Hello, this is Dr. Karin. Read my bio, learn more about me, and meet my five cheerful cats: Clutch, Cyril, Alex, Zelda, and Zazzles.
Have you met Cyril? If not, you’re missing out. He’s the fluffiest, calmest, laid-back cat I’ve ever known, and often makes me jealous of his lifestyle. He also lives a plus-size life, which I will discuss in a future post. Now I would like to talk about another unique characteristic of him: his reaction to certain sounds.
Back in 2021, I contracted a little virus. You may have heard of it. Covid something? Anyway, I had a bit of a cough and apparently I didn’t like it. A person who never misses breakfast. While I was near Cyril, every time I had the audacity to clear my throat or try to lift my lungs, I responded with an angry little chatter.
How do I know it was angry? Actually, I’m not. It was just the vibe he was giving. No hissing, no growling, no tail wagging, no teeth gnashing, just that chatter that cats make when they spot a bird, rodent, or, in the case of my ginger cat Alex, a hot dog. There was only sound. And then there was the attitude. If you live with a cat, you know what I’m talking about. That sense of superiority that lets you know without a shadow of a doubt that you are, and always will be, inferior to the felines. That’s fine, I know my place in the family, but Cyril isn’t usually that arrogant. I don’t mind being judged by cats at all, but being judged by Cyril is like being judged by a sweet, kind old man like Morgan Freeman or Tim Waltz. His eyes seemed to say, “I’m not angry, just disappointed.”
cough paranoia
During the COVID-19 outbreak, it was hard enough to deal with wary and suspicious stares when you had a coughing attack due to allergies or inhalation of drinks, but now you can treat the discomfort caused by coughing at home. I also had to deal with it. There was no safe place?!
What’s even more worrying is that Cyril only giggles when I cough, and never laughs when my husband or anyone else coughs. It’s pretty hard not to take it personally. When he started chattering over other noises, I was almost convinced it was due to Cyril’s love and concern for my well-being.
At first it was a sneeze, but now the crinkling of an empty can has joined the clandestine cough in the list of sounds you make when you’re sure you’re in the Kirill-free zone. I can’t bear the thought of interfering with his snooze time. This poor cat only sleeps 18 hours a day, maybe 20 hours a day.
Why do we have strange reactions to sounds?
As an indoor kitten, you might theorize that Cyril’s chatter is just out-of-place hunting sounds, but Cyril also makes these calls to birds being scouted on nearby rooftops. emits.
I needed more information.
While researching the topic of cat chatter, I found many different explanations for the sounds, none of which were particularly surprising.
- imitate prey
- excitement
- Premonition of biting prey
And then there was confirmation of my worst fears:
- Expressing their dissatisfaction with humans.
As well as typical meowing, cats are rarely seen chatting with other cats. This means that this call is only used in certain situations, such as when hunting or telling people to shut up.
cat meow
Communication between felines typically consists of chirps, hisses, growls, or yawns. Meowing appears to have been developed as a way to imitate the nonsensical sounds that come from our mouths. In my long history of meowing at cats, I don’t seem to have caused any offense, but my assumption is that cat meows are a language that we can decipher. As such, we believe that it is a language that cats can decipher, but it is not the case in that respect. We think we’re being cute when we meow back, but in reality, cats are parroting our meows to entertain us.
So is Cyril irritated by my cough or just confused? Is it a sign of his love and devotion to me that he persists in trying to communicate, even when my language changes from a coherent pattern to a strangled scream that sounds like crushing a Coke can? Are we doomed to remain trapped in a cycle of indecipherable vocalizations until one of us gets bored and walks away (or in Cyril’s case, falls asleep)?
I think the answer is yes. I need to somehow teach Cyril (and me) Morse code…
This article is part of Dr. Karin’s 5 Hilarious Cats series.
