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The Cat Speaks English

Guild Navigator said:
she also understood that the doorknob was the key to geting inside and out so if you weren't quick to let her out she'd start trying to turn the knob herself. she never was able to get a good grip on it do to her lack of thumbs though.
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A friend of mine had a cat that used to jump up and hit the doorbell when it wanted to get in. It also used to hit the snooze on the alarm clock the instant it went off, resulting in a lot of late for work incidents until my friends father woke up early one day and saw who the culprit was.
 
Further to earlier posts by Colin and others regarding birds being able to vocalise quite complicated ideas, I remember reading an anecdote of a similar nature a few years ago.

The author lived in India as a child, and these being the days of the Raj, their family had servants. One of these servants, a maid, was being driven a bit mental by someone calling her name from outside the house, only to find that there was no-one there when she went on the porch to check.

She was going frantic because she thougt it was spirits, the children were all interrogated to see if they were playing a joke, which they weren't, and no conclusion was reached. Until one day, quite by chance, the author's father happened to be outside when he heard the maid's name called. She came rushing out, saw there was no-one there and went back inside. This happened a few times and each time Father tried to find the source.

It turns out that on the wall of the garden were three crows, who would call the maid's name, then "giggle" to themselves as she rushed out to answer. They would keep doing this until they got bored and flew away.

The odd thing to my mind is that they seemed to be doing it for their own amusement, not as just a learned sound to copy. Anyone who has ever seen a crow or raven doing tricks should be able to imagine them chuckling in birdy glee as the poor woman fell for it again.
 
I think that cats definitely mimic human behaviour (the most intelligent of mine always wants to kiss people :?) and that this isn't much of a stretch, as cats can be very intelligent and demonstrate consciousness. It's just that they don't have the lips to do it properly (same with kissing).
 
To see them pucker, just lift the tail and blow. It looks very like my Aunt Bertha's kiss - without quite so much hat and lipstick. :shock:
 
Ados Eparg said:
Guild Navigator said:
she also understood that the doorknob was the key to geting inside and out so if you weren't quick to let her out she'd start trying to turn the knob herself. she never was able to get a good grip on it do to her lack of thumbs though.
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A friend of mine had a cat that used to jump up and hit the doorbell when it wanted to get in. It also used to hit the snooze on the alarm clock the instant it went off, resulting in a lot of late for work incidents until my friends father woke up early one day and saw who the culprit was.
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Crikey! That's one smart cat, if only Sierra would do the same...
:D
 
I read this thread a few days back and smiled at a lot of the stories being told and the unbridled affection being displayed to cats. My cat, Barbara, has a habit of waking me up by strolling into the room and 'meowing' at 6.30am in the morning, which is, incidentally, the time I get up and start to work. She usually bounds onto the bed as well and lies next to me until I get up. Unfortunately, this spills over to the weekend too and can get quite annoying when you want to stay in bed for a while, but you can't get angry with the little darlings can you? Anyway, she has started to wake me at 5.30am since the clocks have changed, which is quite strange in itself I guess and so, before I went to bed last night, I told her not to wake me up in the morning... Yes, I often talk to my cat. And, as you can imagine, this morning - nothing, no noise. Could be coincidence, but I found it odd when she wasn't there and then quite amusing when I eventually remembered.
 
My cat Timmy spoke once. I lived on my own and was having a bath with the door open. I had left the window ajar so Timmy could jump and in as he pleased. I heard him jump through the window into the living room. I was like "Timmy, are you back?" he trotted straight past the bath room door and into te kitchen. i said "And where are you going young man?" and he came intot he bathroom put his paws and went "nowhere!" Ah it was so sweet. I was like "Timmy you can speak! Its a miracle!" Ah lovely Timmy.
 
To Lee Charlish: Our [now sadly deceased cat Chickens] used to do exactly the same, including the earlier hour aftre the clocks had changed...
Our now cat "Kitty" is only 2 years old but when she was a little kitten, we used to rub our noses in her fur and make little noises of contempt [like you would do smelling a nice flower], the thing is that she has picked up those noises and makes them when we kiss her now. Like a parrot, it sounds exactly like when I used to do it, same pitch and length and everything.
It sounds very human.
She also understands pointing and used to look behind the TV when she was watching programs where stuff moved and disappeared.
Another funny habit is that she drags clothes out of the washing basket and puts them into her waterbowl. She also owns a "brother", it is a fluffy guinea-pig toy, that she puts into her food bowl. Now she only started doing this since her "brother" Quincy [a very much loved guinea-pig] had to be put down. The day we came back from the vets, she kept sniffing the empty and washed cage and didn't want to do anything at all. We buried him in the garden and for the first 2 days she kept going out and sitting next to the little grave :sob:
Unfortunately for her, the fox dug him out a week later and took him away [I'm glad though cause I like foxes and he must have been very hungry and atleast Quincy made another animal happy].
 
