‘It's called a conversation!’: 17 Pawrents Pontificate the Mystery of Why our Cat Children Meow

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Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Jul 6, 2026 8:45 AM EDT

Meowing and cats are like bread and butter, you simply cannot have one without the other. Whether it is at 3am or the moment you come home, you can bet on it that your cat will at some point meow at you. The question we hope to answer in this story is why?

Lucky for you the pawrents of Reddit's r/cats subreddit are obsessed with the subject of feline meows. After all, each cat has a vocabulary of meows at their disposal and more often than not we hoomans fall short of understanding what they are talking about, that is if we do not become frustrated at them for constantly gibbering at us. So we decided that it is high time we try to put this conversation to bed by combing through some of the more pertinent pontifications of these pawrents to reveal what might be the core reasons behind a cat's meowing.

We have to say that the results were somewhat surprising and not quite what you would have imagined them to be. Sure there is a communication aspect to this, but it is not quite the yelling at us pawrents until they get what they need. There is an intimacy attached to their meows, one that seeks to deepen the bond between cat child and pawrent. In some cases they want us to talk back and strike up a conversation, other times they are indeed trying to alert us to a need of theirs and sometimes they are just singing the song of their people. But there is an undeniable need for connection there that many of us pawrents have overlooked. But we will tell you of one pawrent who took to teaching their cat sign language as a more specific and direct form of communication, and we can tell you it is very impressive. 
 

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  • 01
    "Vet once told me, if all their needs are met - some cats are just chatty Cathys. Just like in real life."
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    TKG_Actual Because some cats learn to associate you reacting to it positively and do it because of that.
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    X-Ploded When I come home after work, my cat tells me all about his day for 5 minutes, it's so sweet.
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    robinthenurse Some cats are just very vocal. He is communicating with you. Cats don't meow to other cats, just to humans. Interesting fact when you stop to think about it!
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    OpheliaDrone I have a few super chatty cats. Some just like talking more than others! One of mine goes "maow maow" and if I repeat it back, it never ends. I don't know what we're talking about but
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    NPC261939 I have a cat like that. Any time she's walking around the house she's meowing. It's almost like she feels the need to constantly announce her presence. Four years after rescuing her it's still amusing.
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  • Well, it certainly seems that there is a recurring theme here relating to the fact that cats like to communicate with us. Whether it is telling us about their day, announcing their entrance to a room or simply blabbing back and forth with no understanding or reason. It seems as though our feline friends view this back and forth vocalization as some sort of intimacy. Which is rather reasonable considering how they feel about being touched. So the next time your cat starts meowing about something, maybe listen and join in. You might even get some more cuddles out of it…
     

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    Jazz_birdie Just like people. Some are "chatty cathies", others not so much...I did not know that cats aren't vocal with one another, only to humans...interesting!
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    CreatorOD Yep a talkative cat, because you talk to him a lot There is a cat that learned sign language from a guy who can't speak. So yes they do that
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    Vegan_Digital Artist It's conditioning. the cat has learned that to get what it wants it just has to meow until it gets it. My cat does this and i used to give into him each time to quiet him down.
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    RadagastDaGreen He's probably posting on the CatReddit "Why doesn't my owner talk at all? I spend all day trying to start conversations and he doesn't say anything."
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  • Honestly, if cats had Reddit, the last thing they would care to search up would be why us hoomans do not talk back to them. They would be looking up how to solicit more food from us, how to get away with destroying a house by being cute, or worse still how to disappear while still being inside your home. Though we wanted to throw back a moment to the post about sign language as this very much proves the point we made earlier about cats viewing communication as intimacy. And what is interesting about this approach of sign language is that cats only meow to communicate with hoomans anyway, so why not make that communication happen in a way that can actually become tangible and well, conversation-like?
     

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    ARD JAMS DAPPLESEE bominion D APPLESEED M O Dominion HANDS & FACES STORTREAKS ARTIST ENCICAPES OF CARTOONINGS Directing the Story "ANIMATOR'S SURVIVAL KIT SÍMETHING DAKE THE G The Excel CALVIN AND HOBBES LIFE DRAWING
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    TigerPoppy I have two cats, both are vocal (probably because I sing to them) but one just sits in front of me and used the same meow until I figure out what it wants. It's very frustrating.
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    gyb356 My cat does it when she's happy. If she is ever scared or upset, or if there is a strange person in the house she won't make a sound. When she is living her best life, she runs around shouting at walls
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    Thumper_wtf He's communicating with you! You should talk back to him!! He will start having full blown catversations with you. I have one who does this and it's like having a little roommate
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    mskittymcfluffypants We have one cat who walks around with her toys in her mouth yelling for 30 minutes almost nightly. EVERYONE in the house has to acknowledge that she's got a toy before she'll shut up. She will also start meowing at you and lead you to the water bowl when it needs refilled.
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    nokknokkopenup Every cat is a bit different, my cat for example only meows when she's about to get food or when she encounters a closed door and needs Hooman to open it
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    CarlJustCarl Vet once told me, if all their needs are met some cats are just chatty-Cathy. Just like in real life.
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    Towtruck_73 some cats are naturally chatty. The neighbour's cat is a Bengal. Bengals have a reputation for being vocal, and he has a whole "vocabulary" of sounds
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    Alekzyyy What is that questionnnnnn, she wants attention like 90% of cats, they can often feel urge to meow to someone until they get your attention or if somethings wrong, but by your explanation she's is living like a queen. If you are concerned just take her to the vet to check her completely and if it's good then there's nothing to worry about except that she's a baby that needs alot of petting and attention.
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cat conversation meow pawrents mystery reddit thread why children
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