Do your cats talk?

Twice lately I felt like Prince was trying to speak words, but of course I dismissed it as my imagination. In any case, it didn't come out as words at all. But he did seem like he was trying to move his tongue to make words. Once we were going into the elevator and he was afraid I'd leave him behind, as usual, so as he rushed into the elevator he seemed like he was trying to imitate my usual "vamos" (Eng. "let's go"), which I say about 100 times a day every day, as if he meant "wait for me, I'm coming too". There was another time he seemed like he was trying to imitate my words, but I don't remember the context. People have mentioned to me that Prince is extraordinarily good at learning ways to communicate with humans. He's also the one who scratches my cheek to ask for cheek scratching, and he imitates my hand movements so well I'm always surprised. But I don't know very much about cats or animals in general, so I don't know if all this is unusual or not.

The question mark intonation at the end is very frequent in Prince (when he's asking to go out or for a treat). I hadn't thought that this wasn't a normal thing in animals... Now that you mention it, maybe it's unusual...

My other cats don't do these things at all, but then again Prince didn't do them either when he'd only been months with me. Lady Nikita is just starting to make sounds now after 3 months (as a stray, she used to be almost sound-less) and Princess Gatita has only lately started to ask for things vocally.

two siamese so yeah. but i think it rubbed off on the black one, because now she has this habit of, "meow . . . meow . . . meow . . ." you know, like when you run out of cat treats? they just nag and nag and nag. except this is my own fault because she was losing too much weight (hyperthyroidism) and even though her thyroid is stabilized, her appetite just isn't what it should be, so i started augmenting her food with meat baby food. i don't resent giving it to her, except that I AM NOT ALLOWED TO MOVE in the morning until i give it to her lol. not even my coffee. if i get out of bed and touch the refrigerator, it better be for baby food. and baci caught on so he has to have a taste, too. he will mostly settle for that mixed with vaseline (hairball prevention) but he looks so hilarious eating it. i put it on my finger for diotima but baci chomped my finger so i found an old pair of wooden chopsticks and hold it out to him and he's like "om nom nom nom," and shuts his eyes. i have no idea why he makes a face but it's funny.

i was tempted to try to teach them to talk after i saw those videos of "i love you," and "ma ma," then i thought, "nah, i'm bored sometimes but not that bored."

baci does a weird thing my first siamese used to do: he will get in the bathtub and howl because it sounds louder. i know that sounds ridiculous, but i caught both of them in the act and they kind of slunk away like they were embarrassed. ("listen to me, 'oooowoooo, oooowoo, ooowooo, i sound so good, oh no she caught me. i'm going to act like nothing happened.") and baci also does this thing in the middle of the night where he goes over by the window with a toy and hollers. i thought he had stopped doing it but he did it again last night, and when i call him, he comes over to my bed with it in his mouth, still meowing. i think he probably just wants attention (until he learns to write, i think he's going to find i miss a lot of his requests), it's just weird.

my Modra talks a lot, she is using a combination of voice and body language signals to make me understand what she actually wants to say. I find the tail talk fascinating. Also the way she looks at me sometimes is full of expression and meaning. It takes a while to understand this language and I'm still a beginner, but getting there.
Sheila, neighbour's cat is less vocal and more gestural.

An example of "talk" between the two of them while crossing the road speaks volumes. No "word" had been exchanged, only body language. See what you can make of it:

A Chorus Line...

Hi,

Funny that I came across this post just now... As Chipcat-Filou is being talkative...

Yes, my cats talk!

Especially Chipcat-Filou, she is an Ocicat.

She will talk to my other cats, such as when she wants to cuddle with one of them, she will approach the cat and meow in a specific way, always the same...and then will head bump and lay with said cat.

Chipcat-Filou is also the 'food ambassador'...
When i'm a little late with the feeding schedule, she will come to me and rub on my legs, hands and meow until I get to it and feed them!
The meow she uses in this case is NOT one that can be ignored, so she knows if she does it, the food will come very soon!

She also has a special greeting for me when I come back home; she will stand on her hind legs and gently touch me with her front paws, emitting a wide range of sounds.

She also makes this very cute sound when she is looking at birds thru the window, she makes a ''chipping''sound, (hence the name), almost like she is imitating the birds...

She also cannot stand me being in the shower with the bathroom door closed, if I do that, she will meow loudly (but I mean loudly) at the door until I let her in.
Time at which she will hop in/stand inside the tub and watch me shower, she is not afraid of water either (tho unlike Airell, she will not get in the tub for a swim, she only likes showers...)

Chipcat-Filou also warns me if anything unusual happens in the house...such as if one of my cats opened the fridge door and are in there helping themselves, or if a cat is in the food pantry and is making a mess ( I had to get these child-proof locks on both fridge and pantry doors since my cats figured out how to open them, but I sometimes forget to use them...), and when my phone rings, time at which she will locate the phone, paw at it and meow even louder than the phone...perhaps she dislikes my ringtones?

Chipcat-Filou also warns me when a feral/stray friend is at the back patio, time at which she will stand on the ledge and meow loudly to call me over to greet our outdoor friend!

My other cat who talks is Elphin, he is a rescued cat from my alley.
Elphin meows loudly to greet me when I get home, he also has this cute little ''jumping dance'' he does to greet me.
Also whenever I open the fridge... Elphin knows there is always a little treat for him in there...
Elphin also meows and runs around the house like crazy when he or another cat has visited the litterbox and I need to remove something from there... What a clean cat!

The rest of my 'tribe' are not that vocal, of course, they will all meow at feeding time, but asides from that, they are pretty quiet.

sandyrivers