Whistling Jack said:
I keep both both a dog and an African grey and it's very amusing to see the dog obey the parrot's commands to 'sit', etc... :)
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This made me laugh out loud and choke on my drink. :rofl:
Peppermint schnapps does nothing good for the sinus.

The neighbors have an American Staffordshire Terrier who, if given an underfilled water balloon, carries it around with infinite gentleness, retrieving it when requested "Go get your baby!"
If he doesn't have a baby at the moment, he brings tennis ball sized rocks into the house until someone fills up another "baby" for him. :D
 
I got a bull terrier and when it gets to 6pm he starts crying and sometimes you swear you just heard him say "walk me"
 
The one that always gets me is that foxes calling at night sound just like small children in agony. Well, not that i am overly-familiar with the sound of kids in pain, but the sound could easily be mistaken for having come from a human voicebox.

I nearly called the police one night. That would have been embarrassing. :D
 
I've mentioned my Mum's dog Dumper's vocabulary before, but there's more! He also knows what a pointed finger means (ie he'll go in that direction rather than just look at your hand), and you can tell him specific things, like which toy to bring (my Mum's bf told him to 'get the ball.' When Dumps picked up the tennis ball, mum's bf said, 'no, the bigger one!' and Dumper got it), or 'go to the end of the garden'. Ziggy once said 'Hello' to me one morning. It was really just a yawn, but it was still a nice surprise! He was also known for sulking and 'not talking to you.' Before I was born, my Mum had another lovely jack russel called Hector. Apparently in the evenings, instead of asking if he wanted to go for a walk, my Dad would say 'let's go to the pub,' and Heck'd walk to the pub, with no lead, and have a packet of crisps. Nine times out of ten he opened the packet at the right end (the locals ended up betting on it). Another thing he'd do was, at 6pm or so, if mum had forgotten to put the heating on, he'd sit by the heater and nod his head towards it. Look at my mum, then tilt his head towards the heater, then back again. Oh and one more! My boss used to have a dog who would always have his tea as soon as Neighbours finished. She realised that the dog had worked out that the second time the music played meant that it was food time, so sometimes she'd turn the sound off or change the channel at the end of an episode and confuse the dog no end.
 
This isn't Fortean but it is relevant to this thread.
A few days after bringing home my first Bengal cat (an exotic breed of housecat which is a hybrid between domestic cats and a small Asian jungle cat) I was feeding him when he clearly said "Hello". I thought I was losing it but a few minutes later he said the same thing. This was clear as could be and was not some sort of hello-like meow. He would often repeat this greeting to me around meal times and I would encourgae it by saying "Hello" back at him and giving him a treat. Many other people have also heard him say this.
A couple years later I brough home another Bengal kitten and after a few months he also began saying "Hello" at meal time! Apparently it is a Bengal trait and I have heard of other people who live with Bengals reporting the same thing. It seems to be an expression of anticipation or happiness and is never really said in context such as being greeted at the door by two cats saying hello.
Alex.
 
That's Life

Remember the dog who said 'Sausages' on the 'That's Life' TV show, BBC1, UK, 1970s and 1980s?!
 
I've been reading this thread with interest and it reminds me of the comedy routine by Jack Dee (I think). Dogs and cats will watch you if you're doing DIY. Say you're putting up a shelf or something...

The dog will watch intently and maybe try to get involved and you can imagine it eagerly saying "What you doing? That looks good... I don't know what it is but it looks really good."

The cat will look disinterested and you can imagine it saying " It's not straight..."

Seriously though our cat's picked up a strange habit. If you feed it cat food, Felix, Whiskas, etc, he'll quite happily eat it in the kitchen (where his bowl is). However, if you give him "human food" such as carved chicken, ham, etc... he'll bite it and bring it into the living room where we eat our food. It's as if he's saying, "Well you eat it in here... so will I."
 
