Cats only meow to humans?

weebeasties

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
1,286
Purraise
4,022
Location
Florida
I have read it dozens of times, Cats only meow to humans. My cats are apparently unaware of this, because they meow to each other often. Am I the only one? Do your cats meow to each other?
 

Purr-fect

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 20, 2017
Messages
1,843
Purraise
5,568
Greg will let out a battle cry as he attacks Arnold.

My boys never meow to each other. Their communictaion is usually very subtle.

Meows seem only to be necessary for stupid humans who cant seem to predict the owners (cats) every current and future whim, desire or need.
 

Attachments

Last edited:

Azazel

Time spent with cats is never wasted.
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 14, 2018
Messages
2,844
Purraise
3,465
They do make noises at each other, mostly trills and squaks. They talk to me differently though, it’s more of the classic “meow” with me. Although, they do trill to greet me too.
 

Willowy

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 1, 2009
Messages
31,893
Purraise
28,300
Location
South Dakota
I thought that was interesting because I've heard cats "talk" to each other too. Apparently the researchers were differentiating between trills, howls, etc. that cats use to communicate with each other vs the "baby" meow they use with humans. If your cats actually do make that kind of meow at each other, maybe they're just bilingual ;).
 

DreamerRose

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 11, 2015
Messages
8,744
Purraise
11,085
Location
Naperville, IL
My two chirp and hiss at each other, but only meow to me. Mingo is especially talkative and expressive. Sometimes he whines, like when he wants to be fed; sometimes he grumbles and complains when I won't open a door for him. When he sleeps, he grunts and groans. If I call him, he comes trotting to me saying, "Mew-ew-ew-ew."
 

will2002

TCS Member
Adult Cat
Joined
Oct 12, 2018
Messages
297
Purraise
1,026
Location
Texas
We have four cats in the house just now. There is one little fat calico that NEVER shuts up if she is awake. I wouldn't say she meows to the other cats, but she talks to them. She talks to them, she talks to me, she talks to herself. Sometimes I have the best times just watching and listening to her. We have some of the best conversations! I have no idea what we are discussing, but it seems to make her extremely happy, so I suppose that is a good thing.
 

KarenKat

Kitty on the half shell, tortie power!
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 4, 2018
Messages
2,960
Purraise
7,259
Location
Littleton, CO
Gohan is very vocal to humans and walls. The only times he “meows” at Olive is when she is super rambunctious during play and he finally gets sick of it. It’s not so much a “meow” - more like those weird “woem” noises he can make when he’s hurt, sick or really upset. He corners her someplace and just unleashed this mournful noise repeatedly, sometimes a paw raised in a threatening manner. And he keeps going for maybe a full minute and then leaves. She seems to get the message and slinks off for a bit, chagrined and quiet.

Not sure if this would be categorized as a “meow”, but it is direct communication that is not hissing, growling or trilling. They both have growled and occasionally hissed at each other.
 

Maria Bayote

Mama of 4 Cats, 4 Dogs , 2 Budgies & 2 Humans
Top Cat
Joined
Jan 15, 2018
Messages
4,171
Purraise
12,686
I never heard any of my cats meow to each other. The hisser and growler of my cats is Bourbon, who seem to hiss and growl at every other cat in the house if anyone gets too close to her. Sometimes she does not bother to make a sound, but the next thing I’d see is she swatting my other cats, and her favorite victim is Barley who is the gentlest of all.

Barley never meows at me. Bourbon does it also very seldom, only if I probably have no clue that she needs something. Pepsi prefers to follow the resident humans around when he needs food. But Graham is the most vocal of all. She chirps, thrills, squeaks, meows - you name it! When she gets silent, I am pretty sure she would be asleep.
 

aliceneko

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Dec 28, 2017
Messages
5,615
Purraise
9,387
Location
London, England
Toffee occasionally meows at Fudge when he wants his attention or if he wants to play, but they both meow a lot to us. They hiss and growl at each other a lot more often, lol. Fudge is very vocal (so much so that we've had neighbour complaints about his meowing!) but has never meowed at us.
 

1 bruce 1

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 8, 2016
Messages
5,948
Purraise
14,439
Our litter mate boys will have full conversations between them. One will let out a single meow/peep sound, the other will meow in reply, the first will reply with the same meow/peep sound, the other will meow, etc. This can go on for at least 30 minutes. It doesn't matter if they're visible to one another or not, they're talking. Probably telling one another what a doofus I am :lol: We joke that they're "cat texting".
Most of our cats meow to us only but as others have said, they trill, chirp, and have a language barrier between themselves that we can't quite decode.
The more bonded the cat is to either one of us, the more they meow when we're around, it seems.
 

1 bruce 1

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 8, 2016
Messages
5,948
Purraise
14,439
Mine call out to no one once in a while when they're walking around the house. I'm not sure what they're crying about. Sometimes they stop if I meow back. Maybe they're looking for me?

Other than that, one will let out an annoyed "Waaah!" when play gets a little rough between them.
Baby Girl will let out that same sound whenever we're getting the cats food around. She'll guard us and lash out with an annoyed sounding noise whenever one of the other cats get too close to us. Who needs a trained Rottweiler to guard you when you have a 7 pound tortie.
Queen Bee went through a stage a year or two ago. She would sit at our door at bawl like she was being eaten alive. A few times I'd rush in to see what was wrong, and she'd be sitting there on the freezer, give me a pleasant look and a blink, then peep "when's dinner?"
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #17

weebeasties

TCS Member
Thread starter
Top Cat
Joined
Jul 14, 2016
Messages
1,286
Purraise
4,022
Location
Florida
We hear all the normal chirps and trills from them, but ours meow to each other - usually when they are looking for each other. Sometimes I will sit on the patio and just watch the cats through the windows. They will meow to instigate play or to locate where the particular cat is that they want to nap with.
We always talk back to them if they meow at us, so perhaps that contributed to them being chatty with each other?
 

jcat

Mo(w)gli's can opener
Veteran
Joined
Feb 13, 2003
Messages
73,213
Purraise
9,851
Location
Mo(w)gli Monster's Lair
We've got a feral colony of >20 adult cats at the shelter. They definitely vocalize with one another - hisses, growls, shrieks, and purrs/trills -, but you never see them meowing at each other. Many of them, but certainly not all of them, will meow at humans as long as the humans aren't strangers. There are a few that will meow at dogs or bunnies that get close to the fence of their enclosure, but since we've only witnessed that in person rather than on video, they might simply be doing that for the humans' benefit.
 
Top