My Cat Has a Feral Accent

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From the time my previously feral cat was tiny her form of cat speak was atypical. Since ferals aren't around humans they communicate differently than their domestic counterparts. They make a series of trills and other vocalizations, some without opening their mouths. 

I call Mitsy 'my cat with a feral accent'. The sounds that she makes are much different than any cat I've had in the past. She can meow, but she had to learn how by observing my senior cat Panda Bear. She had lots to learn!

Mitsy's First Meow

I hadn't really thought much about Mitsy not meowing even though just about every sound she made came from her throat and through a closed mouth. One morning she let out a big loud meowww that surprised me and scared her! She wanted food, and she knew that she had to speak up. 

Mitsy's eyes looked as big as saucers after her very first word. She learned by observing Panda Bear communicate with house humans through meows. Since human beings are vocal creatures, she knew that she had to talk like the other cats in the house to get what she wanted. 

Strange Habits of Feral Cats

Mitsy still speaks from her throat more often than she meows, but I've noticed another strange habit. She holds her mouth open in silence for about a second after meowing. It reminds me of those badly edited shows where the speaker's voice and the video aren't in sync. Think of the vintage Kung Foo movies and you'll get what I mean. 

Does anyone else's cat hold their mouth open after meowing? I'd love to know why she does that. Have you noticed any other strange habits or behaviors? 

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My Feral Kitten Didn't Know This

As I said in a past entry, the vet estimated Mitsy's age to be four weeks when I plucked her from the cornfield. She didn't have time to learn everything that she needed to learn from her mom, but she learned the most important lesson of all. I'll talk about that in my next post, but for now, I'll discuss another important task that she didn't learn in the wild. 

I often observed Mitsy intently watching Panda Bear as he groomed himself. He was meticulous about it! He spent hours on his coat each day. She watched with deep curiosity and began following his lead. 

As a human, I couldn't teach Mitsy how to be a housecat, but he helped her to communicate more effectively and behave as a domestic cat should. 

Now I'm thinking about getting communication buttons to teach both of my cats a new way to speak my language. What do you think of that idea? Once they can tell me how they really feel I might wish that I hadn't!  

Until next time,

Kim



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