sssssspssspssspsss herrre kitty-kitty

Two of my cats come when you call them by name. So I just have to yell over and over, “Here, Maggie-Maggie Maaaagiiieeeee!” or “BUUUUUUFFFYYYYY…here Buffy, Buffy-Buffy-Buffy!”

For the other four, I do the pursed-lips kissy noise, or “here kitty kitty”.

My cats both come when I call them. The tuna training is highly effective. :smiley:

A strange cat might come to you if you make mewling noises like a kitten, and the strange cat is a female. They have an extremely high maternal instinct (I faked my cats out by pretending to cry a couple of times. They’re onto me now, however.) Of course, a strange male might come to you too, to kill the interloping kitten.

And I disagree that cats aren’t very linguistic. My cats talk all the time.

Crouch, “here kitty kitty! purrpurr kisskiss”.

“psspss!” is for chasing them away.

Open a can, preferably of tuna. This will generally call all cats that happen to be around. With our cats, I just have to open a new jug of milk. All three want that fresh milk jug ring!

The “psspsspss” thing in conjunction with rubbing the fingers together has always worked remarkably well for me when calling strange cats, and I’ve always wondered why. I can only assume that sound means something to them. No clue about the finger-rubbing, though. I’ve tried to determine if it’s that specific sound and gesture that are meaningful; I’ve sometimes vary the sound and/or just extend my hand and hold it still, but the “psspss” and finger-rubbing seem to work most consistently.

My cats come when I make the kissy noise and - believe it or not - when I snap my fingers.

I just rattle the screen door latch.

Now there’s a sentence you wouldn’t like to see taken out of context!

I do the clicking-kissing sounds.

I have a unique little whistle-hiss that I use to gather my herd - calling names works for individual cats.

Now that you mention it – d’ya think I should change the headline on my personal ad?

Make a sound like a can-opener (electric type) or a sound like a box of cat food being shaken.

me, i regularly use cat-talk when i want to make the acquaintance of strays.

a soft “brrr-owwww?”, with the rising question-inflection, normally gets their attention most of the time. crouching down and offering a lowered hand is also part of the approach. at that point, the decision is up to them, the outcome depending entirely on their overall friendliness/feral-ness.

trying to approach a cat moving away from you is generally useless and doomed to failure.

oh yeah – when calling my own cats, using their names normally works. Minion answers to her name, or “Fluffy cat”. if you really want Patter to come, call Minion’s name loudly. Patter’s other name is Jealous-cat.

My cats answer to their names, so I just say “Rex!” or “C.C.!” My sister’s cat, named Clio, answers to the name “Boo” for some reason.

I used to use the “Here kittykittykittykittykittykitty” method, but it never worked.

It seems to me that every cat I see on the street is completely different. Usually they just run away, but some cats will come to me automatically–I don’t have to call them. These cats just want somebody to pet them, and they have no fear of strangers.

I usually make meowing noises.

My cat comes to a high pitched whistle.

That’s so funny - I have one like that too. Feigns indifference until I start calling someone else. Then she can’t get up to me fast enough.

My husband’s cat never came when called, then we moved in together, and I would call my cat to come for tuna, and Max figured out very quickly that me calling my cat would end up in tuna, so now she comes when called, too. They can move pretty quickly when there’s tuna on the line.

The bus cats come running at the sound of the cabinet door where the cat food is kept.

Strange cats, I geberally use the clicky-noise with the tongue and just talk nicely, maybe wiggling my fingers.

If that doesn’t work, I cover myself with a layer of tuna and lie perfectly still…

I use the psspsspsspss thing. But for me it’s really a slurring of “puss puss puss puss”. I would say “brrroooww?” to my own cats sometimes, they usually responded with some kind of vocalisation.

There’s a black-n-white cat a few doors up from me that only responds to my psswwsswwssswwwss about 30% of the time. The other %70 it just turns it’s head and looks at me with the “leave me in peace you insignificant speck of flab” look.

I meow plaintively as if to say “Will you be my friend? I mean no harm.” Lots of cats will respond to a good cat-speak imitation.

To call my cat Monkey, I will whistle two notes. Basically it’s the whistle version of me calling her name, and she comes well to both.