My cat is half siamese and half stray, and while he's never been vocal in the english language, this has never stopped him from being loud in every other way. My cat will put a paw to a door and run his paw up and down it, making a 'knocking/scratching sound' whenever he wants to be let into a room, and he has an uncanny ability to know if someone is in a room behind the closed door.

I do have a few theories about cats speaking english. A few years ago I read something about telepathy and speaking to your pets with it, along with people of course. It involved (or so it said) eye contact and thinking of a 'feeling' or 'picture' because, unlike humans, animals are far more visual and as we all know, attuned to many emotions. Thinking this would be an interesting break from work, i sat down and tried to call my dog, who as lying on a rug in the other room, to come over to me. I sent out feelings of 'desire' and 'closeness' and of course, my happiness at that closeness, as well as picturing her near me. She jumped to her feet, looked at me strangely for a moment, and when i sent out the feelings again, she came. When I tried this with my cat, he showed absolutely no hesitation. Seconds after 'recieving' the transmission he padded over and meowed his usual hello, and rubbed up against me. Maybe when we speak to our pets, some people also give off these same 'feelings' or 'emotions' that tell their pets what they really want or mean, and when telling them 'your pants are in the yard' or something like that we are unconciously sending them a picture of such, giving us the impression they understand our language when they return with a mouthful of clothing.

The only time I was ever truly creeped out was after coming back from the US to europe, waking up the net morning a little jet lagged and feeling someone pushing my side a little and saying my name and 'Get up!' in a loud, impatient whisper. Thinking it was my little brother (this was years ago when I was 13) I told him to 'go away, i want to sleep.' The pushing persisted as did the whisper, so finally I opened my eyes and was getting up, when I saw only my dog in the room. Asking my brother later, he said he had been asleep at the time. anwyays, my dog was instantly ecstatic to see me awake and once again pushed her nose into my side (hence the pushing feeling) and wagged her tail frantically. I no longer heard any whispering, but I've always wondered if this was more than my mind playing tricks on me...
 
LOL, he thinks he's a dog!

This thread makes me think of something my Grandad says about our Alsatian, Sam. Whenever we went away for holidays, Grandad used to come feed and walk Sam. My Grandad is by no means a weakling, but somehow, he says, he never did manage to take charge when walking that dog - so Sam used to take him off on long adventures, with my Grandad ending up hopelessly lost.

But as soon as my Grandad asked him to find me, Sam would turn around and head back home. It only worked with me, never my Mum or Dad, he'd only come find me. Maybe because I was the kid, mine was the name he heard most and associated with home....but it's nice to think he knew my name and would come looking for me.

Some years later, when Sam was getting old and frail, and could no longer make those long walks he loved so much, I'm not sure wether I convinced myself, from seeing him in pain, or wether it actually happened - that i could "hear" him telling me about how he needed to leave us, and his body so that he could carry on. (that's probably unrelated, but I'm not sure)

Anyway, I think he has some semblence of intelligence, and he's not the only animal I think does, either. Maybe I'm just destined to be one of those odd cat ladies - only with dogs and horses.
 
This isn't fortean, exactly, but otherwise thread-related...

My former roommate had a cat (Poplin) who could read photographs. The best example was once when I was sitting on the futon, next to my roommate's oldest cat (Flannel), looking at some photos my roommate had taken several years earlier, all in black & white. One was of Flannel, and Poppy was coming around the corner at that moment, so for some reason I showed her the picture, and she stopped dead in her tracks, looked with wide eyes at the photo, looked at Flannel, then looked at the photo, and back at Flannel, and then ran away. She would never let me show her another photograph - they spooked her out apparently! If she saw me handling photographs, she would run away! But that one day she obviously recognized that I was holding a small, 2-dimensional version of the cat on the futon next to me!

When Poppy was just off the streets (all our cats were strays), we took her to the vet, and just as she came out of her carrier, she saw a cut-out life-size photo of a cat that was sitting to the side to advertise some thing or other (probably flea treatments) and hissed like crazy until the vet's aide turned it around. But none of our other cats seemed to recognize the form of a cat in a photo, on screen, or even in a mirror! The time in the vet's was no surprise, though, since it was life-sized, cut out, and easily mistakable for a cat. But recognizing the exact cat in the tiny black & white photo was pretty remarkable, I thought.
 
