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submitted 11 months ago by sag@lemm.ee to c/cat@lemmy.world

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[-] Pinklink@lemm.ee 57 points 11 months ago

Cats don’t meow at each other. Isn’t that weird? They communicate with each other in other ways, but meowing is a strictly cat->human communication behavior

[-] CarbonIceDragon@pawb.social 63 points 11 months ago

From what I understand, a lot of cat vocalizations to humans like meowing and purring are primarily things kittens do that cats later stop as they grow, to communicate with their mother. They learn to continue using such vocalizations with humans because humans don't understand their body language as readily, so they discover that, for example, a certain type of meow when hungry might remind a human to feed it, and keep doing it. This also means that the meaning of a given sound is somewhat specific to a given cat, rather than some sort of universal cat language. Or at least, this is what Ive read

[-] dandroid@dandroid.app 12 points 11 months ago

I definitely have learned my cat's meows. She has a short, high-pitched, sheepish meow when we closed a door and she got stuck in the room. She has a very deep, long meow for when she's bored and walking around at night while we are on bed. She screams at us as loudly as possible when she wants to play. Oh, and she sees another cat outside through the window, she sounds like she dying. Like, deep moans, sort of like the "old long Johnson" video, but less like words and just moaning. And then there's meows for when she's happy to see us after work, when she wants attention, etc.

She's very good at communicating.

[-] Pinklink@lemm.ee 7 points 11 months ago

STFU you can’t say I’m wrong on the internet in front of all these people who’s opinion I care deeply about! You wrong and I’m going to dig my heels in till I reach Australia!

Jk I like how most of Lemmy actually doesn’t do that bs. But seriously thank you for the further insight

[-] rockSlayer@lemmy.world 34 points 11 months ago

That's because cats use meowing to get attention of their mother. When cats meow at you, they're essentially saying "parent, help me with this thing". Usually that thing is begging for food at 5am

[-] JoShmoe@ani.social 3 points 11 months ago

What’s your source?

[-] joel_feila@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago

Living with cats

[-] JoShmoe@ani.social -5 points 11 months ago

Unless you speak for rockSlayer I’m still not convinced

[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago

How about this..

https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/cat-care/common-cat-behavior-issues/meowing-and-yowling

Meowing is an interesting vocalization in that adult cats don’t actually meow at each other, just at people. Kittens meow to let their mother know they’re cold or hungry, but once they get a bit older, cats no longer meow to other cats. But they continue to meow to people throughout their lives, probably because meowing gets people to do what they want.

[-] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 14 points 11 months ago

It was revealed to me in a dream

[-] JoShmoe@ani.social 7 points 11 months ago

Now we’re talking.

[-] Ziglin@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago

probably being woken up at 5am by a cat.

[-] ericisshort@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

There are plenty of videos that disprove what you’re saying. Cats do meow at each other, especially as a form of aggression, where it’s usually the deep and long almost growl-like meow.