Last week, I adopted Shelby, a 2yr old dilute tortie, from the local humane
society (her original name was Ariel, BTW.)
While I was signing the adoption papers, I found out that she had been there
since she was FIVE WEEKS old, not a year old as I was originally told.
Oh well..... too late now, I guess.
Anyway, she spent the first two days hiding in her kitty condo in the spare
bathroom (nice and dark in there) and I have only in the past few days been
able to coax her out.
Shelby loves to be petted and head scratches and has warmed up to me quite
a bit. She still scared of Touche, my other cat, but then again Touche seems
quite afraid of Shelby as well, so at the moment we have a detente because
both of the combatants are too afraid of the other to start anything right now.
Here's the weird thing though: Shelby will let me pet her and purrs away, but
she doesn't make any other sounds. She cried when she first got put
into the cage at the humane society, and one or two other times after
she got home, but that's it. No meows, no nothing.
She doesn't even try to 'talk', she'll look at me when I'm playing with her, but'
other than purring, she's as quiet as a clam. (This is quite the opposite of
Touche who never shuts up!!!!)
Now, I've had other cats that didn't meow (Roxy would try, but the best she
could do was a squeek) but Shelby doesn't attempt any vocalization at all.
Anyone have any insight? Does she need to 'learn' to meow?
society (her original name was Ariel, BTW.)
While I was signing the adoption papers, I found out that she had been there
since she was FIVE WEEKS old, not a year old as I was originally told.
Oh well..... too late now, I guess.
Anyway, she spent the first two days hiding in her kitty condo in the spare
bathroom (nice and dark in there) and I have only in the past few days been
able to coax her out.
Shelby loves to be petted and head scratches and has warmed up to me quite
a bit. She still scared of Touche, my other cat, but then again Touche seems
quite afraid of Shelby as well, so at the moment we have a detente because
both of the combatants are too afraid of the other to start anything right now.
Here's the weird thing though: Shelby will let me pet her and purrs away, but
she doesn't make any other sounds. She cried when she first got put
into the cage at the humane society, and one or two other times after
she got home, but that's it. No meows, no nothing.
She doesn't even try to 'talk', she'll look at me when I'm playing with her, but'
other than purring, she's as quiet as a clam. (This is quite the opposite of
Touche who never shuts up!!!!)
Now, I've had other cats that didn't meow (Roxy would try, but the best she
could do was a squeek) but Shelby doesn't attempt any vocalization at all.
Anyone have any insight? Does she need to 'learn' to meow?