Tumblr Thread: Human Befriends A Cat That Doesn't Speak, And She Brings Them An Awwdorable Gift

Author image for Mariel Ruvinsky
Mariel Ruvinsky • Writer and Editor
Dec 3, 2023 9:00 AM EST

Every cat has its own quirks and funny habits. Some cats like to sit in sinks. Other cats like to steal our food right off our plates. Other cats attack almonds for seemingly no particular reason. But that's not true. Cats do have a reason - for everything that they do - we're sure of it. It's just that sometimes, we don't know what that reason is, and we can only respect their weirdness and silliness. And that's definitely the case in today's tumblr thread. 

The cat we're talking about today has decided… not to speak. She didn't grow up with humans, she doesn't understand the purpose of all that noise, so she simply doesn't do it. Until… something changes. See, there is a reason for her silence. This cat is actually quite smart. And she managed to surprise and amuse not only us but her human as well. 

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  • 01
    sailorcuba Follow the purest form of serotonin is when a cat looks at u and u go like "what?" and it meows at u arborealgargoyle Follow like, that is a very unspecific response I still have no idea what you want but I applaud how adorably you meowed all the same, well done
    via sailorcuba, arborealgargoyle

    Let's be real - any time our cat responds to us, no matter if they're just trying to talk or are loudly complaining about something, we feel privileged and loved. As we should. We should be thankful. And we are. To be around them. To be deemed worthy of their voice. 

  • 02
    arborealgargoyle This post led me to reminisce on the nature of cat's meowing, and I have a funny story I befriended a feral cat once who had spent her life in the forest without human interaction. I was worried about her because she had a paw damaged from an old injury and was emaciated but obviously nursing kittens that were hidden away somewhere. It took me weeks of putting out food and sitting across the yard every evening
    via arborealgargoyle

    There is the cat in this thread, who chooses not to speak. And then, there are other cats… the kind of cats that simply... won't shut up. Ever. Both are adorable. Both are purrfect. Only one of them will meow at you at 6 in the morning to give them food. 

