Conference misery::feline_v1

When Gray (full name Little Gray Lady, after Nantucket) just wants some
attention, she'll find the most conspicuous spot and just sit and stare
at us like a little Sphinx. (My wife finds this behavior totally discon-
certing, and therefore totally effective from Gray's point of view...)

When she wants to play, she'll roll over on her back with all four paws
splayed and stare at us until one of us gets down on the floor and plays
with her.

/Harry

  I have two cats and they both act differently when they want something.
Spunky- A russian short hair- When he wants to eat, he nips at my heel.
Atreyu- A pure black long hair- He will come up to you and let out a 
very loud meow. Its enough to scare the crap out of you.

                    REK

I just got a kitten this weekend so I'm not sure how much she'll talk
as she gets older. Right now she purrs. Continuously. When I walk into
the room she starts purring and doesn't stop until she's asleep. I've
seldom had a cat that purred so loudly when it was playing attack-cat.
kris

Even _one_ cat may have many ways of "talking."  Both my late cats, Morgan and 
little Morlock (if you call a 25+-lb cat "little") would issue a pleasant lit-
tle chirp when they wanted me to pet them when they jumped on my bed or any
chair I was sitting on.  Morgan would pat me in the face to wake me up (he
had a whole routine if I was *tightly* asleep).

Merlin scratches on doors to have me open them.  If that doesn't work, he yowls
LOUDLY.  He also will hook the door open himself if it's not bolted and I don't
open it after a decent interval.

There are many ways cats can comnmunicate.

Steve Kallis, Jr.

Figaro calls me with a chirp-like sound, but the tone rises at the end,
sort of like a word ending ina question mark.  She calls me this way when
she can't find me.  When she's hungry, that's another story.

When Fig wants to play inside the house, she begins running (bolting) around 
the house.  We play hide and seek alot.  I chase her into a room and run away.
I hide behind a piece of furniture or around the corner and she comes looking
for me.  When we're outside she'll run from one tree to another and climb up
about two feet, jump down and run again.  

Figaro also loves to play crochet with us outside.  When a player hits the
ball with the mallet, she runs after it and sits on it like an egg, it's
really quite a sight.  We've had her dancing around the backyard, by all of
us hitting our balls in different directions at the same time.

  ^_^
 (>.<)
  ) (

See note 18 for some more instances of feline/human communication...

-b

Well Cisco is a Saimese. He is also on a diet. His vocabulary is large and
expressive though he uses it mostly for two things. Food and more food.

In the Morning he studies me waiting for either of two things: massive body
movement or talking. If I start rolling over too much trying to get comfortable
then that means that I am awake and should be getting breakfast for cats.
If I say anything it sets off the breakfast alarum.

He 'words' express impatience confusion and annoyance. They are both loud
and soft. 

Malcolm is a Maine Coon Cat and has a very gentle voice. His middle name
was Growltiger for reasons I go into else where. As a kitten he was nick-named
Squeaktiger because of his very quiet voice. Even now at 9 months he mostly
breaths out through his mouth in a silent meow faintly asperated at the end.



							.wIx.

Tigger jumps up and rubs her nose against mine then runs to either the door
or a food dish depending on what she wants.  She will sometimes rub noses
to say hello then curl up in my lap.  She never makes a sound.  If she meows,no
noise comes out.

Einstein, my Maine Coon Cat is loud.  He talks all the time.  He starts meowing
and will not stop until you either hold him or follow him to his destination.
In summer, he sits outside and meows until someone will go sit on the porch
with him.

Denise

re .7

You didn't mention Big Mal's other method of communication--vigorous
nose-licking.  Not his own nose, either!

Also, Cisco has been known to start 'speaking' when he thinks he hears a
red Toyota arrive home.

When Bitser was a kitten, she would climb up my back if I was standing
at the kitchen counter and she was hungry.  Sure got my attention fast.
Now that she is a dignified adult cat (8 years Nov. 1) she just talks
in her part siamese, part alley cat voice.

Julliette gets attention by walking between my feet, doing her best to
trip me up.

Stanley never does anything to get attention, just sits staring inhopes
that someone will notice.  He's not the brightest of cats, but very
loveable.

Ellen

Harold and Richard both speak on occasion, Harold much more than 
Richard.  At times I have to tell him to shut up, not that it does much 
good.  They also both purr a lot, Harold more than Richard.  They do a 
lot of talking when it is food time in the morning, and also are pretty 
vocal when I come home at night.  They know that I might give them some 
Bonkers, so they often cluster in the kitchen and meow until I come in 
and "treat" them.

Tom

Because Antar is very adept at opening cupboards and getting into just about
anything, we keep his crunchies in the cabinet above the kitchen sink.  When
Antar wants his crunchies, he reaches up and grabs the top of the kitchen
counter in front of the sink with his front paws and then pulls his hind feet
up off the floor doing a kind of chin up at the kitchen counter.  After this
kind of performance I just have to reward him with a handful of crunchies.

-Mary

My sweet little black half-siamese Nebula purrs and meows at the same time
when she wants something (breakfast, for example).  She also has been known
to sit on the cat shelf in front of the window and do bird calls if there
are birds outside.  I don't think she would fool most birds; she might get
better at it if she hunted birds for food, but she does manage to make some
funny clicking and chirping noises.

