, and I don't know if you've ever heard a cat scream, but I sure have. But when it comes to saying, get away from me, I mean it. Basically, I'm trying to let you know, if I gotta tell you one more time, you know, I don't do that. But if I did, I would hope it would be a little scary. That's what cats are doing by trying to push you away. Now there's the yowl. And the yowl could be a couple of different things. You know, you might have heard a cat yowl when they're in distress, when territorially they are feeling just absolutely cornered. A yowl is more of a, oh man, this is bad. Oh, this is bad. Oh man, this is a bad thing. Now what am I gonna do? Am I just gonna be a yowler? Then I start to scream, or I hiss, or I spit. The yowl is a definite precursor when it's in that situation of being threatened. You might have heard a cat yowl before when they're just in pain. To me, that's what a yowl is. It's a plaintive kind of, I'm in trouble here sound. This can work for the hiss, and the spit, and the growl, and the yowl. It could be about, I'm wounded. I'm wounded and I'm scared. So I'm going through all the tools that I may have picked up over time that will help me drive you away. Because if I am wounded as a cat, that means that I'm much more likely to be eaten in the wild. So I'm gonna do everything I can to scare off everybody that's coming. I'm either gonna hide, or I'm going to posture up, you know. And that's what you may be hearing then. Now don't forget, a lot of these sounds are situational. So for instance, the yowl could be somebody's closing in on me and I want to drive them away. But there's also other circumstances where those things might come into play. If you've ever made the mistake of trapping your cat in the closet, you know what a howl yowl sounds like, right? That plaintive kind of, can anybody hear me? Lassie, I'm in the well. Go get help, help, help, help. Also, a yowl is something that you might hear in your older cat at night when the lights go out. All of a sudden, you hear the yowl. And that is that plaintive sound of, I'm lost. And that is something we see very much in cat dementia. Check out the link above my head that should be dropping down right now, and that'll take you to the video about cat dementia, which is real, very real. We have not yet established Alzheimer's in cats, although we have done so in dogs. And I'm telling you, it's coming, man. Anybody with an older cat who gets lost when the lights go out at night knows what I'm talking about, right? That even when it comes down to the growl, the yowl, these are situations. Here's one thing I really, really want to impress upon you guys. Everything I just said here, that is just sort of the palette of sounds. The palette of sounds that in science and observation, whether it's data-driven or anecdotal, how they use it and why they use it is an individual thing. There are some kittens who grow up without their mom or their siblings. They're bottle babies, right? So they are completely dependent on us for their development. So when it comes to that palette of sounds, they may wind up using them completely inappropriately because how are they supposed to learn how to be a cat from a human? There is what we call the sensitive phase of social development in cats. And depending on who you ask, it's about two weeks old to nine weeks old. In that seven-week period, cats learn and use just about all of that palette that's going to come to them over time. Of course, there's exceptions for sure. But when you put two cats together who may have been rescues, they may have been bottle babies, they may have been with their moms, but you put them together and you have them meet for the first time, it's like two humans on a desert island together that speak a completely different language. Now, they may have similarities. Like if I start yelling at you in a foreign language, I still know that I'm being, that you're yelling, right? Or when I get very nice and quiet, it means I like what's going on. But that's all we got. Now we have to learn each other's language. The point I'm trying to make is that just because your cat is hissing doesn't necessarily mean they're truly upset. It means they're just using a sound that worked for them before in a certain situation and so they're doing it again. Your cat is an individual. They may be a cat who was neutered late in life and so they learned the screaming and the yowling more so. Different cats will say different things. Like we said before about the purr, it could be because I'm having the happiest moment of my life or the most horribly painful one. See? That's how it all works, you guys. This is half about knowing the palette of sounds and half about knowing your cat's sound. So I encourage you to go and learn your cat's sound. Pretend you're on a desert island with your cat and learn everything about how they use their sounds and where does that lead to? A much more That's what we're all here for, to make a better relationship with our cats. So get to it, you guys. All right, that's it for me. Leave comments down below about what kind of videos you want to see because like I've said before, Cat Daddy will talk about anything if given the chance. About cats or otherwise, really. And don't forget to like, subscribe. That way you get notifications every time something like this comes out and share it with your friends. What else do I have to say? Oh, I don't know. Okay, until next time, you guys. Light and love and mojo to you. Light and love. Mojo to you. Meow.