Cats.

[Estes]

Ooh yes. I read in one of my bathroom readers, (You guys ever read those?) that cats can make forty something different sounds.

Well, I think mine is broken. Ive had this cat for roughly four to five years, and ive only ever heard her make one. Its the same loud and annoying "moaw" everytime.

Its not even the typical meow, its this more direct straight to the point "moaw" noise. Doesnt seem to matter what she wants, be it attention, cat treats, more food in the bowl, whatever.

And if that wasnt enough, she doesnt even purr like a normal cat does. She just goes into these mini convulsations like she just climbed out of freezing water, and into a fire.

So, her meow box is broken and the purr motor is out of gas. This isnt an ole alley cat or anything, shes a full bred Persian. Is this typical for this breed of cat?

Anyone else here have broken cats? She has her regular vet checkups and is always ship shape. Another oddity is she actually likes baths. If she hears bath water running, she comes screaming down the hallway.

[Skuzzy]

Only 40 sounds?  Heh, my cat would top that in a heartbeat and we have come to understand almost all of them.

She has a distinct meow when she is hungry.
Another one for "the water bowl needs fresh water!"
The, "about time you got home, now pay attention human!"
Next is the, "You need to wake up, it is time for you to pay attention to me!"
We have the, "Why is this door blocking my way to get outside?"
The often used, "You are not where you are supposed to be!"
How about, "Hey!  My box is dirty!  CLEAN IT NOW!"
Of course there is, "Thank you for taking care of me."  (usually accompanied by a head butt)
Next, "If I only had thumbs.."  (muttered in frustration as she attempts to open something)
The daily, "Where did it go, where did it go!" (usually early morning hours when she is hunting rabbits in the living room)
And, "When I get my paws on that it is soooooo shredded!"
She also queries, "Why are you ignoring me?"
Ignore her long enough, "Fine, I'll go sit over here and show you!"
Pay attention to her, "Much better human, now you are getting it.  I am the center of your world".
The persistant, "I am coming over to see you, get ready for me".
The confused, "What is that smell?" (usually when she is sniffing a human)
The, "ITS PLAYTIME DAD!!!"
The favorite, "What the heck are you doing in my space?!?!"
The scary, "Get away from me or I will rip off your face and feed it to the squirrels".
While looking outside, "Hey guys, come play with me!" (she thinks she is related to the squirrels and racoons)
The ominous, "What the frak are you doing in my yard!?!?!"  (birds)

Those are the ones we have absolutely identified.  There are many others.  Some accompanied by a cooing sound, others with purrs, sometimes a mixture of coo and purr.  Growls, hisses.  She is one animated kitty and not afraid to tell you about it.

[Delirium]

Only 40 sounds?  Heh, my cat would top that in a heartbeat and we have come to understand almost all of them.

Same... my cat even lets me know if my daughter is getting into trouble in the kitchen.

[Ghosth]

Mine has at least a dozen sounds just for affection.
A dozen more for annoyance.

If he's lonely he'll pick up a cat toy wandering around the house "yowling" best I can describe is a cat trying to sound like a coyote.

He's a little strange, because he isn't independent like most cats. Acts more like a dog, follows me throughout the house.
But I rescued him at a very young age, bottle fed him every other hour for 6 weeks.
That will have an effect on a relationship.

While I get annoyed at him at times because he weighs 20lbs and he's only happy sleeping across my lap.
I'd never trade him, no not even for a dog. He may be a neurotic, needy, one man can that lets no one else close enough to touch. But he's my neurotic needy cat.

[Tec]

Used to have one that was half Blue Persian and half Siamese.  She made some weird bellybutton sounds for a while, then we got her spayed.  I don't recall if she liked baths or not but she did have a thing for running water as well.  Whenever me or the ex would be brushing our teeth she would come to the bathroom and jump up on the sink and start drinking the running water.  She also loved just curling up in the bathroom sink and chilling there.  

Oh, she also loved Aces High.  She would sit on top of my big old CRT with just her paws and head hanging over the edge and swat at cons on the screen.

[Estes]

Very cool Tec, they are definately cool cats. This relieves me a little bit, but reading the other replies it seems like my cat may be broken.

[Buzzard7]

Excellent work Skuzzy. You should try to interpret for our four cats. We understand some of their sounds but some we could use help on.

Tec, all four of our cats fight over the faucet when the water is running. The youngest blue-eyed albino likes to run out of the bathroom with the TP roll end in her mouth. I am not sure if this is her adolescent attempt at partying.

[Jayhawk]

I discovered these video's the other day.

Simon's Cat
http://simonscat.com/catmando.html

[crazierthanu]

My cat has one straight meow, which is more like a deep bellow, must come with age. (20 years)
Some of my squaddies have heard him, it's really a funny sound.

[Jayhawk]

[68ZooM]

[2ADoc]

My wife and I had a Siamese, with an elongated palate.  He meowed, just like any other cat, but he purred like a Siberian Tiger, you could hear him all over the house.  He could also, and this is no joke, hock a loogie and spit.  He did get some really good distance, it was as the vet told us because of his palate.  He would occasionaly snorfel, for lack of a better word, that is what it sounded like.  It was a snort mixed with a I am better than all the others Puff. 

[Selino631]

My cat is Lazy Cat

[Becinhu]

I have 3 cats. One is an almost 4 yr old male and 2 six month old females (sisters).  The girls are rather vanilla at this point. One meows the same sound for everything and sounds like a turbo-prop when she purrs. The other almost never even makes a sound, barely meows hardly ever purrs. Neither kitten is even remotely affectionate.

The male....well he's a different story. He was tossed out of a car window onto my lot at work. He was destined for the Humane Society but he never made it. He slept on my chest every night for probably 4 months after we adopted him. He follows me like a dog, he begs for treats (yet won't eat table scraps unless it's raw fresh fish), he talks to birds, etc. He also has this very strange half purr-half chirp.  He does it when he sees me look at him mostly, kinda like "Ah, you have finally noticed me".  He has two different calls for each of the kittens.  On a side note has anyone else ever had a male cat play momma cat? He actually would let the kittens "nurse" the first couple of months they were here. He cleans them just like a mother would (forcefully if they try to get away). And he owns me. When I go to bed he climbs on my chest and parks there for an hour or two...all 15 pounds of him.

[Fulmar]

My 6 year old male cat is much more animated than my 8 year old calico female.  I dread the day I first gave them canned cat food.  To them (much more him than her) it is crack.  If it's 7-8pm at night and he hasn't gotten his canned food yet, you'll hear about it.  He will annoy you by laying on you, purring, rubbing his face, sitting on your keyboard or in front of your monitor.  I've counted 28 times I picked him off my desk and put him on the ground within 5 minutes.  The 29th time I said "F it" and fed them.