You might think you know why cats purr: because they feel great. While this is certainly true, there is much more than that to a cat's purring. Cats purr also when they are nervous, sick or even dying. There are arguments that purring is not only a form of communication, but also a way of calming, soothing or even healing. And just as there are many types of meows, there are also several types of purring and each has its own meaning. So, let's have a look at what your cat might try to purr or meow to you.

Purring

Little kittens instinctively purr when nursing. This purring is considered to be the way in which kittens let their mom-cat know that everything is fine and they are well. Often the mom-cat will purr back in response to her kittens. It is considered that purring has a calming, soothing effect, both to the cat producing the sound and to those hearing it, be it other cats or humans. This would seem to explain also some of the claimed benefits of feline owners such as lower blood pressure and less stress.

Bolder statements say that purring has also healing effects, especially in bone healing or growing. This would explain the acknowledged fact that cats recover faster from bone fractures and surgery. The idea behind is that the fundamental frequency of a cat's purr is very close to frequencies that are currently used in therapeutic stimulation for joint mobility, fracture healing or bone growth. Recent studies (such as [1]) try to assess more firmly whether indeed the purring has healing capabilities.

Meowing

There are many types of "meow" differing in tone, volume, pitch, rhythm, and situations when they are used. Cats are not vocal by their nature, but they rather learn and adapt to communicate with us, humans. Among themselves, cats usually communicate with a combination of scents, body language, facial expressions, touch, and only occasional sounds.

The best way to understand what your cat tries to tell you when he or she meows is to look at what the cat is doing. Cats are usually providing as many cues as they can as to what they want. A "give me food" meow will most likely be accompanied by a patient wait by the fridge or by the cat's eating pot. A "let me out" meow is likely to be heard from a cat next to the closed door, or even gently raising the paw towards the door. Chances are that if you pay attention to your cat, it will soon be very easy to distinguish various requests only by sound.

Each cat is unique and so are the meows. However, there are a few quite common types of meows that you can use as a very small "feline-human phrase book":

* many meows, possibly with simultaneous purring = how great to see you! I love to see you!

* short meow = hello!

* low-pitch meow = this is not right... (complaint)

* mid-pitch meow = please, pretty please? (plea)

* high-pitch meow = ouch, it hurts!

Purring and meowing are just two of the different categories of sounds that your cat can make. If you really want to understand your cat, it might be best to buy a good book on cat language, including the highly complex body language. You might never know otherwise how many things a little ear or tail can say! But regardless of whether you buy a book or not, just paying attention to your cat can help you understanding and truly communicating with that great feline friend that you have.

Useful sources:

[1] The Felid Purr: A Bio-mechanical Healing mechanism. Presented at 12th International Conference on low frequency noise and vibration and its control.

[2] The Cat Handbook, by Karen Leigh Davis, and Michele Earle-Bridges

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