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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

I keep seeing videos of cats talking!!! Can they say single words??

22 replies

Nikki037297 · 02/04/2022 19:27

It’s all over Facebook. Cats saying hello, one said I don’t know. Iv never had a cat but this has intruded me! Is it just a random noise they have made at the right moment instead of the usual meow? Has anyone got cats that say words?

OP posts:
Outwith · 02/04/2022 19:29
Grin
IncompleteSenten · 02/04/2022 19:37

They can make sounds that sound like words.
My mum's cat used to say ma-ma and put her paws round my mum's neck.

My cat 'says' hello, now and no.

I say says but she makes sounds that sound exactly like hello, now and no and she uses them in context. 8 years of us talking to her, saying hello every time she comes into a room or we go where she is. And lots of attention when she makes a sound that seems like a word when that word would be appropriate iyswim. Eg she walks into the room and says hello. It's more like a aw-ow but it sounds so bloody close to hello and she uses it appropriately. It's hard not to think that she is trying to make the sound she associates with a greeting.

They can't actually talk because they don't have vocal cords (chords?) that are as specialised as humans but they can and do use the sounds they are able to make to communicate.

Nikki037297 · 02/04/2022 19:51

@IncompleteSenten omg that is amazing!!

OP posts:
smartiecake · 02/04/2022 19:57

Our cat does the same, if we say Hello when we see him, he says Hello back. He also says 'Hi', 'now' (usually at dinner time) and 'out' when he wants us to open the door. He also has a funny little chirrup noise he makes when he sees pigeons in the garden. Cats are very clever and have realised if they miaow at us they get what they want!

Theunamedcat · 02/04/2022 20:00

I had a cat who would say please (it was more like WEEEZE) I would literally say to say please she would squeak a bit I said again say please and she would yell WEEEZE and get a treat

My current cats sit and beg for treats

Confusedcatlady1 · 02/04/2022 20:08

One of my cats use to make a shouty sound that sounded like ‘mum’ and I would think it was one of my children calling me and I’d holler back up the stairs ‘what do you want?’. The cat has grown out of it unfortunately.

Ladylornax12 · 02/04/2022 20:09

Think you have been April fooled

BertieBotts · 02/04/2022 20:13

Isn't this just like when babies say "goo goo ga ga" and people go "OMG my child is a genius, he recognised Lady Gaga!!" No, he's six months old, he is babbling.

Theunamedcat · 02/04/2022 20:17

Thinking about it my one cat says no I was putting them outside in there pen outside I picked him up he yelled No! I laughed so hard he managed to get away and hide

My cat doesn't like outside

HeadacheGrey · 02/04/2022 20:21

It's more like a aw-ow but it sounds so bloody close to hello and she uses it appropriately.

Yes my cat says 'ow ow' when he sees you, it's definitely hello.

Also my Bengal (who has gone missing Sad) used to have a proper conversation with me Smile

JoanOgden · 02/04/2022 20:55

I was about to write that my cat says very clearly "please feed me, I am so hungry I am on the verge of expiring", but actually I think she just beams this message directly into my brain.

A8888 · 02/04/2022 21:05

I once asked my cat if she wanted to go in the yard and she said 'yeah' clear as day but she hasn't said it again since.

Toddlerteaplease · 03/04/2022 12:43

@NotMyCat's Ollie says 'mama.' My cheddar has her own language that I just pretend I understand.

Toddlerteaplease · 03/04/2022 12:45

@Theunamedcat I can't imagine a cat having the word please in their vocabulary. They shouldn't need to ask. Grin

Theunamedcat · 03/04/2022 13:04

[quote Toddlerteaplease]@Theunamedcat I can't imagine a cat having the word please in their vocabulary. They shouldn't need to ask. Grin[/quote]
🤣 this is true but she just seemed to get so excited by the phrase say please she would make biscuits dance around head boop you so hard it was hilarious

fairylightsandwaxmelts · 03/04/2022 15:05

One of mine says something that very much sounds like "NOW!" Grin
The other will say what sounds like "Hii-yaaa" when you wake her up.

Coord · 03/04/2022 15:32

My cat is chatty, she has a wide variety of noises. She copies my intonation, I'll say 'are you ok, hmmm?' And she repeats the hmmm? back to me.

She did once say 'no' pretty loudly and clearly. It was such a weird noise, a kind of 'nooo-aaagh' that I went over to see what was going on - another cat was at the open back door and she didn't want them to come closer. I say the same loud 'no' when she does her claws on the couch so maybe she got it from that. She's only done it once.

IncompleteSenten · 03/04/2022 16:49

Have you ever watched any of the talking pets channels on you tube?
What about bunny
Billi speaks
Cat man John

It is very clear that animals can communicate with us if given the means to. And really surprising levels of understanding too.

I'm never introducing my cat to buttons, I tell you that! 😁

NCForThis2022 · 03/04/2022 16:54

Dcat1 says something that sounds like mum when he's looking for me, usually to tell me one of the others have been in his bowl - he's a tattle tale! Dcat5 is just turning a year old and is still in a toddler like stage. She says no a lot. Dcat 4 has started imitating kitten noises because she was getting more attention than he was. He can also do a passable imitation of a baby crying.

Lolabalola · 03/04/2022 16:58

Mine doesn’t need to talk, he just stares at you and bores holes into your sole, then starts smashing things if you don’t do what he wants immediately.

Lolabalola · 03/04/2022 16:58

Or soul even

PaddleAlongRiver · 03/04/2022 16:58

Growing up one of our cats said 'yes'. Always in response to 'do you want your dinner' or if we were at the table with something that smelt particularly nice, like a roast he'd come up 'yes yes yes'. Normal meowing when not-food related!
He was a funny thing, probably a coincidence. Our other cat meowed normally possibly it had a different hungry meow we couldn't pick up on. Suspect most cats do, we just can't pick up on it most of the time.

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