Sound effect: how cats exploit the human need to nurture

As I have four cats, two dogs, three fish and two kids, I found this article interesting because for me it partially explains why, out of all of the living beings in my household, the cats are definitely the rulers.

Sound effect: how cats exploit the human need to nurture

I found what the study found to be true except for the part that this occurs only in one-person-one-cat relationships. I have one cat in particular that does this expertly. I definitely can tell the different in her purrs compared to the others, it is of the urgent solicitation type and she always seems to get fed first. I guess it could be the competition factor at work.

Instead of loud miaowing when they want food, behaviour likely to have them ejected from the bedroom, some cats disguise their cries for attention within an otherwise pleasant purr. The result, according to a study published tonight in the journal Current Biology, is a complex "solicitation" purr with a high-frequency element that triggers a sense of urgency in the human brain. Owners find it irritating, but not irritating enough to kick the cat out, and feel driven to respond.

Dr Karen McComb, a specialist in mammal vocal communication at the University of Sussex, said that by employing an embedded cry, cats appear to be exploiting innate tendencies that humans have for nurturing offspring.

Also, although the article was a good one, I definitely found this quote

New research has finally laid bare the degree to which cats exploit humans.

to be stretching it. Cats are the rulers period. We still have no idea of the extent of their rule.


Edit to add link (duh).


[edit on 15/7/2009 by Iamonlyhuman]

My little black panther cries and moans all the time..hes a male ,and loves attention..Unlike all the female animals I have ever had..

He certainly makes a noise,kinda like a muffled,MMMMLow..lol when he gets ready to do his super cat moves,like jumping from the floor to atop the door between rooms.


i call it his super cat power boost....

For me, cats of all varieties are the most interesting creatures on the planet. They are not dogs. Not in any way shape or form. Dogs wish to please their humans. Cats have no such compulsion. Cats allow humans to share their presense or not. They have no desire to conform or follow orders unless of course it was their idea in the first place. Which reminds me of me. LOL

We only think we have the upper hand with them. But the fact of the matter is that cats are cats, not dogs. They are carnivorous hunters regardless of ability to hunt. Don't feed them and they will most definitely find a way to feed themselves. Of course there are exceptions to every rule. Cats rule, dogs drool.

I love dogs too, they are special. But cats are adaptive and always in control, extremely clever and hilarious in their machinations. A well-timed purr wins over a high-pitched meow anytime.

I wish my cat would adopt the "loud purring" method!
Honestly,no matter how full her food dish is,if i even go near it,i am greeted with incredibly loud and persistent yowling!
I am suprised she has'nt started thinking that her name is "SHUT UP" yet!

I had thought about posting this in its own thread, but this seems more appropriate:
House Cats Know What They Want And How To Get It From You

I always knew they were the masters and we were the pets, but now it is confirmed...

reply to post by rogerstigers


That was a good one too on this subject. From your source,

"Human participants in our experiments judged purrs with high levels of this element to be particularly urgent and unpleasant." When the team re-synthesised the recorded purrs to remove the embedded cry, leaving all else unchanged, the urgency ratings for those calls decreased significantly.

McComb said she thinks this cry occurs at a low level in cats' normal purring, "but we think that cats learn to dramatically exaggerate it when it proves effective in generating a response from humans." In fact, not all cats use this form of purring at all, she said, noting that it seems to most often develop in cats that have a one-on-one relationship with their owners rather than those living in large households, where their purrs might get overlooked by poorly trained people.

And, I found the last sentence to be funny, but so true.... "by poorly trained people".