JFCL, her big spotted campanion (named for the no-op instruction on a 10),
has almost no voice, except once when at a New Year's party someone squeaked
their finger on a balloon, which for some reason terrified poor 'FCL.  She
also sometimes manages to meow when she wants to take a shower with me in
the morning (actually, she licks up the water that comes out under the doors
to the tub enclosure - soap and all), but usually she just scratches under
the door until I let her in to protect the rug.  She has figured out that I
will not get up to feed her in the morning until I have put on my glasses,
and she has been known to dig them out of the box of tissues next to the bed
where I leave them at night and drop them on my pillow!  Sometimes she misses
and they go under the bed - it is hard to find your very strong eyeglasses
when you aren't already wearing glasses and some well-meaning cat has hidden
them somewhere under the bed....

Al (may his kitty soul rest in peace) was a *VERY* large black and
    white mongrel. When he wanted to get in or out, he would stand on
    his hind legs and attempt to turn the doorknob with his front paws!!
    I don't know how he figured that one out, I've never heard of a
    cat doing that before...
    
    Robert.
    

    re .14:  My sister's cat does that!  I think mine's learning that,
    too. (he bats the doorknob when he wants out)  Cats are smarter
    than you think (when they want to be!)
    
    -Mike

    JFCL does that, too, and can open any unlocked door that opens inward.
    Nebula is too small - she can't reach the doorknob when standing
    on her hind legs.  Still, having the door shut helps in protecting
    things like my Beaucarnea plant that the cats otherwise destroy
    - keeps them out of sight.
                              

    We have a kitty, Merry, who is quite tall and who throws around a
    *lot* of weight.  He's very adept at opening doors that are not 
    quite closed.  He knows, what the door knob is for, but hasn't gotten
    the mechanics of it down yet.  It's amazing to me that he's as good
    as he is, because he's shown few previous indications of intelligence.
    
    Gary

        In addition to Big Merry, we have Pippin, who will bat at the
    door handle from the bathroom counter in attempt to get out.  Cinnamon
    will also sit on the lidded trashcan next to the kitchen door and
    bat at that handle from time to time.
    
    Tracey
    

    Sebastian, my russian blue (see note about the Bill chewer russian
    Blue) will run down the stairs, and sit in the side light of the
    front door and just cry like he's gonna die, to see if i'll let
    him go out.  He's basically an indoor cat (no front claws - please
    don't jump on me - it hurt me as much as it hurt him) but we've
    been out a couple of times to play in the grass around my condo.
    
    He just goes NUTS over the grass, eating and eating... he won't
    eat it unless he can pull it up!
    
    He has learned to open the pocket door into my office upstairs by
    bouncing against it until there's enough room to get his paw in
    the crack... I haven't seen this feat, cause he doesn't do it when
    i'm not around, i've just surmised ..
    
    oh well
    

    
    My Siamese, Katmandu, is quite the talker!  She doesn't have the
    usual Siamese voice, but rather a 'regular' voice, so it isn't quite
    as annoying.
    
    She has several different sounds.  When she wants something, like
    food or to come in a room when the door is closed, she has quite
    a loud and long meow, which surprises most new people (and me once
    in a while) because she is so small.  
    
    When she wants attention, she'll purr very loudly and makes kind
    of like a moose-sound.  She'll also put her paw on my arm, like
    you might tap someone of the shoulder to get their attention.  When
    she gets your attention, she chirps and purrs some more (it really
    is very cute!).
    
    When she wants me to wake up in the morning, she will either sit
    on me with her face very close and lick my nose, or she will knead
    my bare skin with her sharp claws and purr very loudly.  If she
    wants to get under the covers (she usually sleeps there at night)
    but can't, she'll half meow/half wimper.
    
    If I'm talking to her (as I usually do) as I'm petting and scratching
    her, she'll respond with purring and all kinds of strange chirps
    and closed-mouth meows.  She is definitely a riot!!
    
    She is quite the vocal cat and is often so cute and funny that I
    just have to laugh!  I wouldn't get any other breed!
    
    
    				DEB
    
    
    

    Well, I'm going to be different to the point of sounding potty infact.
    
    My little baby  *Spooky* has a very human voice, albeit she has
    a slight lisp, she talks thru me and my husband.  (It has to be
    seen to be believed).
    
    I suppose the idea came from my best friend who has three dogs,
    and all three have their own voice, one even has an Australian accent.
    
    It has now got to the stage, believe it or not, that any other member
    of the family like my Mother, on entering our house automatically
    starts up a conversation with Spooky.
    
    We can guess what spooky is saying just by body movement and expression
    on her face.  It's great fun really, we can have some hilarious
    moments.
    
    All three of our cats have had there own voices and characters.
     Max in particular had a very gruff, angry voice, and when we used
    to leave money lying about he used to say "Is that my pocket money?
    Think I'll take my girl out tonigt!"
    
    I know I sound crazy but adds to the fun.
    
    Regards
    Tracy 

    I know what you mean....
    
    Like the times Sophie comes rushing in through the cat flap with a good
    old bitch about one of the neighborhood cats which she can't wait to
    share with my husband (who loves cat gossip):
    
    Sophie:  "Miiiieeeooow mieow meeeeeeeeiow!"
    Husband: "Oh really!  What happened?"
    Sophie:  "Mioew Miiiieoooooooow Mieeeeeowwwww!"
    Husband: "Oh dear!  And then what did she say?"
    Sophie:  "Miiiieeeeeoooooow!"
    Husband: "How rude!  I hope you didn't take that lying down...."
    
    ...and so on.  She really does have whole conversations with you. 
    
    [Ruth]