# Do cats have to learn to meow? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 13, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991 "2015-09-13T00:29:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/21 "2015-09-14T00:07:21Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Or not. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3U0udLH974](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3U0udLH974) They certainly seem to be paying a lot more attention to each other than the unseen camera person. Well, I guess the problem with ‘never’ or ‘always’ type statements is that it only takes one exception to falsify them. (That’s why I added the ‘I don’t know if it’s true’ disclaimer at the start) Not sure the video proves much though. There is a person in the room with the cats after all. That said, I enjoyed watching it, so that’s something. ---
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/22 "2015-09-14T00:13:08Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > It doesn’t. Cats wouldn’t have vocal cords and the circuitry in their brains to drive them to create the meow sound unless they had a use for it other than getting kibble from humans. I think adult cats are silent because it lets prey and predators know they are there, but adult cats retain the ability to meow, they just choose not to do it. Just speculating here, is it possible that meowing in adult cats is a form of neoteny? Perhaps in cats’ wild ancestors, meowing was something only kittens did to attract their parents attention and since domestication the behaviour is simply retained into adulthood. ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/23 "2015-09-14T00:18:25Z")
> [@Mikeisskeptical](#): > > Just speculating here, is it possible that meowing in adult cats is a form of neoteny? Perhaps in cats’ wild ancestors, meowing was something only kittens did to attract their parents attention and since domestication the behaviour is simply retained into adulthood. Yeah, that’s a possibility. Fact remains, all the domestics can do it and seem to be about to figure it out even without help from other cats. My cat has figured it out all on his own that meows are like ringing that little bell for service at the desk of a fancy hotel. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/24 "2015-09-14T00:42:57Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Or not. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3U0udLH974](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3U0udLH974) They certainly seem to be paying a lot more attention to each other than the unseen camera person. Those are trills and chirps. A meow is a [meow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXUAyRRkI6k). ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/25 "2015-09-14T01:19:46Z")
> [@Mikeisskeptical](#): > > I am _a_ Mike, though it’s possible that there’s more than one. Are you just throwing my own professed scepticism back at me? Haha, yes. Jokingly, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/26 "2015-09-14T01:31:34Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Haha, yes. Jokingly, of course. I don’t believe you. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/27 "2015-09-14T01:53:44Z")
Why not? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/28 "2015-09-14T05:32:36Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > I think it’s about the kitty’s confidence level. I have a house cat that when I got him, he would not meow either. As time has gone on, he has gotten more and more aggressive and loud in his meowing when something isn’t right. I’m not sure if this is because I jump to his every whim when he meows, or because he feels secure in being loud when in my house, knowing nothing will attack him. Opposite experience here. Cat No. 1 meowed a fair bit when I first got him, doesn’t ever meow now. Cat No. 2 meowed so much and so loudly when he first arrived I had to hastily switch his safe room to one further out of the neighbours’ hearing. Now it’s pretty much only to tell me to hurry up with that food I’m putting in his dish. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/29 "2015-09-14T06:10:49Z")
Both of my most recent cats meowed at me and other humans, but did not meow at each other, although occasionally they had other things to say to each other. I had a deaf cat (white, blue-eyed, so congenitally deaf) who made loud sounds on occasion but nothing you could call a meow. Since i teach all my cats to come to me, I taught her to come with the “come to me” finger gesture, and it worked. Sign language for cats. Bonus: she did not mind baths, as she liked when we used the hair dryer on her. Good thing as she was always getting grease on her white fur. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/30 "2015-09-14T13:26:36Z")
> [@CoastalMaineiac](#): > > Are they Maine coon cats, by any chance? They are known for not having a normal meow. Mine’s not. He’s a standard issue orange and white American Shorthair, one of three juvenile ferals that we rescued from a cafeteria dumpster. When we got them, two were probably just under a year old, and the third a bit older – all meow, but the little silent guy much more frequently than the other two, even if you can’t hear him when he does it. ---
**Author:** ![SpyOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@SpyOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpyOne)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2015, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/31 "2015-09-14T14:21:42Z")
Is it possible kitten got a little sick from whatever mama had? I once had an adolescent cat that had been severely ill as a kitten (as in it was amazing he lived), and … he obviously had some brain damage from the fever. There were a few instinctive behaviors that he just didn’t have. Like he had to be taught to squat down when he pooped. Before being taught, he’d just look confused and start pooping while standing, then walk away. But once he’d been taught to squat, he’d bury his poop when he was done. Like the beginning part of his “how to poop” file was corrupted, but once he got past there it ran just fine. Anyway, he didn’t meow. At all. He finally started making a meow-like sound, but it was really obvious that he was imitating the sound my sister-in-law made when she meowed at him. Definitely in the top two for “weirdest cat I’ve lived with”, and that’s some stiff competition. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/32 "2015-09-18T06:19:09Z")
My dumpster rescue chihuahua couldn’t bark for the first month or so. She would squeak. I’ve often wondered if she picked it up from her “older brother.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/33 "2015-09-18T15:20:43Z")
The biggest noise my cat makes is knocking stuff of my desk. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/34 "2015-09-18T15:41:21Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Those are trills and chirps. A meow is a [meow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXUAyRRkI6k). A sigh is just a sigh… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/35 "2015-09-18T17:26:04Z")
When we first adopted our cats, they hardly ever meowed. That changed over the past 15 years and now sometimes I can’t shut the fuckers up. They generally meow at us to get us to give them snacks or to pet them. Rita has a very distinctive cry that means, “Ohhh! I’m gonna puke!” Rita also has a set of chirping noises she uses to talk to birds. They don’t sound at all like birdcalls to me, but the birds reply so what the hell do I know? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/36 "2015-09-18T18:26:07Z")
Whatever she’s saying, I don’t think the birds believe her for an instant. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/37 "2015-09-18T18:32:27Z")
> [@Habeed](#): > > I think adult cats are silent because it lets prey and predators know they are there, but adult cats retain the ability to meow, they just choose not to do it. I _wish_ mine chose not to do it. The question now is, can cats learn to shut up? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2015, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991/38 "2015-09-18T19:36:28Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I _wish_ mine chose not to do it. The question now is, can cats learn to shut up? Our adult cat Archie, in the 1960s, would meow when he saw fit, in order to summon us (his staff) to serve him. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-cats-have-to-learn-to-meow/730991.md?page=1)