Braun Chat to your Cat

Lessons in cat conversation
1. Auflage 2011
ISBN: 978-0-85788-656-9
Verlag: Cadmos Publishing
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: 6 - ePub Watermark

E-Book, Englisch, 80 Seiten

Reihe: Cats

Cat language is both complex and multifaceted: cats do much more than just miaow, hiss and purr! Find out what your little tiger is really saying with all its many different sounds, facial expression and gestures, body posture and little behavioural quirks. Once you understand your cat better, you can get to grips with some of the typical problems of living together, and develop an even closer bond with your moggy. It contains: The whole range of cat sounds, from purring to wailing. Facial expressions, gestures, posture and body language. How cats live and socialise. The territory of outdoor and indoor cats. Conflict behaviour under stress. Play behaviour and hunting for prey.

Martina Braun is a qualified animal psychologist who specialises in behavioural therapy for dogs and cats. She lives with her cats in Basel, and has her own animal psychology practice

Autoren/Hrsg.

Braun, Martina

Leseproben

The sounds

(Photo: Schanz)

When thinking about communication between living beings, that in the form of sound often springs to mind first. The term ‘communication’ (Latin, communicare: sharing, conveying, participating, acting jointly, uniting) is the comprehensive term for a mutual exchange of thoughts and feelings, not just by using sound (acoustic), but also via body language, gestures and facial expression (visual) and depositing odours (olfactory).

When individuals communicate, they relate to each other. The reaction of one depends very much on the actions of the other, and vice versa. This highlights the importance of communication in establishing common ground and avoiding serious conflicts. The tools available to the cat for this purpose are manifold. Bearing in mind what effective hunters cats are, any misunderstanding can create the risks of serious injury to both parties. In fact, it is the large number of subtle nuances and facets the cat has at his disposal that make it so difficult for we humans to interpret them correctly. Let’s start with the one aspect of language through which humans understand each other best: communication via sound.

In the past, many efforts have been made to count and classify the individual sounds that cats produce. We now distinguish between six basic sounds: purring, miaowing, level one hissing, level two hissing, screaming and growling. Further scientific research has concluded that domesticated cats have 16 different sounds at their disposal, and has categorised them into three different groups:

• Murmuring (sounds made while the mouth is closed);

• Vocal sounds (for communication purposes with the cat’s human, produced while the mouth is being gradually closed); and

• Sounds of high intensity (sounds produced with an open mouth, while the size of the mouth opening varies). This is mainly reserved for communication with other cats.

The different sounds are not always easily distinguishable. When a cat is cornered by a human or by a pushy cat, he may start showing his displeasure by sounding an irritated miaow. If that’s not enough, this miaow may seamlessly merge into a hissing or growling sound, and if the tormentor still doesn’t back off, the whole thing may escalate into an angry rumbling. The type as well as the intensity of the sound varies according to the situation, and the transition from one sound to another is flowing. As a result, any attempt to list these sounds, including the one that follows here, can only be a rough outline of the acoustic communication signals of which a cat is capable.

Whimpering

The first sound that a kitten makes is whimpering, which serves to trigger the mother’s maternal affections and care. The feline behaviourist Paul Leyhausen has proved that the maternal action of carrying kittens back to the nest can only be triggered by the kitten’s whimpering sounds. If a kitten has fallen out of the nest and is crawling about, but doesn’t whimper, the mother takes no action. Only when the kitten sounds his ‘meeeh’ will the mother carry him back. Why? Well, bringing up kittens is a strenuous activity, for both parties. In order not to needlessly waste energy and effort, a clear marker or trigger is necessary. The whimpering puts a lot of stress on the little lungs, so this guarantees that a kitten only whimpers when it is absolutely necessary. The mother’s behaviour is adapted with according efficiency. She will only carry him back to the nest when he cries for help.

Like purring, these initial, very early sounds belong with the group of ‘vocal touch sounds’ and are primarily designed to build and reinforce social attachments. You could say the animals use a ‘vocal’ touch either when the physical touch is absent, or in order to reinforce it.

