Do you speak 'cat'?

[MissSueFlay]

My 9 month-old kitten is getting more chatty as she grows up, and I chat back to her, mimicking the sounds she makes to me. I sometimes wonder what I'm saying to her - is it a load of nonsense, do I have a really bad cat accent?
She does sometimes choose to engage in a proper back and forth conversation. Mostly she just looks at me with her expressionless face before walking off, leaving me wondering what I just said to her.

Cat tax paid.

Rex and I have conversations, especially when he wants to go out the flat door into the communal hallway when it starts as a question (clear ? at the end of his 'sentence'). If I say no it escalates to a shouted demand of "Why not you horrible excuse for a cat slave" followed by howl of "it's not fair" then a sulk.

We also discuss how gorgeous, sweet and soppy he is. He slow blinks back.

He definitely knows what I'm saying (in Cat and in English) Here he is hiding/sleeping in his tunnel. When I point out his bum is a bit big in it, his tail thrashes about and the whole tunnel shakes

@MoonWoman69Are you keeping the little rally drivers then?

@TemporaryCatSlave It looks very much that way! I'm avoiding any discussion of rehoming in this house! They're too gorgeous to part with! 😁❤

We have a chatty boy who will have a 2 way chat so long as you mostly talk about how handsome he is (he becomes something of an asbo yob at around 5am and shouts in our faces until his breakfast is served).

Our girl cat is more reserved, she only does a little thank you / preeep when you put her food down and is quiet then until 9.30pm when she walks around the house loudly reminding us to go to bed, she won't stop or go to sleep until someone is in bed for her to lean up against.

I talk to our cats, mostly in English with occasional prrps. Sometimes the one that prefers me will talk back and it has the rhythm of a proper conversation 🤣

I'm pretty sure the other one is criticising me quietly under her breath.

I’ve always talked to all my cats as though they’re happy go lucky teenage humans who occasionally get into a scrape-this seems the most accurate thing.

Penelope appears to be able to read my mind. She disappears as soon as I even think about her eye drops. No words needed.

Our two, who are mostly Maine Coons, with a bit of Ragdoll thrown in are the chattiest cats we’ve ever had. Some of the vocalisation I would have thought were distress calls in some of our previous cats, but in these two it just seems to be conversation. They are gorgeous though. Siblings Ember - the ginger doofus, lives up to the no cell stereotype. His sister, Domino. Smaller than her 12lb brother, but still bigger at 7 months than any of our other females before her. This picture was on Thursday when she came in and flopped down 10 minutes before I was gonna go to bed. Domino had other ideas for the next 30 minutes. Who was I to say otherwise?!

Mostly soppy baby talk (in English) on the topics of:

• his handsomeness
• his floofiness
• whether he is a hungry one
• whether he has a floofy pair of pantaloons (he does)
• why the floofy pantaloons are full of grass seeds (they always are)
• whether his biscuits are full or empty (we agree to disagree on the definition of empty)
• why he is a weird little shoe fetishist

He knows 'dinner' and Dreamies and ignores the words "don't" and "scratch".

My cat doesn't talk, he SHOUTS.

Maximus prefers to talk in small nips on the ankle to communicate his desperate need for food! Also likes to lift his arm (leg?) up to request armpit rubs (leg pit?)

His Lordship

Tonks talks all the time in miaows, trills and peeps. We have long conversations, often about her lovely floofy pantaloons like a PP. The miaow that fills me with dread is the one that means 'look at this lovely mouse I've brought you', especially in the wee small hours!

I guarantee cats understand human language better than we think. They just don’t care

@Soubriquet You are bang right there!!! And how do we know they don't care? "The Look"!!! 🤣🤣🤣

That's "The Look"!!! 🤣🤣🤣

Yes of course. My girl has different meows, purr-mews and chirrups for greetings, wanting something, being pleased or annoyed. She also makes zooming mews when she hares past me playing which is very helpful because I have mobility problems so this gives me good warning.
We have frequent conversations with me speaking english and she responds to questions.
I will also admit I have little made up songs I sing to her about her general beauty, intelligence etc and when I leave a gap and look at her she fills the blank with a mew.

Goodness, do we share a cat?! This one can only "meep" she cannot do a proper meow like normal cats she is very intelligent though eg if you're stroking her head and then stop, she will put her paw on your hand and keep hitting patting you until you re-start.

I also have a Norwegian Forest Cat who also can't meow properly, she does the longest drawn out whiny noise which varies in length or pitch depending on what she wants eg longest and loudest whine is for food, slightly shorter one when she wants to go out. She is the loudest whiniest cat I have ever met. She's also a bit dim, even the vet said "she's not the sharpest knife in the drawer is she?"

I communicate very well with each of them, using their individual language. I am trilingual

The dim and needy NFC who cannot even blep properly (sometimes she sleeps in the bathtub despite a plethora of soft comfy human and cat beds available to her) I adore her

Cat: Hello, human mummy, how are you?
Me: Hello, human mummy, how are you?
Cat (inwardly): Poor, simple human.

So these days I just smile and blink.

Goodness she does look like mine doesn’t she?

Mine is a Maine coon cross with a British short hair

My Siamese girls definitely understand English - I chat to them all the time.

One particularly likes to join me for my morning yoga practice, and definitely understands the word 'yoga'!

When I call it, she comes running and waits outside my study for me 😻

There is lots of general chat about Dreamies and tummy rubs from the these 2 as well

Yes, I don't own a cat but lots of slow blinking/yawning at any I come across on my travels.