Long Time Cat Owners, Did Your Quiet Cats Get More Vocal With Age?

smosmosmo

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I've lived with my girl for about two years so far, and she's been very quiet in the time I've had her. She only really meows when she's really irritated and wants someone to stop doing something like pet her, but doesn't do things like call for me from the other room.

Over the past few months though, she's started talking a bit more. Sometimes when she hears me in the bathroom (she's not allowed in there) she'll start doing this yowly cat warbling - it's pretty hilarious and toneless like she's not used to using her voice. More recently she has started meowing at me when she doesn't want to be pet and just yelled at me because I was washing up in the bathroom without her.

She's only five years old, so definitely not going senile. I'm just surprised she's chosen now to be more talkative, since we've lived together for a couple years now. Do even quiet cats get a bit chattier with age?
 

recurringecho

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Ha! You described Augustine perfectly. He never used his voice when he was a kitten. Then he one day a stray walked in our house and he started meowing. It sounded like a legit crying baby. We don't have a baby. Scared us senseless. He got more vocal as he got older, but it never lost its eerie sound.

To answer your question though, I think it depends on the cat. Paisley never meowed when she was a kitten and she never actually meowed when she was an adult. The only time she made any noise was when she screamed during a bath. We tell her if she didn't make a habit of rolling around in mud, then she wouldn't need a bath.
 

di and bob

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I think that as you interact and respond to their vocal demands, they learn to use their voice more because it brings about the desired result, your attention and an open door. If you had totally ignored her when she 'warbling' she would have tried to find another way to get your attention. But you showed delight and that is all she needed! The more you 'praise' her by giving her attention and responding to her calls, the more she will expand on her new found vocal talents!
 

susanm9006

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Absolutely. Even my quiet cats started meowing more and pretty much all of them as they became older started the middle of the night yowling. Even my Willow, who is now nine and the absolute quietest cat I have had now wanders around meowing at nothing for a few minutes a day.
 

Etarre

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My first cat, Gwen, never meowed at me during our first few years together (I got her as a kitten). She found her voice quickly when my then-boyfriend (now husband) moved into the apartment. He had never had a cat before, and I guess she had to be more vocal in teaching him how to interact with here, whereas I was used to pets, and more easily teachable...

Juniper is a quiet one, too. Not sure what she was like as a kitten, since we got her at 8 months old, but now she's about 2 and a half, and generally only gives tiny squeaks as greetings or to announce her presence. Meows are reserved to alert us to things that she finds truly alarming-- like the time a bat got into the apartment somehow a few weeks ago.
 

jen

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My cat was a quiet meower for the most part. Then one day when she was over 12 years old she started HOWLING at night. So I took her to the vet to make sure her blood pressure wasn't high and it was fine. But ever since she just loves to howl at night, and now randomly during the day... She is quite a talker as she got older. Now she is over 16.
 
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