Cat owners will wonder why the cat keeps barking sometimes, and also want to know what the cat is expressing. In fact, the cat’s bark can help you understand its state at that time, and they will bark usually because they want you to do something for it. For example, if a cat wants you to play with him or if he is hungry and wants to eat, he will bark, but sometimes it just wants to say hello to you. Cats have different barking sounds for different purposes, and what is more peculiar is that each cat’s barking sounds are also different.
Some cats like to bark, while others are very silent. This is related to their breed, personality, age and health status. For example, Siamese and Abyssinian cats will often bark at people, while Persian cats will be very quiet. Cats like to communicate with their owners, and they will respond to most of the interactions with their owners. So if you communicate with a cat often, it will bark more.
If you want to understand what a cat’s barking means, many signs can interpret what the cat is saying. This article will introduce you the following: What does the cat barking express? The meanings of 10 different cat barking sounds and tips for raising cats.
Why the cat barks?
Humans have been arguing about why cats bark for a long time. Modern scientific research has found that cats bark because their muscles cause the glottis to expand or compress during exercise. When the cat breathes, the muscles will vibrate and make a sound, but there is no clear answer to what causes the cat to bark.
What is certain is that the reason why cats bark is to express themselves or protect themselves just like humans. The sound of the cat‘s bark can be simply divided into two categories, One is to express needs or complaints, and the other is to frighten the enemy and protect oneself or companions. Although cats often bark, they have not yet developed a discourse system like humans. Their movement and the sound of bark can only express or respond to simple content.
The origin and development of cat-to-human meowing
The earliest connection between cats and humans occurred in the Middle East about 9,500 years ago, and 5,300 years ago in China. Although humans and cats have lived together a long time ago, some studies believe that cats still maintain their independence when living with humans, and that they are just a partnership with humans.
You may have noticed that cats do not bark when they get along with their kind, and wild cats that make the sound of bark will be interpreted as expressing anger. Therefore, some studies believe that the meowing of domestic cats is only suitable for communicating with humans, and it is a specific language that cats have gradually evolved during their long-term life with humans.
10 different meanings of cat barking
- Make a mid-long sound of “Meow ~”
- Make a sound quickly
- Express silently
- Make a sound like a sigh
- Make a fierce bark
- Make a long cry
- Scream
- Make a sound like exhaling from the nose
- Make a sound like from the belly
- Make a sound like grinding teeth
The bark of a cat has many different meanings, although you as a human cannot understand it. However, the following shared experiences can help you guess the meaning of cat barking. These 10 cat barking sounds may be the ones you hear more.
1. Make a mid-long sound of “Meow ~”
You will often hear the cat making “meow~” calls. This is it wants to communicate with you and attract your attention. Through observation, you will find that kittens and female cats often make such barking noises. This is because cats also think that they have not grown up yet, so they will often make such noises to express their appeals to their mothers. You can judge what it wants to express based on the cat’s movement at the time.
If you want to know what a cat thinks, you can also judge from the environment the cat stands in. For example, they will bark around the rice bowl to indicate that they want to eat, and bark around the door to indicate that they want to go out to play.
If the cat raises its tail and head and touches you and barks, then it is coquettish with you. You can interact with it more at this time, which can deepen the relationship between you and the cat.
2. Make a sound quickly
The quick and simple bark is the cat greeting with you, and the cat will communicate with each other by touching the nose or smelling the smell. However, domestic cats will change their greet methods due to being with humans for a long time. So when you have heard cats make a sound quickly, it is they want to say hello to you.
Some cats will greet you by touching the nose, but because you are too tall it can’t touch your nose, so it will touch your hands. In this time, you can lower your head and touch it with your nose to say hello to it.
3. Express silently
Newly born kittens will often make this kind of breath noise with only mouth shape and no sound. This is because cats’ ears can hear sounds that people can’t hear, and they think you can also hear it, so they make such sounds. If the kittens make a sound like this to you, it means that it treats you as a female cat.
4. Make a sound like a sigh
You might think cats don’t sigh, but they also use their noses to exhale to express sighs. But don’t worry, cats sigh just because their breathing will be affected when the atmosphere is tense, so they sigh to relieve tension. If the cat sighs every time he sees you, you should think about what you have done that makes him feel nervous.
5. Make a fierce bark
You must have seen cats yelling fiercely, it is their instinctive response to protect themselves. At this time, the cat will usually swing its paws and show its teeth and become very fierce. You’d better not catch it at this time. The cat does this in the hope that you can be scared off by its barking, and if you continue to approach it, it may scratch you.
6. Make a long cry
The long bark of a cat usually makes you nervous. This type of bark usually follows a fierce bark. This is because the cat feels that barking ferociously cannot scare away the enemy, so it will bark louder. Generally, a cat will keep barking until you stop staring at it.
7. Scream
Cats will scream when they are accidentally injured or their tails are stepped on by humans. If you hear cats making similar sounds, you must carefully check whether they are injured and help them deal with the wound in time.
8. Make a sound like exhaling from the nose
When a cat finds a stranger or other cats breaking into its territory, it will make a low and short bark with its nose. What the cat wants to express at this time is to warn the other party that this is my territory.
9. Make a sound like from the belly
When cats are curious or find new prey, they will make a sound like made from the belly, which means that they are happy and excited when they find what they want.
10. Make a sound like grinding teeth
Cats will make a sound like grinding teeth to indicate that they are very entangled in their hearts, just like you suddenly don’t play with it, and it hasn’t played enough, it may make such a sound. Some cats will bark like this when they cannot catch their prey or target.
Tips for raising cats:
- Cats can remember or understand about 80 human languages, but they only remember the tone and voice, and they are more sensitive to the tone of criticism or praise. Cats can also remember their own names, and they will know what will happen after their name is mentioned. For example, if you call his name and say “eat”, the cat will know that it is time to eat.
- If you see a wild kitten barking silently on the road, it may be that the mother cat is nearby and it is calling the mother cat. At this time, you must not touch the kitten. If the mother cat comes back and smells you on the kitten, she will think it’s not her cat and abandon the kitten.
- Generally speaking, cats also snore, but if a cat that does not snore at ordinary times has snoring suddenly, you should pay attention to whether the cat’s health has any problems, and remember to take it to the doctor in time.
- Talk to the cat often and it will respond to you too. It will treat you as their mother cat. Although it cannot understand what you are saying, it will respond enthusiastically when it hears you. Communicating with cats can deepen the relationship between you.
- Have you also encountered that when you quarreled with others, the cat would suddenly bark beside you, and you would find it and stop arguing. In fact, this is because the cat is afraid of the sound of your quarrel and the tension created by it, so it will bark at you, and its call will attract your attention and stop the quarrel. If the number of times is too high, the cat may remember this habit, and it will bark next to you whenever you quarrel, as if to persuade you to stop arguing.
Different cats’ barking sounds have different meanings. If you want to know the meaning of the cat’s sounds, you must judge it according to the environment and the cat’s body movements. In different environments, cats may make the same sounds but represent different meanings. If you want to know more about the meaning of cat barking, you can observe their body language. For example, raising the tail is a sign of friendliness, and widening the eyes is a sign of warning. If you learn more about similar body language, you will get along with the cat more harmoniously.