Feline Communication - What is your cat saying?

[Divebar]

So we have had a rescue cat for about a month now - she’s coming up to 6 months old. This is the first time I have had a cat and I’m not entirely sure about everything. She’s not hugely vocal - she has a squeaky little meow that she gives us when we come down in the morning - either to say hello or to tell us off for not feeding her sooner. She also purrs loudly - I’m happy with those 2. Yesterday though she gave a tremendous yowl - I thought she must be strangling herself ( or has stepped on Lego) but when I rushed out she was casually walking along. So, clearly you won’t know what that’s about but tell me about your cat communication. What are the situations when your cat gets vocal with you? I’m sure I can learn lots from you veterans.

DCat2 is a howler - usually when I'm on a Very Important Work Call. For a tiny cat she has a huge voice. All 3 DCats have distinctive voices - DCat1 croaks like Judi Dench, and DCat3 squeaks (then sneezes all over you). I love chatting with them all.

One of mine is much more vocal than the other. She has a specific yowl which she knows I will come running for because it sounds horrific although it's not loud.

She does this one specific yowl: - - on the way to the vet (fine)

• when the vet removes a stuck piece of poo from her bottom (reasonable)
• when we stay at my mum's and she wants to tell me she's found the litter tray ok (kind of fine although wearing after every litter tray visit in three weeks)
• when she's had a long nap upstairs, wakes up and I am not in the same room (heartrending but kind of sweet)
• totally at random when I'm trying to have a bath, read a book or generally relax (argh!)

Otherwise she just chats, chirps and meows happily about food, love and wanting to go out or come in, plus the occasional reproving mew if I'm clipping her claws - so I think she's worked out this one specific noise is the most effective to get me to drop everything and sprint to wherever she is, just in case 🤦🏻‍♀️

(and yes, vet has checked her out and there are no litter tray issues causing it 💙 she's fine at home, she's just not very good at cleaning her bottom - not envy)

One of my girls would also yowl to get you to watch her poo in her tray - that was special

@hilariousnamehere

I’m the OP. I took her to the vet for the first time this week and she cried / complained the whole way there and back. I was wondering if you have any tips for travel - we are bringing her with us when we travel this Christmas ( one journey of 2.5 hours each way). We will be staying in my
Mums house which I’m slightly anxious about. How can I settle her in? ( the only alternative I had was to have friends come in
and feed her) Incidentally the vet said she’s only 4 months old not 6 months as stated in her passport.

It’s best just to be businesslike about it all, yes it’s a pain but it’s not the end of the world.

Ours was always vocal on the way to the vets, Stone cold silence on the way home.

Ours chirrups when he sees birds, excitedly meows when he’s either got his favourite toy or has bought a present for us (always check this out!) and generally meows at us when he wants something - food! Head rub! The door opening because he can’t be bothered to use the cat flap....

@hilariousnamehere £60 for a grown man to stick his finger up a cat’s bum to retrieve a nugget of poo? Yes, us too.

(Cat had been trying to get it out by rubbing his bum on the patio, and it looked like he’d lost control of his back legs so, given his great age, they took him as an emergency. For a pellet of poo.)

mine has a hunting yowl, could she have seen a spider or something?

[quote Divebar]**@hilariousnamehere

I’m the OP. I took her to the vet for the first time this week and she cried / complained the whole way there and back. I was wondering if you have any tips for travel - we are bringing her with us when we travel this Christmas ( one journey of 2.5 hours each way). We will be staying in my
Mums house which I’m slightly anxious about. How can I settle her in? ( the only alternative I had was to have friends come in
and feed her) Incidentally the vet said she’s only 4 months old not 6 months as stated in her passport.[/quote]
Bohemian rhapsody, sung by cats 😂

For a longer journey you might need a bigger crate with a litter tray in it?

One of mine is much calmer with a blanket over most of the carrier so she can only see out of the front, not all round - worth a go in case that helps your fluff.

I have a Spotify playlist of calming music by RelaxMyCat which definitely helps on car journeys :)

And pet remedy and zylkene are your friends for moving and settling either side. I always try and arrive for evening so we can snuggle and then they can come to bed with me, and then I try to have a whole day where I potter so they can get used to new environment.

You're doing it from small so they'll get used to it - mine are 7 now and take it totally in their stride, make a beeline for their favourite places at mum's and apart from the weird litter tray yowl by DNinjaCat, settle very quickly

Good luck! It's lovely having portable felines so you're doing the right thing even if this first trip is a bit stressful x

Divebar she's lovely but then I'm biased although Haribo has a diamond on his nose.

Mine does a particularly affronted yowl when she jerks awake from a deep sleep on my lap - like it's my fault she fell asleep

Our tiny girl has the loudest yowl. Its like shes saying Waaaaa-ooow! She also has a special noise when she wants to play. Our boy just wanders about all day talking. And when he jumps on us to say hello he goes beep! Oh and likes to meow loudly to tell us he's poo'd!

[quote MatildaonaWaltzer]@hilariousnamehere £60 for a grown man to stick his finger up a cat’s bum to retrieve a nugget of poo? Yes, us too.[/quote]
I'm so glad it's not just me!! I have one who gets poo stuck half in and half out, and one who gets crispy bits stuck in her anal glands 🤢 love them although I'm sure the vets now roll their eyes when I phone!

@Divebar

I’ve heard of people walking their cats on a harness but have never seen anyone do it in real life.

Check our Nala on Instagram. Also, we used to have a Siamese that we took out for walks, but you have to start them as kittens.

Buns is stone deaf and has no volume control at all so if she wants something in the night the noise is enough to wake the dead.
Normally she just wants a cuddle if it's the middle of the night - old cats can get neurotic in the dark, or she wants to tell me she's been outside and what was going on out there especially if it's wet.
If she wants food she just waits quietly beside her bowl until I turn up, she's very polite.