"It’s kind of nice to think your kitty has gone to the effort to learn a second language to communicate with you. Sure, she did it mostly out of necessity, but also out of affection. She wouldn’t meow just for your attention if she didn’t enjoy a relationship with you."

I wonder if this is learnt behaviour or whether to be successful domestically it has evolved.

Oh no, I realise now.... He designed them that way.

@John



To the rest, I think it is learned behavior, but I think its the cat that domesticated us and not the other way around.

no doubt we are constantly manipulated by a diverse animated creatures ....

You know what they say: "Dogs have owners, cats have staff."

staff

Who practically worship the ground they walk on, even!

Well, some cat people do, myself not included of course...ahem.

Mew.

There is one type of meowing that cats use with each other that was not mentioned -- the mating meow of the female in heat.

I have great conversations with my cats, when they feel like it.

My sisters cat responds to wistling, she alters her pitch to the pitch of the wistle.

At first i thought she responded because the wistling is similar to the noise a bird makes, but now i dont think so.

Dogs have owners -
Cats have STAFF

gotta go - I am being summoned, meow

*LOOOL* They're great!!

I am going to make some email stationery out of them. Thanks! Too cool!!

I agree. The Chairman Meow is a bit much but I love these ones:

"There is no Evolution. Only a list of creatures, that my cat has allowed to live."

and

"Your honour student is merely a pawn in my cat's World domination plot"

Always fun to come across neat things about cats. No matter how much we know, theres always more.

When cats live with humans, they consider us the senior cats of the local clowder. As a result, they revert to juvenile behavior, which includes affection-seeking as well as vocalization, behavior that they normally outgrow.

Dogs are similar. Once out of puppyhood, wild canines seldom vocalize; living with humans makes them (psychologically) eternal puppies.

Of course this does not apply if the animal is abused or trained to be vicious.