Cat Chat Science

When we talk about cat communication, we have little research to go on. Part of the problem with interpreting animal communication is that we have inherited a lot of fanciful rubbish from writers in previous centuries. One famous maxim still known today is that the lion, the king of beasts, will be gracious if treated with the proper respect. Modern animal behaviourists point out that bowing to a lion is more likely to turn you into dinner than a dinner guest.

Another problem is that it takes year to understand animal cultures and we often get it wrong. Until recently, we firmly believed that animals do not kill for political gain, do not commit rape, do not use tools and cannot tell lies. All of these "facts" have now been proven wrong. Scientists studying cats cannot agree exactly how many sounds pet cats make but many put the number at roughly 30 different meows as well as a dozen or so growls, hisses and squeaks. Despite the thousands of years we have lived together, the subject is not well researched, so much of the lore is purely observational.

One generally agreed modern theory is that cats "speak" more when they are living in a rich social circle. Cats who have other cats to play with, and humans who converse with them, appear to have a much wider vocabulary. There is also widespread belief that individual cats develop specialized signals and sound to communicate with their particular owner. If you consider how intelligent cats are, this is quite within the realms of possibility.

The idea of cats speaking English, Mandarin, Turkish or other languages is hotly debated. But what is clear is that when cats talk to each other, they share a common language. Cats who meet in the street never confuse fighting talk with friendliness or even play fighting! Until someone discovers the key to speaking Cat, we will have to stick to the old-fashioned methods of learning to communicate: trial and error!