Cat communication with humans [View all]

I have mentioned before how silent my cat, Ember is. She very rarely meows. But she is very creative about communicating to me.

She has developed several ways to let me know when she wants food in her dish. Sometimes it is just "the stare." It's very intense as if trying to will a telepathic message to me. Other times, if she feels dinner or breakfast has been unjustly delayed, things start "falling" from tables, the counter, etc. When she has my attention for that, the stare begins.

When I say the magic words, "Ember hungry?" she twitches an ear and then runs to the kitchen - not to her dish, but to the source of her food, the fridge or the cupboard. I keep both dry kibbles and canned Fancy Feast. She gets kibbles for most meals and Fancy Feast a few times a week, half a can at a time. She knows her food might come from either the cupboard or the fridge. .

If I am eating and her dish is empty, she gives me the wounded look, like, "How rude. Eating in front of me of me without sharing?"

Now she has 2 new methods to say, "Feed me." One is to go to a bottom cupboard door and repeatedly open and close it until I say, "Hungry?" Then she reacts with a trait that is exclusive to Egyptian Mau cats. (She is 1/4 Mau and has several of their traits.) Her rump and tail vibrate with excitement. Maus do that when they are very happy and excited about something.

The cupboard door is not the one where I keep her kibbles. That one is higher up, over the stove's slanted exhaust fan where she can't reach it. But I guess she figures that any cupboard door gets the message to me.

The other new method is to go to the fridge door, rub against it and then do the Mau "wiggle tail" of excitement. She seems to be letting me know which type of food she wants, the one in the cupboard or the one in the fridge.

I am in awe of her creativity in communicating. She is 11 years old and the Mau hyper energy of her youth has mellowed a bit (thank God), but she is still as creative and interactive with me as ever.