Purring

The kittens’ first purring sounds can be heard, albeit very quietly, almost straight after birth when they suckle from their mother. A kitten is able to swallow, suckle and purr all at the same time. By using this particular vocal touch sound, he conveys to his mother a sense of well-being. This way she knows that the little one is well without having to get up and thereby perhaps interrupting the feeding process. The purring is answered. The mother also purrs while she is nursing her young. In doing so, she soothes her offspring, as well as herself.

All cat-like animals (felines) have the ability to purr, not just domestic cats. Adult cats living in the wild purr almost exclusively when they have young. The domestication of the cat basically led to a permanent state of adolescence. As a result of living with humans, our domestic cats have kept their ability to purr, and to signal well-being, into adulthood.

Purring is a vibrating sound at a low frequency between 27 and 44 hertz. Cats also purr when they are in pain, and when they are sick or dying. Therefore it is assumed that they have the ability to calm themselves by purring. Adolescent cats that are playing with other adult cats sometimes purr in order to emphasise the peaceful nature of their playing towards the superior playmate, and to calm themselves. Only extremely anxious and frightened cats, or cats in an extremely aggressive mood, don’t purr.

By the way, there is a good reason why kittens are born with hair, but blind and deaf. If they were already able at this point to perceive all the stimuli of their environment with their eyes and ears, they’d be frightened and confused, maybe curious, but definitely distracted from the main issue: suckling. Their life would be over in a matter of hours.

The little tyke has to attract mums attention by whimpering for her to carry him back to the nest. (Photo: Fotonatur.de/Askani)

At birth, the only functioning senses that healthy kittens have are touch and smell. In order to prevent the kitten from getting too far away from the nest and wasting vital energy during his search for mum and the protection, warmth and milk she offers, he will crawl on his tummy in small circles, usually in an anti-clockwise direction. He realises he has found her when he can feel her warmth (tactile) and smell her milk (olfactory). By swaying his head gently from side to side, the kitten searches the skin surface of his mother’s tummy (sense of touch) in order to locate the prominent teats that he takes into his mouth to suckle. At the same time, the tiny paws left and right of the teat begin to tread and massage rhythmically. The treading action stimulates the flow of milk. This infantile instinctual action survives into the cat’s adulthood when human and cat are living together. The cat will use it when jumping on a soft surface, or when jumping on to your lap for a cuddle, by stomping around with his front paws, before happily settling down.

Even if the claws sometimes sting a little, this is a token of the cat’s trust in you, and it would be wrong to chase him off or punish him because of it.

Sadly, some cats, such as myself, have not had the good fortune of growing up in close contact with humans, having found proper homes only later in life.
Although we love them dearly, and all those peculiar things they get up to, that’s why cats like me sometimes still feel a little insecure when dealing with humans.
Do you want to know my own recipe for success?
It’s simple: I just purr! You know, those tense moments like being picked up, or visiting the vet’s and so forth; purr, purr, purr –it works a treat! Humans tend to be absolutely delighted, and give me lots of tender love and care. At the same time, it also soothes my own nerves and helps me keep my cool. It’s a marvellous thing, purring.

Cooing and chatting

All cooing sounds serve as a friendly greeting between familiar individuals, either between cats or between cat and human. If the cooing is accompanied by a quiet miaowing, this is also called chatting.

Cooing is a friendly sound that the cat also uses to greet his trusted and familiar human. (Photo: Schanz)

As early as 10 days after the birth, the mother cat begins to coo upon returning to the nest, and it can therefore be assumed that this sound may also be categorised as a social ‘vocal’ touch. The mother stays by the side of the nest and begins to coo persistently until her kittens wake up and start their characteristic whimpering. After a few days, the mother will expect the kittens to come crawling towards her in response to her persistent cooing.

Sometimes you can overhear cats that are very close and familiar with each other having a ‘chat’ using variations of this cooing, which are unique to these two individuals. This is called dyadic dialect (Greek, dyade: twosome). Similarly, you, being a trusted and familiar human being, as well as an esteemed tin-opener, will also be greeted by your moggy with a friendly cooing sound.

Mouse and rat call

The mouse call that the mother uses upon bringing her kittens their first mice at the age of four to six weeks is a slightly more guttural version of the cooing sound. With this adapted...