Teaching a Cat to Meow

[Kvla]

Hi!

My cat bites me and chews on my stuff when she wants attention, but she never meows on her own. Is it possible to teach her how to meow in order to tell me she wants something?

Kyla

 

[ArtNJ]

never meows on her own

I found a clue? But I don't understand it. What is an assisted meow? Like if you shake the treat bag but don't give her any quickly enough for her tastes, that gets a meow? If you are somehow prompting meows, and reward them, maybe that will increase the frequency of spontaneous meows.

Thats all I got, other than my mind control helmet and super secret lasagna recipe, which I'm not sharing. All seriousness, rewarding meows is probably the only possible tactic.

 

[Kvla]

I found a clue? But I don't understand it. What is an assisted meow? Like if you shake the treat bag but don't give her any, that gets a meow? If you are somehow prompting meows, and reward them, maybe that will increase the frequency of spontaneous meows.

Thats all I got, other than my mind control helmet and super secret lasagna recipe, which I'm not sharing. All seriousness, rewarding meows is probably the only possible tactic.

When she gets the zoomies she'll let out a meow and bolt across the room, but that's the only time I've ever heard her meow. It's kinda like she gets so excited it slips out, and then she runs really fast. lol

 

[ArtNJ]

I dont see what you could possibly do then, without some sort of naturally occurring meow that you could reward.

Just discourage the bad behaviors like biting, and maybe she'll find a gentler way to get your attention, even if it isn't a meow.

Edit: ...well, in theory researchers train all sorts of animals not half as smart as cats to press levels to get treats and such through operant conditioning. I suppose, if you want to get really clever, you could set something up as a meow alternative. Like attach a bell to the scratching post, and come pay attention to her every time she rings it. That might work, if it didn't completely drive you insane. Which it might. But as for getting the cat to meow, no ideas.

 

[klunick]

My girl, Gracie, isn't much of a meower. If she does make a sound, it's more of a squeak than a meow. I never really thought much of it to be honest as in wondering why she doesn't meow more. That's just Gracie, I guess. Besides her brother, Boone, does enough for the both of them.

 

[Juniper_Junebug]

Hi!

My cat bites me and chews on my stuff when she wants attention, but she never meows on her own. Is it possible to teach her how to meow in order to tell me she wants something?

Kyla

How old is she? Do you ever see her silently meowing. At four-ish months, my Juno never meowed out loud and I wondered if she even could, until I accidental kneeled on her paw . But I would see her silently meowing.

At six months, she now meows when she wants something. So very quietly. I'm still figuring out what she wants each time of course. I never trained her to meow, except perhaps incidentally kitty figured out I responded better if I could hear her.

 

[Kvla]

How old is she? Do you ever see her silently meowing. At four-ish months, my Juno never meowed out loud and I wondered if she even could, until I accidental kneeled on her paw . But I would see her silently meowing.

At six months, she now meows when she wants something. So very quietly. I'm still figuring out what she wants each time of course. I never trained her to meow, except perhaps incidentally kitty figured out I responded better if I could hear her.

She's 2 years old and I haven't ever seen her silent meow! But I'll start to look out for that. I think it'd be pretty hard to teach her to meow if she doesn't already kinda do it. ):

 

[mani]

This is such a different question to the usual 'how can I stop my cat from meowing all the time, it's driving me crazy?'
Be careful what you wish for.

But you could try playing them youtube videos..
I'd go with a gentle:


or even




Or you could just try meowing to her a lot.. she might just catch on.