I LOVE this topic!!!!!! Unfortunately, no English-speaking cats in my household. :(
 
Nor in mine. I'd like to think that my cats could speak, but choose not to...why lower themselves to my level? :lol:
 
I was speaking with the German couple who clean our carpeting. It seems her cat, which recently died at the age of 21(!), could speak German. Whenever it wanted out, it would clearly (according to her) say Raus!! I laughed, but she insists friends would ask her how she taught the cat to speak German. She would reply that's all they spoke around kitty.
 
I've neer had experience with talking cats, but I have known a cat that did seem to understand what I said. Strictly speaking, it wasn't my cat, but it didn't like its owners, so used to come to my house all the time - to the point where it gave birth in my house - twice! (bit of a shock, as the cat was called danny, and i assumed it was male.....). Anyway, when it and the kittens were living in my house, danny went out foraging one day - and came back through the cat flap with a huge raw steak in her mouth! She'd obviously nicked it off somene's kitchen table.She came through the cat flap dragging this meat and then realised i was in the kitchen watching her - and she stood frozen, standing there, with the meat, staring at me, and it was as if she was saying 'umm...i can explain this, really....just give me a second'. I said to her 'I don't care, its our little secret, i won't tell a soul, just get rid of it now'..and straight away she relaxed and trotted off with the steak to feed it to the kittens.

my best has a cat called bella, and she also recently got a kitten called benny, who's a bit bonkers to say the least. one day i was watching benny vroom around the kitchen, intent on killing his own tail, and i glanced at bella and gave her an exasperated look and said 'kids, eh?'. she looke at me, and i swear that she gave me an exasperated look in return!
 
When I'm at home, my cat Harry will sit by my bedroom door and mew to be let in. He doesn't do it when I'm not there. My mother once told Harry that I would be coming home soon and the next morning he went and sat by my door again. He also hates my grandma, even though he doesn't see her very often. The sound of her voice makes him run away.
 
naSTEe said:
without going into to much detail..i have a had a dog,,,and now an African Grey Parrot..both displayed OBVIOUS intelligence but the Parrot is so smart ..i know its cleverer than my 2 year old,,,and i've seen her outsmart my wife,,her (the parrot) vocabulary is apparently limitless, definate sentiant sentence construction and more than able to communicate her wants and needs,,also it has to be said Parrots are a$$holes, at best "cheeky",,but they know this and thrive on it,,all the time, thrilling in mischief and possesing a "wicked" sense of humour..all ever so human traits????
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My grandmothers yellow headed greenbelly, actually asked me to pet him. when I reached in to scratch his offered neck he quickly turned,bit me, and drew blood. he then asked "Did it hurt?" and proceeded to laugh loudly at me.
 
I'll never forget what passed between me and my beloved cat, Wol. He was a HUGE adorable black and white tom - so gentle and playful - I'd acquired him through one of those series of "coincidences" we Forteans know so well :) and we adored each other. One day, he'd done his usual routine of following me to the bathroom to "guard" me. I washed my hands, then on impulse, swept him up in my arms (not easy with a 15lb cat!), kkissed the top of his head and said, "Wolly, I love you SO much and I will ALWAYS look after you and be with you when you are a venerable old man cat." He turned round to look straight into my eyes and "said", " My dear, I won't grow to be old" - for a second we just looked at each other, then he went back into "cat mode" and wriggled to be put down. I fely very shaken up and terribly sad because I knew this was a premonition. Within a year, from being a big, bouncy nine year old full of life he became paralysed from the haunches down and incontinent. After exhaustive investigations the vet declared that Wol was suffering from a condition of the central nervous system very rare in cats and incurable, so of course I had to have him put to sleep.
I must explain, the "communication" I received was not in the form of an external voice heard from outside - like when a person tells you something - it was more of a psychic message mind-to-mind but somehow "verbalized" in the translation between Wol and me. The "my dear" address is something I have encountered again since, in communication with other animals.
Just to round off the tale - a few months later it was Wol's birthday (May 9th), and in the evening a friend who knew how much my cat had meant to me appeared on the doorstep all excited. She showed me photos she'd taken that afternoon at the Manchester Ship Canal. Two beautiful barges had crossed and signalled to each other. Clearly visible on their sides were their names - WOL and my own first name. Oh, and "his" barge was black and white like his fur and "mine" was deep red - the colour my hair was then! :D Best look out for grey barges these days! ;)
 
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