Adam’s Journal
Our cat, February, consistently greets me with loud and persistent meows when I arrive home. This meowing seems to be louder and more persistent than when she greets my wife in similar circumstances. Any idea why this is?
Dr. Criley Prescribes
A recent publication suggests that Febs is not alone in her tendency to greet you – a male – more vocally.
In this small study, cat owners were asked to record their interactions with their felines for the first five minutes after returning home. Researchers then analyzed these recordings, looking for a specific set of 22 greeting behaviors and tallying the number of occurrences or duration of those behaviors.
Although this study had some limitations, the central finding was that cats vocalize more persistently at male caregivers than at female.
The researchers theorized that men “require more explicit vocalizations to notice and respond to the needs of their cats.” And when male owners didn’t listen, the cats presumably adjusted their behavior –and volume – accordingly.
The authors also noted that feline greeting behavior “constitutes a complex, multidimensional phenomenon that defies straightforward explanation.”
This observation struck a particular chord with me. As a dog person, I always find cat behavior challenging to interpret. However, the basic principles for the two species are the same.
Febs is trying to tell you what she needs. In this case, it’s probably attention (plus an apology for leaving her alone!).
In these circumstances, my guess is that Mary responds more quickly and intuitively to your cat’s needs and demands. So, when Mary comes home, the repeated pleas that Febs makes to you may not be necessary.
In addition, you may have also inadvertently rewarded this behavior at some point in the past by showering Febs with attention following one of these meowing episodes. If this is the case, her behavior likely has less to do with your sex than with Febs’ canny identification of you as an easy mark when it comes to fulfilling her needs for petting, snuggling and attention.
–
Dr. Jennie Criley is the attending veterinarian and director of comparative medicine at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. Adam Cohen is OMRF’s senior vice president and general counsel. February is an extremely cute cat who doesn’t know what medical research is. Submit your health questions to contact@omrf.org.
