Why Do Cats Meow All The Time?
Who doesn’t love cats? Even self-proclaimed dog people can’t help but ‘aww’ at a loving, purring feline.
As for cat owners, excuse me, cat parents, their cats are like family. As a proud cat parent myself, I can attest to that fact. But, parenthood (whether your child is human or feline) brings with it a lot of anxiety.
After all, there are no manuals that go with parenthood. It’s a painful trial and error process sometimes. You find yourself questioning everything.
I know I do. When my cat sleeps too much, I get worried. When it eats too much or not enough, I get worried. When it meows too much -you guessed it- I get worried.
Just the other day, out of the blue, I found myself wondering why cats meow at all? This time, however, I found myself wandering over to Google to get some answers (who hasn’t?).
I was surprised to find that I wasn’t alone in my questioning. Pages upon pages of search results revealed that people have been wondering the same for some time now.
So, I took it upon myself to write an article that simplifies all the answers that I found. So, without further ado, let’s get to it.
Why do cats meow?
The first surprising fact I learned was whenever cats do meow, they are, in fact, trying to communicate with you. Cats do not meow at other cats.
Research has revealed that cats meow to specifically interact with humans. So, whenever your cat meows, be sure he or she is trying to tell you something.
Scientists or cat researchers (is there such a thing?) deem that cats have not only come up with their own unique way to talk with humans, but they have also gone a step further and honed their meow-talk.
That is mind-blowing. I mean, who knew, right? What is even more amazing is that each nuanced meow can mean something completely different. It’s a matter of telling their meows apart.
Which of course raises the question, how can you tell which meow means what?
The answer is — it’s all in the pitch and tone. For example, meows can mean different things based on the situation. If it’s chow time, and your cat meows at you several times; it means simply ‘human, where is my food?’.
If however, you have only just returned home, your cat’s repetitive meows are a form of greeting.
There’s also the mid-pitch meow, which means your cat more than likely wants something (like your attention).
The high-pitch meow signifies anger or pain. So if you ever hear this form of talk, be alert.
Next comes that low-pitch meow, that we hear more often than the others. When your cat makes this sound, it’s complaining. When you hear this pitch, more often than not, you have done your kitty wrong and it is not happy.
The pay-off
The more I read about cats meowing, the more fascinated I grew. Of course, there are times when your cat might be meowing because it’s in pain.
But, such a situation might present itself with other signs, like lethargy and loss of appetite.
Additionally, if you feel that your cat’s meows aren’t matching the descriptions provided here, check out what WebMD has to say about it.
Never did I imagine that a simple search would reveal such a trove of information. I only wish I had done it sooner.
I certainly hope this post has helped you in understanding your cat better.
As for me, even armed with all this new knowledge, my cat looks less than impressed.
I suppose we’ll just have to wait for the day when scientists figure out why our cats look so blasé sometimes.
Till then, stay paw-some.