  • 03
    for her to trust me even a little and when she decided we were friends and she expected dinner every night she started coming to my door and trying to call for me in the evening, but she didn't meow. Why would she? Cats only meow naturally as kittens when their vocal chords/ears aren't fully developed, adult cats communicate with vocalizations that aren't audible to humans. She probably tried making noises I couldn't hear to call me but ended up sticking to the one I always
    via arborealgargoyle
  • 04
    responded to- a horrible yowling growl that she had made at me when we first encountered each other in the forest. Except once we were friends she would make this noise while purring and rubbing affectionately against a nearby tree or the porch railing (because she didn't want to touch me yet). This understandably freaked my family members out but I was touched that she had taken the time to find a way to basically yell OFF in an affectionate way.
    via arborealgargoyle
  • 05
    Fast forward to when she finally trusts me enough to bring her hidden kittens out of the forest to me, long story short I gained their trust and put them in this big pen, that I had previously used to keep chickens in, so they'd be safe and to keep her from having another litter. Except she was already secretly pregnant again! (Fix your pets, guys, they make SO many babies) and ended up having her new babies in this pen.
    via arborealgargoyle
  • 06
    I kept my distance, sitting on the outside once they were born until she seemed comfortable enough to let me come inside. The kittens were a bit wild, hissing viscously at me as soon as they opened their eyes, but they warmed up to me. There were four of them and soon they all wanted to be the center of attention during the twice daily play sessions. I'd be playing with one and another would meow insistently behind me and I'd immediately answer them and give
    via arborealgargoyle
  • 07
    them love, teaching them that humans could be friends that answer their needs- making them adoptable once they were weaned. Mama cat (Artie) would just watch me play with them, and I guess she was doing some thinking because one day when they were about a month old I was playing with them and one meowed behind me. I was confused because I hadn't realized there was a kitten behind me and when I turned, there wasn't. The only cat there was Artie looking at me really intensely. I turned back around
    via arborealgargoyle
  • 08
    to Artie and responded in the way I always did with the kittens "yes baby?" And she meowed again in an exact imitation of her kittens! After that she would.not.shut.up. It was like she had cracked some kind of code, meowing for attention and snacks and just to say hi. Her two older kittens, the ones she'd had in the forest, had never meowed at me either but started to once they saw how I responded to their mom. and I find it endlessly fascinating because before that it had never occurred to me t
    via arborealgargoyle
  • 09
    Imagine befriending some weird giant with the wrong number of legs that you met in the forest who seems nice enough but doesn't seem to be able to hear you, until your friend explains that all they can understand is off! And I'm a baby give me love!
    via arborealgargoyle
  • 10
    sammy-the-haze transiconlink I'm in the process of adopting a stray and he yells at me all the time and I never know what he wants but I love him for it! Also what he wants seems to be love at least 75% of the time
    via sammy-the-haze
  • 11
    inyourmindfuzzz midnightpanda995 I also never knew that meowing in adult cats was a learned behavior until I befriended a feral cat. When I was growing up, there used to be this tiny, one-eyed cat that lived in the woods near my house. I started leaving a bowl of food out for her, and soon she started hanging out on my porch. Of course she was skittish for a while, but eventually she started getting used to us and wouldn't immediately run away as soon as we went outside. She even let me scratch
    via inyourmindfuzzz
  • 12
    Once she started getting really comfortable though, she would start begging for attention herself. She, of course, did not know how to meow. Instead, she just made this surprisingly loud, gurgling hissing sound to get my attention. It was definitely off-putting the first few times I heard it, but I found it pretty funny once I found out she literally did not know how to meow.
    via inyourmindfuzzz
  • 13
    Eventually, she decided it was time to leave our house. I think it was because I broke her trust after I had to trap her and get her spayed since she had like 3 litters in the span of a year. While she would end up living under my neighbor's porch for the rest of her life, I would still come by to feed her from time to time whenever my neighbors were out of town. It took a while, but eventually I regained some of her trust. From then on she would occasionally greet me by the river with that same
    via inyourmindfuzzz
  • 14
    b-a-n-d-e-r magnesiumflare yeppp this is my cat- he lived with humans for a few years before me but frankly they sucked and I hate them and I hate that they had pets, but anyway the point is that he wasn't well socialized and did not meow for the first many years I had him; until he briefly got put on a medication that the vet said might make him meow a lot. I was like haha not my Louie! He doesn't know how! But color me surprised- it did make him make the tiniest little mews and I was so astoni
    via b-a-n-d-e-r
  • 15
    doing it, and eventually he would just get lots of attention for his meows because they were so tiny and croaky and funny and we would laugh... anyway fast forward a few years and now he's the equivalent of the interrupting cow knock knock joke if people try to have a conversation without him and he meows for treats, attention, to warn me I'm about to trip over him in the dark (USEFUL!), you name it. He still has funny little meow for his size though
    via b-a-n-d-e-r
  • 16
    ramorazinn shi-toyu Once upon a time I was at Safeway and there were two small children with a cardboard box of kittens. I picked the orange one. He is to this day (20 years later) the smartest cat I have ever met. He never meowed. He communicated completely through significant stares. He was king of the house and he knew it.
    via ramorazinn
  • 17
    Then we moved into town and "inherited" a dog the previous tenant had abandoned when he skipped out on rent. The cat loved having a pet dog. Unfortunately when he grew into his paws, the dog was huge. The cat taught him to jump the fence. (No I mean really. The dog would not go over even a foot-high barrier without the cat's instructions bc he fully believed he was a purse dog even though he was at least half Rottweiler. I realize I sound like a crazy person.) Animal control was called. The cat
    via ramorazinn
  • 18
    Christmas. There is a sleigh bell hanging on the doorknob. The cat always communicates that he wants to go out by staring significantly at the door and sometimes, if the humans are slow to respond, stretching pointedly up the door jamb. He accidentally hits the bell. My ex and I stare at each other with matching lightbulbs over our heads. We grab his paw and use it to ring the bell before we open the door. After three days he begins to do it himself.
    via ramorazinn
  • 19
    Spring rolls around and it is clear the cat needs another pet. There is an ancient lady in the neighborhood who has found a cat and kittens in her shed and is distraught. She can't afford to feed them or go to the vet. We take one and get rid of the mites and worms and so on. She's teeny because feral mom and early weaning. We decide to keep her inside because it's a rough neighborhood for cats. She never meows either. But she does, a week or so later, learn to ring the bell.
    via ramorazinn
  • 20
    me-te-or-ite triceratops4ever ... A similar thing happened with my friend's cat when he met me! The cat had used to be an indoor/outdoor cat and was quiet and reserved until I came along and started talking to and mewing at him like I talk to my cats, and practically overnight, he started meowing for EVERYTHING. Pets, food, attention, everything. He's NEEDY now. Whenever I come visit that friend now, his cat stands up on his hind legs and bats at my hand while meowing and INSISTING I shower him
    via me-te-or-ite

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