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DUde that is AMAZING. DId he always respond like this? Waffles just meows whenever he feels like it.
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Do cats care if you speak to them?
- Thread starter wafflesnomnom
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Bengalcatman, that is so cute. He's got the general idea of what talking is all about, and he talks back. He's adorable.
Ditto. Love the talking Makena!
No, he was a rescue with a lot of anxiety and anger problems. He used to just meow constantly at the top of his lungs - not fun. With a lot of love and patience on both his and our parts, he became very strongly attached to my wife and I. He is still a Bengal, sometimes loud and boisterous, but he is looking to please us and loves to interact with us.
"He's got the general idea of what talking is all about" is spot on. He knows something is being communicated and wants to participate.
We never "baby talk" to him, just normal conversation, almost as if he were human. We respect his intelligence and we do talk to him a lot. I have pretty much done the same with all our cats and they all have responded to some degree, but Makena is the only one who has ever tried this hard to understand and talk back. We have a cat lover friend who stops by and talks "baby talk" to him and he LOVES it, purring and meowing back at her.
I think all the hikes and walks we have done with him may have helped - he had to learn some basic commands and we had to learn his verbal cues as well, so that may have been the thing that really got him started on talking.
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Is it better to talk like a regular person to your cat than baby talking? I can't help but baby talk Waffles >..< I have yet to actually use a normal tone with him. He's just too cute :3
I do both, too. I talk baby talk when I'm loving on him. He loves it.
I talk to Bud all the time, and he talks back. He's an extremely vocal cat, so it's not much of a stretch to get him talking.
He understands "sit", "high five", "yum yums", "outside", "sleepy time", and "Bud, get down!" The latter is when he's on the kitchen table or somewhere he's not supposed to be, and he will literally whine like a little kid. It's hilarious and hard to describe, but the tone is like "Noooo! Do I have to? I don't want to!" It's very, very clear he understands, and he knows he's supposed to get down, but he doesn't want to.
I know Bud responds to what I say because often he will hop up onto my lap or lay down on my chest and start purring if I tell him he's a good boy in a certain tone. Then he becomes a motorboat purring machine and wants petting, after which he "grooms" me.
He understands "sit", "high five", "yum yums", "outside", "sleepy time", and "Bud, get down!" The latter is when he's on the kitchen table or somewhere he's not supposed to be, and he will literally whine like a little kid. It's hilarious and hard to describe, but the tone is like "Noooo! Do I have to? I don't want to!" It's very, very clear he understands, and he knows he's supposed to get down, but he doesn't want to.
I know Bud responds to what I say because often he will hop up onto my lap or lay down on my chest and start purring if I tell him he's a good boy in a certain tone. Then he becomes a motorboat purring machine and wants petting, after which he "grooms" me.
Oh how sweet! Just absolutely melted my heart.
@Bengalcatman That is an awesome video. I can never get videos.
My cat and I sometimes have conversations. I "meow." She "meows." She doesn't make the chirp/trilling sound. Sometimes, she squeaks. She complains... a lot... (As in, "hey! why are you not paying attention to me!!") She knows how to ask to have the window opened, or the space heater turned on...
My cat is not a purrer. She does purr, and now that we're living in a more happy situation, she's definitely more purr-y than she was before. In the morning, she wakes me up with the purr alarm. Sometimes, she'll do the "solicitation meow" or "solicitation purr," and she sounds like a squeaky door. But I love it, because then I know she's super happy. There's never the just hang out and purr. She might look completely relaxed and happy, but no purr.
@WafflesNomNom I do both as well--might as well cover all the bases...
My cat and I sometimes have conversations. I "meow." She "meows." She doesn't make the chirp/trilling sound. Sometimes, she squeaks. She complains... a lot... (As in, "hey! why are you not paying attention to me!!") She knows how to ask to have the window opened, or the space heater turned on...
