The NYT’s “Trilobites” column analyzes what a cat’s meow really means. Click on the headline below, or read the article archived here.
The article describes a study in which people tried to interpret the meaning of a cat’s meow by watching videos of said moggy. Some excerpts:
It turns out these misunderstood moments with your cat may be more common than not. A new study by French researchers, published last month in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science, found that people were significantly worse at reading the cues of an unhappy cat (nearly one third got it wrong) than those of a contented cat (closer to 10 percent).
The study also suggested that a cat’s meows and other vocalizations are greatly misinterpreted and that people should consider both vocal and visual cues to try to determine what’s going on with their pets.
The researchers drew these findings from the answers of 630 online participants; respondents were volunteers recruited through advertisements on social media. Each watched 24 videos of differing cat behaviors. One third depicted only vocal communication, another third just visual cues, and the remainder involved both.
. . .Their vocals can range from seductive to threatening: meowing, purring, growling, hissing and caterwauling. At last count, kittens were known to use nine different forms of vocalization, while adult cats uttered 16.
That we could better understand what a cat wants by using visual and vocal cues may seem obvious. But we know far less than we think we do.
. . . And the fact that we’re not very good at picking up on signs of animal discontentment should not come as a surprise, Dr. Udell suggested. “We’re more likely to perceive our animals as experiencing positive emotions because we want them to,” she said. “When we see the animals, it makes us feel good, and our positive emotional state in response to the animals gives us these rose-colored glasses.”
Even some of the most common cues may be misunderstood.
Purring, for example, is not always a sign of comfort. “Purring can be exhibited in uncomfortable or stressful conditions,” Dr. de Mouzon said. “When a cat is stressed, or even hurt, they will sometimes purr.”
Such instances are a form of “self-soothing,” said Kristyn Vitale, an assistant professor of animal health and behavior at Unity Environmental University in Maine, who was not involved in the new study.
. . .As an example, Dr. de Mouzon pointed to a cat’s habit of suddenly biting. “Over time, with cats communicating and humans not understanding, the cat will just bite,” she said, “because they have learned over time that this is the only way to make something stop.”
Animal rescue shelters use such findings to educate prospective owners. Dr. Udell and Dr. Vitale are assessing whether cats can be suitable as therapy animals, or in aiding children with developmental differences.
I wonder if humans could develop a form of “purr therapy” in which we could do something similar to purring as “self-soothing”. As you know, self care is a big deal these days, often involving expensive items like hot-rocks-on-the-back therapy and expensive oils. If we could do something like purring it would be a lot cheaper!
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From Country Life we have a big list of great quotations about cats. I’ll give just a few; click on the headline to see ’em all:
Ernest Hemingway:
“One cat just leads to another.”
Source: Ernest Hemingway Selected Letters 1917-1961“A cat has absolute emotional honesty: human beings, for one reason or another, may hide their feelings, but a cat does not.”
Mark Twain
“If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow; but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much.”
Leonardo da Vinci
“The smallest feline is a masterpiece.”
Jane Pauley
“Never trust a man who hate cats.”
Albert Schweitzer
“There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.”
Lilian Jackson Brown
“Dogs have their day but cats have 365.”
Source: Three Complete Novels by Lilian Jackson Braun: The Cat Who Saw Red / The Cat Who Played Brahms / The Cat Who Played Post Office
P. C. Cast
“I’ve found that the way a person feels about cats—and the way they feel about him or her in return—is usually an excellent gauge by which to measure a person’s character.”
Source:MarkedCharles Dickens
“What greater gift than the love of a cat.”
Eckhart Tolle
“I have lived with several Zen masters—all of them cats.”
Source: The Power of Now
Beverley Nichols
“Let us be honest: most of us rather like our cats to have a streak of wickedness. I should not feel quite easy in the company of any cat that walked around the house with a saintly expression.”
Source: Beverley Nichols’ Cats’ X. Y. Z.
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This NYT piece (click on headline or find it archived here) made big news, and is still doing so: I saw it on the NBC Evening News two nights ago. It’s one of the cleverest ideas I’ve heard of!
An excerpt (warning: lots of puns):
Finally, there is something cats can do for humans.
The Worcester Public Library in Worcester, Mass., announced that through the end of March, people who have lost or damaged a book or other borrowed items can bring a photograph, drawing, or magazine clipping of a cat, and get their library cards reactivated.
The library calls the program March Meowness, a way for the system of seven branches to forgive (or is that fur-give?) members of the community who misplaced a book or damaged a borrowed item, and then never went back to avoid paying for it.
In just a few days, the program has already generated hundreds of returns, multiple postings of random cat photographs on the library’s Facebook page, and photographs and drawings pinned on a growing “cat wall” in the main building.
The local NPR affiliate, WBUR, described it as a “never be-fur tried initiative,” and urged patrons to hurry and “act meow.” So far the response, WBUR said, has Jason Homer, the executive director of the library, “feline good.”
. . . If you don’t have a cat? No problem. One cat-less 7-year-old boy, who never returned a “Captain Underpants” book, had his library card reactivated after the staff gave him paper and crayons to sketch one.
. . .The library had previously tried to boost attendance and fee-forgiveness programs with canned food drives. But the cats found their way into the spotlight, as they do. The Meowness program took shape after several months of brainstorming by a library task force that met to come up with a creative way to get people back through the doors.
