Talking kitty

I read something this past week about the sounds cats make.

Miss Kitty, the resident animal-in-charge at the Sullivan household makes peculiar sounds. I've mentioned them before. Her most distinctive voice is singing, literally, for her supper.

Most of us have heard cats meow. According to the article I read, domesticated cats meow. Wild cats don't. Experts suggest that meowing is something cats learned when they took up with humans. Cats, the theory goes, soon discovered that humans like the sound of a good meow. A well-timed meow results in petting and, most importantly, food.

Wild cats, on the other hand, make other noises. Scientists recorded these sounds for extended periods of time and never heard a single meow. Wild cats tend to growl and grunt and hiss and snort.

What's interesting about all this is that Miss Kitty exhibits characteristics of both a domesticated cat and a wild cat.

For all we know, Miss Kitty once was a wild animal. Her early life is something of a mystery. She never talks about her past.

Miss Kitty knows how to meow. My wife and I have both heard her. But she prefers to mouth her meows without actually using her vocal cords or whatever it is that cats use to meow. So when other cats might be heard meowing, all we get from Miss Kitty is moving lips. OK, cats don't have lips. But her mouth moves, and no sound comes out.

Miss Kitty's vocabulary, however, includes some other interesting sounds. In addition to her "singing" -- a combination of purring, growling and meowing all at the same time -- she hisses, yips and grunts.

The hisses are a sign of a disgruntled Miss Kitty. If you want to move her out of the line of traffic when she's lying on the floor, be sure to do it with your hands. If you try to nudge the cat with your toes, she will hiss.

The yips are emitted when you scratch Miss Kitty's back near her tail. Or whenever she's impatient, like prancing around her empty milk saucer when humans with opposable thumbs are standing idly by.

The grunts come right before Miss Kitty jumps into one of the stools at the kitchen counter. Not while she jumps, mind you, but in anticipation of the jump. Maybe she learned that from me. The older I get, the more I grunt.

The story about cat sounds was interesting. Now I'm waiting for experts to tell me what cats understand when humans speak. Miss Kitty clearly understands "No!" But what else does she comprehend? And what has she picked up from listening to TV while pretending to sleep in my lap.

Never mind. She isn't pretending.

jsullivan@semissourian.com<I>