My cat is not a purrer. She does purr, and now that we're living in a more happy situation, she's definitely more purr-y than she was before. In the morning, she wakes me up with the purr alarm. Sometimes, she'll do the "solicitation meow" or "solicitation purr," and she sounds like a squeaky door. But I love it, because then I know she's super happy. There's never the just hang out and purr. She might look completely relaxed and happy, but no purr.
@WafflesNomNom I do both as well--might as well cover all the bases...
Cats are funny people, aren't they?
I don't know if it matters but I do talk to him. And he meows back at me. It's sort of like half a conversation, with his part being the side I can't translate.
My elderly neighbor asked me once if I knew the cat cant answer me. Oh well. You can think I'm crazy but I can't imagine being alone all this time with Comet and NOT talking.
BUT........if he could talk, they'd lock me in a padded room for the rest of my life.
My elderly neighbor asked me once if I knew the cat cant answer me. Oh well. You can think I'm crazy but I can't imagine being alone all this time with Comet and NOT talking.
BUT........if he could talk, they'd lock me in a padded room for the rest of my life.
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Some parents talk baby talk to their babies, and some parents talk to their babies like little adults... some experts say you shouldn't talk baby talk to a baby because then they learn to talk like a baby, but I say whatever... both sets of babies seem to grow up just fine in the long run. You have to do what you feel comfortable with and what Waffles responds best to. Just find your happy medium.
My Dubs was a TALKER, and we spoke every day and he would answer pretty much all the time. I would speak to him like a person, and I sing all of my animals songs. I also talk to my dog. Rudy, my other cat, has become more vocal since Dubs' passing. I don't think its crazy or weird at all to speak to animals, mine have always seemed to enjoy it. 
Far as baby talk goes, if a cat will respond to it, and prefers it, I say have at it. I didn't speak that way to Midnight after about 14 months of age, but gradually evolved the maturity of what I was saying to her.
I didn't mean to imply that one is better, we just generally talk regular human talk to our cats. As I said, Makena LOVES when our friend Tammy "baby" talks to him. I imagine that cats adapt to any talk, it probably all sounds like meows do to us, but they get the general idea of what is being said in any case.
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Haha, cover all the bases. Waffles purrs all the time, even if we're trying to clip his nails and he's struggling. It's hard to tell when he's purring because he's happy and when he's purring because he's a purr machine lol.
My late cat Sally was an expert at communicating with me. We got her as a kitten when I was 3 (she made it to 18, and passed this past summer) so we grew up together and learned to understand each other. It was a little one sided, she did a lot of teaching.
She taught me cat behavior and trained me to pick up on the cues she wanted me to read. She would lead me around the house to show me what she wanted.
She wasn't the most vocal, but made herself understood when she felt the need to vocalize. She named me - she had a distinct meow she used just to get my attention or when talking to me. In her later years, she mastered a meow that sounded very close to the word "down", when she was still able to make it to the top of our cat tree, but couldn't manage to get back down on her own anymore.
I think she definitely understood a good deal of what I said to her. She knew her name and also her nicknames. She would acknowledge that I was talking to her, but was very independant so wouldn't always come when called. Only if she felt like humoring me. She was a very smart cat and very special to me.
She taught me cat behavior and trained me to pick up on the cues she wanted me to read. She would lead me around the house to show me what she wanted.
She wasn't the most vocal, but made herself understood when she felt the need to vocalize. She named me - she had a distinct meow she used just to get my attention or when talking to me. In her later years, she mastered a meow that sounded very close to the word "down", when she was still able to make it to the top of our cat tree, but couldn't manage to get back down on her own anymore.
I think she definitely understood a good deal of what I said to her. She knew her name and also her nicknames. She would acknowledge that I was talking to her, but was very independant so wouldn't always come when called. Only if she felt like humoring me. She was a very smart cat and very special to me.
Indeed. The longer I've had Bud, the more I realize he acts pretty much the same as a toddler.
Plus, think how much more dull life would be with them in our lives. I would rather not!