“It spiraled in a good way from there,” Mr. Homer said. “We were just trying to figure out the lowest barrier possible.”
. . .Mr. Homer said that using cats as the vehicle to forgive patrons for losing or damaging books or other borrowed items could help to soften the stereotype of the stern librarian.
“We don’t really have the high buns and ‘shush’ people anymore,” he said. “We are still book lovers, cardigan lovers and cat lovers.”
This would not, of course, have worked nearly as well as d*gs, for cats rule the Internet.
On the news report I heard that the library had received over 10,000 cat photos, many sent in by distant folks who wanted to help a local waive their fees or get back their library card. In response, the library has now waived fees for everyone! That’s what a cat lover would do.
And here’s a video:
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Lagniappe: A version of the well known song “The Cat Came Back“, sung by Garrison Keillor and Frederica Von Stade. This song was written in 1893 by Harry S. Miller, and has been recorded many times.
The original sheet music:
h/t: Merilee
These days really everything is racist. For example, after reading your post about The Cat came Back, I googled it along with the word “racist”. As I expected, this is a racist song:
“The Cat Came Back” was originally titled, ““The Cat Came Back: A N…r Absurdity”. The lyrics mocked the speech of enslaved people and was sung in minstrel shows. (…) If we are committed to including ALL of our students and fighting systemic racism, we have to be prepared to let go of these songs that have the power to exclude and choose song material that is inclusive of every child and their families.” And on and on and on… (source: https://ofortunaorff.blogspot.com/2018/09/culture-and-race-our-song-literature.html)
It would have been fun to be part of the study that was published in Applied Animal Behavior. I think I would have done pretty well (but we all think that, of course). I wonder if their online test is still available!
And in the library video, along with the fairly happy (or at least tolerant) cats, there was a cat that was panting. That’s not the sign of a happy cat.
Finally, regarding The Cat Came Back, written in 1893. One of those horrifying verses had the cat covered with tar and tied to the bumper of a car. I wonder if that verse was added later, as cars were very rare in 1893. Could it have been the bumper of a carriage?
Thank you for covering the world of our beloved cats!
One evening I was driving a company van at less than the nominal 25-mph speed limit through a somewhat congested downtown area of a small city … when I spied in the left corner of my eye a running dog.
In a split second, a cat — followed by the dog — came running at full speed across the street in front of me. Before I could even think of putting on the breaks, I felt the bump that meant I had run over the cat.
Because there were cars right behind me, I immediately looked for a parking space and found one a little ways down the block. The cars behind me had stopped, apparently aware of what had happened. I parked and thought about what to do. You see, I worked for a mortuary at the time, and I had a deceased person in the van … and one very strict rule is to never leave a pickup van untended when you’re transporting a deceased person.
I quickly decided that the van wouldn’t be very far away if I went back to where I’d run over the cat. I could still easily monitor the van. But in that short minute or so a small crowd of people had congregated on the sidewalk. Someone had taken the injured cat from the street.
As I approached the group I announced that I had run over the cat. I was somewhat relieved when I was greeted with compassion, as witnesses saw that there had been no chance to avoid the cat. I went down on my knees to look at the cat. Though it looked distressed — its breathing was fast and shallow — it otherwise seemed unharmed. As I bent down to look more closely, I noticed that the cat’s breathing was actually a quick but shallow purr. The cat was purring!
Someone recognized the cat as belonging to a household only a few homes away, and they went to notify the family. Shortly afterward an adult couple and their pre-teen daughter arrived. As you might imagine, they were upset. I explained what had happened, and the family thanked me for my concern, and for coming back. They did not seem to blame me for what had happened.
But, I still had a job to do. I gave my phone number to them and asked for theirs. I wanted to know if the cat would survive. It didn’t seem likely, but I was hopeful. Now, I don’t remember if I called the family the next morning, or if they called me. In any case, the family was again thankful for my concern. Sadly, I learned that the cat had died.
I’m fond of cats. I’ve long considered myself a “cat person.” But I’ve also long been an advocate for keeping cats indoors, for many reasons, especially because cats prey on birds. (I’m also a “bird person.”) I also advocate for keeping cats indoors for the health of the cat itself. This experience added to that list of reasons.
Cats are usually wary of cars and trucks, but if a dog attacks a cat, the cat doesn’t know to avoid a car (or van) when it’s frantically running away from the dog.
And, this is another reason that dogs should be kept on leashes. (My wife is a “dog person,” and she agrees with me.) Even if a dog is nominally under “voice control,” a dog has instincts that could immediately override its training. (A “nice” dog once attacked the face of my wife’s young daughter. Thankfully her injury was superficial.)
Sorry for the long story.
Twitter has an account operated by “@MtStHelensWA”, who would love to apply this sort of therapy on a … widespread basis.
Another great Caturday. I’ll spare everyone my story (Jon’s is better) but I was humbled and badly torn up (on the forearm) by a purring cat whose visuals I couldn’t read since he was under a bed. I’m also a cat person (with a dog) but I learned the hard way how treacherous a cat bite can be. I was schooled! (Is that racist?)
One of our cats “bites” usually very gently, not to stop something but to start something, often fuss and attention required at around three am. Not always responded favourably. In the twelve years that he has graced us with his constant companionship he has never meowed in our presence but purrs a lot.