Meow is like aloha—it can mean anything. —Hank Ketchum
It only sounds like meow to us humans. There are subtle nuances to every meow we hear unless the cat is repeating the same syllable to a human who just doesn’t understand more complex sentences they can speak among themselves.
As every cat owner knows, nobody owns a cat. —Ellen Perry Berkeley
This is very true. If you ask any cat they will tell you bluntly that you can never ever own one of them. I don’t even try to own one. I just live with them.
This month’s cat vocabulary is a term known as the cat’s meow, which is an expression for something that is fabulous. A cat’s meow literally can be anything. Cats tend to be quiet, unless they are vocal ones. Then they sound might as if they are complaining all the time. People used to tell me Sir Socks was too whiny. But he was just stating what was wrong and he hoped I could take care of the problem.
But the cat’s meow is a good thing. For creatures who tend to be quiet and use stealth without much thought, their meow when it comes tends to be a good thing. They could just be saying hello to us or something else which can be a good thing to hear. Or it could be that something isn’t right with them and they want our help with it. I’m glad Sir Socks told all he needed to tell me. From him I learned how to take care of cats in general. Now when I deal with strange cats who need care, it’s easy to take care of them.
When we cats talk, all you humans hear is meow. But we do use actual words. I myself have learned lots of English over the years living among humans. I have tried to speak English, but sadly my vocal apparatus won’t let me form the sounds correctly.
So, I’ve learned to adapt my cat language so that humans would understand me. Too many have complained that I’m loud and whiny. I’m just assertive. I am particular as to how I like to be care for. It seems to me that too many humans are too distracted or just simply don’t care enough to even listen and try.
That is until I met my girl. She is the best caregiver and caretaker I could ever ask for. She listens to my complains and requests and does something about them all. She’s learned and become so good at taking care of me that I don’t need to talk as much as I used to.
She just knows what to do now. I’ve very lucky. I’ve known many humans in my time and she’s the best one for me in spite of how silly she gets at times. *Sigh.* I do love her dearly in spite of her silliness.
Sir Socks Le Chat 