By BETTY RIDGE
Some people say you can’t control cats. Others are equally confident that cats control their owners.
The truth may lie somewhere in between.
What cat fancier who keeps the bedroom door opened hasn’t awakened to persistent mewing, perhaps a few paw pats in the face, to urge the owner to get up and do the right thing — feed the cat, of course.
Another type of meow communicates the desire to go out; unwelcome hisses are emitted when meeting rival cats; and there’s the excited chirping sound when the cat is inside, observing birds or squirrels cavorting around outside.
Throughout the centuries, cats and their communications skills have figured in history. The popular musical “Cats” was based on “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” by T.S. Eliot (the best edition contains the Edward Gorey illustrations of such renowned cats as Jennyanydots and Simbleshanks, not to mention Old Deuteronomy).
In recent years, cats have become partners in crime-solving. Rita Mae Brown’s tabby Sneaky Pie is credited as the co-author of her “Miss Murphy” mystery series, in which two cats and a Welsh corgi help humans find out whodunit. Sneaky Pie also may be the only cat ever to write a cookbook, for cats, dogs and their humans.
And Joanne Fluke’s “Murder She Baked” series features an unforgettable hefty orange and white cat named Moishe. To Moishe’s credit, the corpulent cat is more interested in solving how to get into his feed container than in solving the mystery in any particular volume.
A new study by a British researcher claims cats make a particular urgent sound, a cross between a purr and an urgent meow, when wanting food. Some local cat experts say they’ve heard this type of meow, but some haven’t.
Karen McComb, an expert on mammal behavior, published the results of her study in “Current Biology” journal. She concluded household cats exercise control over people with “a certain type of high-pitched, urgent-sounding meow.”
This is usually exhibited when the cat wants to be fed, McComb said. Her study showed humans find this type of sound annoying and difficult to resist. She compared it with the cry of a human infant. She described the sound as sort of cross between a purr and a high-pitched meow.
McComb had cat owners record their pets’ vocalizations, then played them for volunteers, including cat owners and those who live without cats. Both found the sound in question annoying and something they would investigate, usually feeding the cat if it seemed like that was what the cat wanted.
Gloria Hoover has probably handled as many cats as any Cherokee County resident, since she not only bred Siamese cats for years, but judges all breeds in Cat Fanciers Association shows across the country. Later this year, she will judge shows in Indonesia and Singapore.
So she’s familiar with cats of all sorts, from the poshest pedigreed Persian to the rescued stray who competes for the coveted Morris the Cat trophy in the household pet division.
While Siamese are considered an especially “talky” breed, “actually, all of them do,” Hoover said.
She’s heard the type of meow McComb describes.
“They tend to do it at feeding time. It’s not really a loud meow and not quite a purr. They want to get fed,” she said.
She also has had cats make the “chirping” noise, when they want some attention.
“Other cats communicate with their voices but Siamese are more high-pitched. They’re really people cats. They want to be right with you all the time. They’re generally one-person cats, but if their person happens to be gone, they’ll sit in someone else’s lap,” Hoover said.
Currently, her cattery holds six — two Siamese, an ocicat, and three American shorthair calicos, all pensioners Hoover took in when their elderly owner could no longer care for them. The pensioners have a good home for the rest of their lives.
Hoover thinks it’s very important to socialize cats, from the time of birth if possible. When raising kittens, she has always handled them and played with them as they grew. People who have bought cats from her have come back for others, because the cats relate so well to people and make good pets.
Listening to and communicating with the cat is an important part of this socialization, Hoover believes.
“I talk to the cats while I’m judging. That’s my way of communicating with them, and they will communicate with me,” she said. “Listen to them, and you will know what they want.”
Hoover thinks cats try to control people’s behavior by the sounds they make, and also by their actions. Her show cats always knew when they were going to a show.
“We would get ready to go to the cat shows and when I’d get out my suitcase, they’d get ready, too,” she said.
Bunny Lawrence has operated a cat shelter north of Tahlequah for 26 or 27 years, and estimated she’s provided a temporary or permanent home to at least 1,000 cats during that time. Currently she has two house cats, cares for shelter cats and feeds a number of feral cats that roam around her property. She has them spayed or neutered, then just “lets them be cats,” as she said.
Her cats have no need to make a special noise when they’re hungry.
“I’ve never heard it because my cats all have free food,” she said. “The only time I hear any of them in distress is when something has happened to one of them.”
One of her two house cats, born prematurely and bottle-raised, is a year old but only the size of a 3-month-old kitten. He doesn’t purr, and rarely meows. When he does, “it’s the softest little meow. You have to be listening and you just barely hear it,” Lawrence said.
Even though she’s never heard the sound McComb described, that doesn’t mean it never happens, Lawrence said.
She said her cats don’t control her behavior; they just act like cats. When she walks across the yard, some will walk in front of her, and she risks stumbling if she doesn’t reach down and pat them or pick them up and give them some attention.
“My cats must be very happy, because they don’t make the noise she’s talking about,” Lawrence said about the study.
Beth Herrington is well-known locally not just as a retired educator, but an animal lover and rescuer. She does know the sound McComb described.
“My Blue Boy, who is a Russian blue, when he wants attention, he has this cry that demands attention. I get up and see what his problem is,” she said.
And sometimes cats express their feelings in a more active manner.
“One of my little calicos, when she wants my attention, runs through the house and over the furniture. I think she’s going to knock something down,” Herrington said.
Herrington noted anyone who thinks animals don’t love one another are wrong. Recently one of her cats was sick and had to spend some time with the veterinarian. When he returned home, his mother greeted him with an expression of concern. They snuggled up and slept together.
Gloria Brewster’s feline menagerie consists of her “permanent” cats, rescue and foster cats needing a home, and feral cats she feeds. She’s a wealth of cat stories and also has heard the “feed me” meow.
“They have a high-pitched meow when they’re hungry. They have the purr-meow combination,” she said. “I keep dry food out for them, and they pretty much eat on demand.”
Although she also keeps plenty of water available, some of the cats want a fresh supply.
“I have some that will only drink out of the bathroom faucet. They weren’t happy when I had it fixed,” she said.
When she comes downstairs in the morning, her large black male cat makes a demanding meow. She goes into the bathroom and turns the faucet on to just the exact level of dripping, and he and several companions drink to their heart’s content.
Her cats “chirp,” especially if they are inside and they see a bird outside.
“They get me up in the morning if they think I am sleeping too late,” Brewster said. “There’s one who is on a special diet. She goes and sits by her bowl, and I give her a pill, then she goes ahead and eats. As many cats as I’ve had over the years, there have been none of them alike.”
Do cats control humans, in Brewster’s opinion?
“I’d say they have definitely domesticated me, rather than the other way around,” she said.
