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Why do cats meow at you?

The short answer

Because it works on people. Grown-up cats hardly ever meow at each other, but pet cats learn that a meow gets our attention, food or an open door.

Fact-checked Checked against 12 sources
Watch it in about a minute, here or on YouTube

Grown-up cats hardly ever meow at each other. They save their meows for people like you.

Why do kittens meow?

Tiny kittens meow to call their mother. A meow tells her they are hungry or upset.

Illustration from the video: Tiny kittens meow to call their mother.
Illustration from the video: A meow tells her they are hungry or upset.

How do cats talk to cats?

Grown-up cats mostly talk to each other with smells and body language. When they are angry or scared, they hiss and growl. Where cats live wild in groups, you hardly ever hear a meow.

Illustration from the video: When they are angry or scared, they hiss and growl.
Illustration from the video: Where cats live wild in groups, you hardly ever hear a meow.

So why meow at you?

Pet cats learn that a meow gets our attention. A meow can also get them food or an open door. If a meow gets them fed, they use that meow again next time. So they keep meowing at us, even as grown-ups.

Illustration from the video: A meow can also get them food or an open door.
Illustration from the video: So they keep meowing at us, even as grown-ups.
Illustration from the video: Some cats even develop special meows that their owners learn to understand.
One more thing

Some cats even develop special meows that their owners learn to understand.

Sources

  1. ASPCA: Meowing and Yowling
  2. International Cat Care: Cat communication
  3. Cats Protection: Why do cats meow and what does it mean? (How to speak cat)
  4. Journal of Veterinary Science: Tavernier, Ahmed, Houpt, Yeon (2020). Feline vocal communication
  5. Scientific American: Your Cat Questions Answered (Kate Wong, 2015)
  6. National Geographic: What Are Cats Trying to Tell Us? Science Will Explain (Carrie Arnold, 2016)
  7. Humane World for Animals: Understanding cat behavior and feline language
  8. The Conversation, republished by Phys.org: Why cats meow at humans more than each other (Grace Carroll, 2024)
  9. VCA Animal Hospitals: Why do cats meow?
  10. Anthrozoos, abstract via FAO AGRIS: Ellis, Swindell, Burman (2015). Human classification of context-related vocalizations emitted by familiar and unfamiliar domestic cats
  11. Prato-Previde et al. 2020, Animals
  12. Nicastro and Owren 2003, Journal of Comparative Psychology

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