# Cats "chattering" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 26, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452 "2010-04-26T20:55:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![movingfinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@movingfinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/movingfinger)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/21 "2010-04-27T04:09:36Z")
Bear and Niblet like to sit at the front screen door and observe the mockingbirds that sing in the trees across the road. Once in a while a bird will daringly perch on my porch railing, five feet from the cats and really taunt them. This does not last long as the cats focus their laser beam eyes on the birds and make their feathers start to smoke, and the birds get uncomfortable and fly off. I have had cats that chatter at missed prey, but my three (Heidi can’t be bothered with birds) do not express their wrath vocally. It is great fun to watch them sit side by side, staring malevolently at the birds and lashing their tails around furiously. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/22 "2010-04-27T04:56:07Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > I recall reading that it comes from the way that cats kill their prey (bite to the neck); they are twitching twitching those same muscles as they’d use to kill the bird even though they know they can’t actually get at the target due to the window in the way. > > Kind of like someone shadow-boxing while watching a fight on TV. This. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/23 "2010-04-27T06:22:06Z")
> [@ivan\_astikov](#): > > Is it right that cat’s only purr to humans? I’m sure I read that somewhere! My male cat will only very rarely purr to a human. Being licked by the girl cat sets him off like you wouldn’t believe. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/24 "2010-04-27T06:51:06Z")
We used to have a couple of cats who would do this…at a corner of a hallway and bathroom. The haunted one. :eek: It wasn’t _always_ haunted, either. But at some point, everyone would get an eerie feeling being near that part of the house. Including the cats, who would keep their distance and chitter at…_something_ in the corner of the ceiling. Maybe it was a radon leak or something. I dunno. I hope it was, and not a phouka. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/25 "2010-04-27T10:46:26Z")
One of my cats not only does this when watching “prey” through the glass door to my deck, but also does it in his sleep. I’m wondering if he’s dreaming about killing something. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/26 "2010-04-27T11:04:53Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > One of my cats not only does this when watching “prey” through the glass door to my deck, but also does it in his sleep. I’m wondering if he’s dreaming about killing something. Maybe he’s dreaming about watching prey through the glass door to the deck? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Deflagration](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ab097/32.png) [@Deflagration](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deflagration)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/27 "2010-04-27T11:48:31Z")
I’ve always referred to this as ‘Swearing at the birds’. A bit like Mutley does to Dick Dastardly. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2010, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/28 "2010-04-27T17:34:24Z")
Used to have a cat that chattered to bugs she stalked, inside. If we wanted her to chase a bug (saving us the trouble), we would imitate the noise and she would come running. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/29 "2010-04-28T00:35:59Z")
If there are any chattering cats reading this, it’s probably because there is a box of baby chickens located [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=561031), only a couple of threads away! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/30 "2010-04-28T01:18:54Z")
I’m embarrassed to say that my wife and I do it as a private joke whenever we see something we want to buy. A cool car goes by: “eh-eh-eh-eh-eh-eh”. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/31 "2010-04-28T03:10:09Z")
> [@LurkMeister](#): > > One of my cats not only does this when watching “prey” through the glass door to my deck, but also does it in his sleep. I’m wondering if he’s dreaming about killing something. [Without a doubt](http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/783920.html) :). ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/32 "2010-04-28T03:45:28Z")
We call it the “want” noise. Emmy “wants” at birds a lot. Of course, both cats were interested in the Best Day Ever in Cat History, when there were two ducks on the porch door, just inches away and through a screen. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/33 "2010-04-28T08:09:39Z")
I’ve only had one cat ever make the noise when watching the birds but they all love watching. The others learned to STFU otherwise the birds will hear. I find it interesting that the one cat that goes nuts over the pigeons that live in the roof is also too fraidy cat to go outside to actually go after them. None of the cats go after my chickens though. I think it’s odd, but the vet said it’s normal. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/34 "2010-04-28T16:04:13Z")
My Lunakitty would not only do it to the birds out the window, she’d do it in her sleep - but only if I made a high-pitched sneezing noise first. I found it highly amusing but it used to drive my husband nuts. “Ah-CHOO!” “K-k-k-k-k!” “Ah-CHOO!” “K-k-k-k-k-k-k!” Eventually she’d wake up enough to glare at me before settling back to her nap. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/35 "2010-04-28T16:13:37Z")
Here’s [Simon’s Cat](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1qHVVbYG8Y&feature=channel) chattering at a fly. ---
**Author:** ![My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f14d63/32.png) [@My\_Darn\_Snake\_Legs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/My_Darn_Snake_Legs)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/36 "2010-04-28T17:17:31Z")
Yep, my two cats do it. I thought it was really weird at first, but my wife says that her cats have always done it. I’ve always had cats, and these are the first two to do that. ---
**Author:** ![may\_be\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@may\_be\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/may_be_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/37 "2010-05-05T11:43:19Z")
I always liked to think she was trying to call the birds when my cat does it. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/38 "2010-05-05T19:43:43Z")
I had one cat that would only do it for passing helicopters. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452/39 "2010-05-05T19:56:38Z")
Well helicopters are a cat’s natural prey in the wild… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cats-chattering/537452.md?page=1)