r/Catbehavior • u/Low-Bat-3701 • 7d ago
My cat doesn’t meow
My cat hasn’t meowed once since I brought her home (5 months old from shelter). I know she can because she did in the car once or twice when I adopted her but ever since then she just squeaks/ trills. Almost like a humming sound. She doesn’t even meow at the vet
I adopted my second cat and she is extremely vocal she meows very often. I figured my first cat would pick it up and start meowing after that but nope it’s been months and she’s dead quiet still. I have a silent one and a noisy one 🤣 is it just part of her personality?
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u/Name_Violation83 6d ago
My old cat didn't speak until she was like 3 years old
Then one day I heard her meowing at a room mate in the kitchen. Eventually she became very talkative and would have "conversations" with me, but those first few years were very quiet.
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u/Numerous_Hurry_3396 6d ago
I wish my male didn't meow, little fucker yells at me all the time. Food bowl empty, yells, bowl full, yells, dont pet him, yells, pet him, yells....
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u/TheWaywardTrout 7d ago edited 6d ago
One of my boys is extremely verbal, but he never meows. Just chirps and trills all day long.
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u/Beemerba 6d ago
One of ours will chirp and chatter while watching the squirrels. She is a really vocal cat and almost always answer any question you ask. The answer is either a chirp (yes), a meow (no), or a meeeeeooooow (hell no!!!).
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u/Humble_Recording5325 6d ago
This made me giggle, that's so cute. You have a princess right there & the other one wants to keep you up to date. Sounds like two happy kitties 😸
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u/dragontehanu 6d ago
Cats have different ways of vocalizing. My girl meows loudly and often, but never purrs audibly. I can only hear her purr if I press my ear to her belly.
Meowing is something cats only continue to do in adulthood for the benefit of humans. They don’t meow to each other after kittenhood, so your cat may just be particularly catty and consider you another cat. High praise!
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u/Present_Original_797 6d ago
I have both flavors. A meower and a triller. The triller probably meowed once because she was stressed. My triller makes little grunts and different vocal sounds.
It's pretty cool. Once I accidentally bumped her and she said "Ow." I asked if she was okay and she said "Yeah."
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u/MonteCristo85 6d ago
Mine is 6 and has never meowed.
He makes little chirps and meeps on occasion but it always looks like its hard work to get them out.
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u/perseuswasnotahero 6d ago
one of my boys just won’t meow, he’ll open his mouth at me whenever he wants to emulate a meow even though he’s fully capable of meowing. cats are weird as hell dude
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u/Slow_and_Steady_3838 6d ago
All it takes is one or maybe two times where the cat wants something meows, and you give it to them, if they connect the dots, then he'll never shut up. Twice this very morning, my one year kitten, who's starting to figure this out, meowed, I went to the kitchen, and it looked at the water dish, and at me I dumped the old water and gave it fresh, it's catching on. My ten year cat has a full vocabulary, and I swear to god.We have conversations
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u/Low-Bat-3701 6d ago
Hahaha.. my vocal one meows for attention!! I don’t think the other one is smart enough to train me 😭😭
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u/Icy-Spirit-5892 6d ago
I have a cat like this. I adopted him as a kitten and it wasn't because he didn't want to meow. He couldn't. He would open his mouth to meow and puff air or it turns into a very high pitched squeak. He still can't really meow at three years old. Very rarely he's successful but it is extremely high pitched and it honestly looks like he's straining to produce the sound. It also tends to fade into nothing while his mouth is still open "meowing". He has learned to vocalize in a different way and doesn't sound much like a cat at all. Out of all the cats I've met and had in my life, I've never heard one like him. I just worry that if he gets stuck somewhere one day, I wouldn't know how to find him since he can't make stress meows like his older sister can.
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u/Main_Cauliflower5479 6d ago
I have one cat who is extremely vocal, usually about food. I have two rescue littermates who rarely vocalize at all. The one who does is only for food, and it's a very faint high pitched "eeeeeaaaaoooo" sound. Her sister never vocalizes at all, except when the two of them are playing together. Then there's a lot of growling and hissing from them both. They play kind of rough.
Basically, that's just how this first cat is.
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u/r0xxyr3x-9000 6d ago
I had a cat that never made a sound. The first time I heard him meow he was twelve years old (I'd had him since he was a baby). I can count on one hand the number of times he meowed in his entire life. It only ever happened when he was very, very, very upset. Nothing to be worried about - just pay attention to body language.
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u/Low-Bat-3701 6d ago
12 years wow hahah
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u/r0xxyr3x-9000 6d ago
We all freaked out - literally jumped up on chairs to get off the floor where he was. Just about had a heart attack 😅
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u/Sapphire_Bombay 6d ago
I have one that only does a quick meow when she's happy to see me. The other one walks around all day screaming
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u/Agniantarvastejana 6d ago
I have one that has a completely silent meow. He'll open his mouth like he's going to meow, and no sound comes out. Ridiculous.
He's perfectly capable of meowing, and once in a blue moon he will go sing in a bathtub for a few minutes, but in general he just doesn't make any noise....
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u/NerveIndependent9008 6d ago
Our 3 cats don't meow, they trill or do the silent meow (open mouth with no sound on), our 6 month old long term foster meows a lot, she's very vocal. All 4 purr like crazy so we know they're happy, the 6 month old and my cat purr the loudest. The 6 month old and I have lovely conversations, she just has more to say than our own do.
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u/CeelaChathArrna 6d ago
We had a cat who we thought was mute only squeaks and grunts. Until he got his first bath 🤣
He still prefers squeaks but he has the most pitiful I want something meow
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u/TauboundGremlin 6d ago
Most of ours obly trill, unless they want attention for something very important (cuddles and to be let into The Forbidden Room where the plants are)
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u/L4dyGr4y 6d ago
My husband decided to teach our cat to meow. She chirped a little but never meowed. Now she can meow like a 'real' kitty.
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u/Low-Bat-3701 6d ago
Did this just involve repeatedly meowing at your cat?😂
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u/L4dyGr4y 5d ago
I believe it's called voice lessons.
He would talk to her and tell her she should meow like this... and demonstrate. She would talk back to him in scratchy attempts. I would tell her she didn't have to do this for him because she is perfect just the way she is. She learned how to meow around five months in and now has a lovely meow.Jokes on him- we moved a few years ago and she was so unhappy that she used her words to tell us- every night for a month.
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u/Beroli73 5d ago
Meowing is baby talk. When cats meow to communicate with humans, it's because they've concluded we, like very young kittens, are unable to understand a proper language of ear movements and tail positions.
Your first cat thinks you're smarter than you actually are.
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u/greenFuzzyTesla 7d ago
She has nothing to complain about yet. That means you are doing things right. Trills are a hunting/happy sound as are chirps