Feline Behavior
Nov 4th 2008Wallabynerd alert
I’ve been hosting a cat for just about 2 months exactly. “Hosting”, since he is emphatically not mine – he’s my college roommate’s cat, staying with me this fall while Doug and family are up in New England for an internship. (Borrowed house + cat who gets nervous = bad combination, I’m told. Come to think of it, my place is sort of “borrowed” too… hmmmm….)
Anyway, it’s been my first experience of being around a cat for more than a few hours at a time. Quite interesting. Especially when it comes to digestion. Tip: Cats may love milk, but milk must actively resent being eaten by cats. Tip 2: It’s the lactose that’s the problem, since cats can’t digest it; there is a special lactose-mostly-removed milk they sell in very small cartons.
Everyone knows that cats say “meow”, or “mew”, or “meeooooowww”, or whatever spelling. I believe I’ve figured out what they’re actually saying: “Mew” just means “me”. They only say “mew” because no other personal pronoun is meaningful to a cat. “Meeeeee”, he says as he winds around my feet in the kitchen… There might be food! who should get some? “Meeeeee!” Who wants attention while I’m watching TV? “Meeeee!” Who needs in when I’m hiding away in the cat-free office to write lecture notes? “Meeeee!”
jaegersmom on 22 Nov 2008 at 7:30 pm #
Of course a cat can only say “Meeeee!” Someone once wrote, a dog’s attitude toward the owner is “You are god, and I must worship you.” However the cat’s attitude is “I am god, and you must worship me.” So “Meeeee!” is the only thing the cat can say. That is why I’d rather have a dog for a pet.
Cat on 20 May 2009 at 1:19 pm #
My cat says “mom” too. She very clearly has a “mom” meow. Which is almost invariably followed by “Meeeeee!”. Like, “mom… MEEEEEEE!” as in, Mom, pay attention to ME, NOW.
Although she does also have this interesting little chitter that she does when there’s birds on the deck.