My cat called me Mom????

catsallover

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Lol! Seriously though- I was on the phone with my sister, and my 4 year old daughter was in her room (supposedly napping) when I, in the kitchen (other end of the house) hear "MOM!" but then I am also hearing/suddenly looking at Bird yowling, mrrting and generally hollering at me on the floor on the other side of the kitchen counter.


But I heard "MOM!" so I think they are just hollering at the same time, I tell my sister to hang on, and I go to check on my daughter. She is out of her bed, playing with toys instead of napping, and I have startled the heck out of her, lol. But I ask anyways "Did you call me?" and she gives me the "One of us is missing something here" look and says "No mam" (which proves how much I startled her, haha). So I tell my sister that it wasn't my daughter...and that I think it was (nooooo way...
)...the cat...and she exclaims "But I thought I heard her call you too!" lol. So I am not losing my mind
- my sister heard it too,
!

And then Bird found me sitting in the playroom floor last night (sorting toys) and squalled at me and did it again "MOMmowwowerttt(blah,blah,blah)- she wanted her treat/thyroid pill. So now I'm a little freaked
!

Could she have figured out that that sound gets my attention and gets me moving after 4 years of having a skin kid? She is 16 years old (???)...I dunno- I feel kinda silly even saying it, lol, but at least I'm safe here being silly about my cats
. I guess even old cats can learn new tricks....haha.
 

addiebee

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Iwouldn't be surprised. My boyfriend's cat learned to ask for water ... he liked to drink from the dripping tub faucet.
 

herbalheidi

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I swear I've seen a youtube video of a cat saying something before. While trying to locate it I watched a dozen cat 'talking' videos. This one is really cute.

 
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herbalheidi

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oh - I just found it.



Sometimes it says the video isn't available - just hit refresh.
 
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graciecat

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It wouldn't surprise me at all.
When I call Gracie, she answers me by saying "Mama".

I know they can learn to do odd things, because for some reason when Gracie gets up from one of her thousands of daily naps the fur on the top of her head is always a mess.
Every day I'd say "Gracie, your hair is messy" and then take my hand and smooth out the fur on the top of her head.
Now all I have to do is say "Gracie, is your hair messy?" and she takes her little paw and rubs it over her head.
I swear on a stack of bibles that I'm not making that up, she really does it
 

bella713

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That's Great
Joey has said I love you...its sounds like laaaa uuuuuu, He only does it when we are in the car and he's yelling his head off. I keep repeating Love you and eventually he says it, once he said it to my DH on the phone
 

saundby

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Cats can learn and imitate sounds. I suspect they're saying more than we realize, since it's like someone who speaks a foreign language trying to imitate the words they hear--they're saying them the way they're hearing them without knowing what the important sounds are (and saying them with very different equipment than what we've got.)

We have one cat who thinks his name means "food" (gee, I wonder why he thinks that?
), so he says the first part of his name whenever he gets hungry. (Menelaus. He says "Men-ah!" very clearly and precisely.)

Phillip used to pick up words, and would usually have a recognizable vocabulary of four or five words which changed through his life.

-Mark
http://catyarns.blogspot.com/
 
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catsallover

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Okay, now I feel better
(though my dh still thinks I'm nuts, lol)! Bird and I "talk" on a regular basis, but usually we are talking her language (which is also a little scary if I think about it too much,
), not mine, lol
.
 

emeraldsongbird

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lol It's not crazy! If birds can learn to talk, and cats are superior beings, then cats can learn to "talk!"

Haha Bella does this all the time. People think I'm nuts. But if I coo to her, she'll lean her head to the side and say, "Mreowmeow?" And it sounds like she is saying, "Mama?" She only does it at certain times, like when she's feeling insecure or scared or whatnot, so that's how I know that she's actually saying Mama.

Soooo cute!
 

generic war

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the cat we had when I was a teenager used to say mum (i swear he did anyways) if he wanted my mums attention he'd look at her and make a noise that sounded like mum (he's also tell you no as well ie leaf to which he'd reply a noise that sounded like no)

my current cat calls me mum all the time and I dont have kids lol (she's rather fond of mum mum mum mum mum mum, which sounds like mrowm mrowm mrowm at 4 am when she gets me up and I put her in her room lol)
 

KitEKats4Eva!

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I saw a really interesting documentary once that explained that cats only vocalise to communicate with humans - they don't actually vocalise with each other much at all. Their communication is based completely on scent, body language and positioning of whiskers, tails etc.

So I think it's entirely possible that your cat has learned to make the sounds that get your attention. Cairo can imitate birds. It's the weirdest thing. I would never have believed it if Mum hadn't been there and seen it as well. So yeah, I think they can learn and they can do things we wouldn't expect of them! What a clever Bird you have..
 

rang_27

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My Maggie, says Ma Ma, well actually is more like Mra Ma. It sounds likes like Ma Ma, so I respond. Now when she really wants my attention that's what she does. I always ask, what is it princess? She usually follows up by running into the kitchen looking at the cabinet with the food like, Duhh what do you think?
 

krazy kat2

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Scooter says something that sounds like "feed me" and "mama" and "out." I think sometimes they just choose not to talk, because of the sounds I have heard different cat say.
 

x0fantasy_

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i cant wait till my cats get older!!!! i wanna experience this soo bad
, Im gonna start paying closer attention to khi tho
she might be the first one to say anything haha
 
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catsallover

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Wow, that's all so neat! I'm feeling pretty normal now
and kinda proud
of my smart kitty.
 

jcat

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No, you're not crazy. Jamie tells me when he wants to go Owwwww(t). When he first started doing it in response to my asking him, "Do you wanna go out?" or "Ready to go out?" (he's leash-trained), I figured he was imitating the sound, but then he started demanding it without the question. Often he'll sit in front of the drawer where I keep his harness, or in front of the back door. He never uses it with my husband, who doesn't take him for walks, or his Oma (granny), who cat sits.
 

butzie

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Well, I am surprised Butzie doesn't talk given what you all have written because all of my budgies talk "people talk." I had, until last year, 4 budgies, the oldest being my favorite, Vida Blue, who died first. He immediately picked up on lots of phrases that I said, including the usual, "Pretty birdie, what a good budgie, yeah (with a NY accent, no less), I love you, etc. The others all picked up all the phrases and talk with each other using them. I call it "flock talk."
Sandy Koufax is actually the smartest talker. I would always come in and ask the birds, "How are you?" Sandy picked it up, so I said in response, I am fine thank you, how are you. I came in one day and I said how are you and Sandy said "I'm fine thank you, how are you?" Thought I was gonna you know what in my pants.
So, I am waiting for Butzie to say something to me. I just hope it is not "What a good budgie!"
 
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