By Elisa Black-Taylor
Why doesn’t my cat Coral meow? I ask myself that question every night as Coral jumps into my lap for some quality petting time. I’d like to tell her story, and then I hope some of you may have some answers for my non-vocal cat.
Coral has been with us for over two years now. She was rescued from Greenville County Animal Care Services back in 2011 at the same time we rescued a cat named Jane. One of my friends from New York who’s very involved with GCACS asked me if I could take both cats. Jane went on to find her own family, but Coral has decided to stay with us on a permanent basis.
Coral’s paperwork at the shelter listed her as a stray. My daughter and I believe she was a stray, mainly because of her ears. Her ears were full of ear mites. We took her to the vet and got the medicine to treat her. She passed her physical as far as being healthy, other than the infestation of the mites. It took a good month to get all the gunk cleaned out where she’d have pretty ears.
Laura and I often wonder why anyone would turn her into the shelter. She never meows, always uses the litter box and isn’t fussy about her cat food. In other words, Coral is the perfect cat. Except she’s quiet. We’ve heard a hiss or two out of her when one of the other cats try to intrude upon her petting time in Laura’s lap.
Coral was often called our cat with no personality. That was before she let us know how much she enjoys chasing a laser light. It’s the first toy she’s ever played with. And she loves to drink out of a faucet. I’m more likely to see her taking a drink from the tub faucet than from the water bowl.
Coral is also beautiful. Not that beautiful will keep a cat off of death row. You all may remember Coral from the comment I made on Michael’s article here about being able to pick your cat out of an I.D. parade.
I commented on confusing Furby with Coral all the time. From the rear, they look identical to me. Laura says Coral is a slightly lighter color. And if I pet her I can tell the difference. She’s our softest cat. Her name should have been Cashmere.
I wonder whether Coral could have been feral at one time, since feral cats are known for keeping silent. Her ears were certainly dirty enough for her to have lived outside for a long period of time. Perhaps someone who just enjoys trapping cats and turning them in to the shelter caught her. We’ll never know. And Coral refuses to give up secrets about her past.
We’ve only had one other cat who kept silent for a very long time. That was Sealy. We pretty much know he was a feral. He still has feral-like behavior, such as he enjoys prowling for food. It was close to eight months before he ever meowed, and that was when he wanted out of my bedroom and the door was closed. He’ll also jump on top of Laura and meow for his breakfast. For the record, Sealy has the LOUDEST meow of any of our cats. He just doesn’t “talk” very often.
Any ideas on why Coral doesn’t meow? She’s healthy and friendly otherwise. I’ve never had such a quiet cat.
Wow…you are organized on the audio front. I am impressed, which means you’ll have to do something with Monty’s Meows… 😉
Garage Band is a program for recording music. I recorded Simon’s Song with it. My husband connected my digital piano to the computer via a cable he ran under the floor across the whole house (through the basement.) I can play my digital piano and input that directly into the program and it only picks up that, so it doesn’t even have to be quiet. I have a big microphone called a Snowball that I use to input singing or instruments. That is the part where Monty usually meows while I’m singing, so he has to be put outside or in his room. Can I get a meow recorded when I actually want one, that is the question!
Jeff says if I use voice memo on my iPhobe I can email that memo to myself and it becomes an m4a file, which can be imported directly into Garage band. He says if you send me recordings of Charlie meowing Garage Band will import them. He is checking on exactly what types of audio files the program will accept.
I think I should record Charlie. You record Monty and we splice the recordings together to make some music 😉 C & M Style Garage Band (whatever garage band means).
I use Garage Band for recording music. One time I wanted to share (and save) one of the old cassette tapes we used to mail back and forth as auditory letters in the early 1980’s. I just stuck the microphone I use to record a live instrument or voice near the tape player and recorded the conversation as if it were a live instrument. It turned out well.
I would record Monty’s meows with a different device– probably my iPhone instead if a bulky tape player. There is a voice memo feature on my phone. I used it to record a piece of organ music once and it turned out ok. Not the best recording, but not the worst. It might be possible to get some meows with my phone, input them into Garage Band. If I wanted to layer sounds, I’d just start another track. Then you can drag the tracks around to where you want them. Garage Band is pretty easy to use. Michael’s right– the hardest part is getting the meows. But if you know your cat you know when he is likely to be the most vocal. All I have to do us lie in bed at eight a.m. like a slug instead if taking Monty outside in the early morning. When he appears, push the button on the phone and wait for him to pull out the starving baby kitten meow. If I keep ignoring him the meows get louder. Go to the kitchen and put a plate on the counter and they will be more insistent. I think I could capture quite a variety of sounds from him. When Jeff pets him in the morning I could get a loud purr that could be put down as an underlying track.
I don’t think it would be as complicated as you suggest. The computer part is fairly straightforward. The difficulty is getting all the different meows recorded and collated to be made into an audio file or video file.
Some cats are shorthaired and some longhaired. Some breeds have both short and long haired cats which makes for two breeds while for other breeds the different hair length does not create a new breed 😉 Confused?
The phrase “domestic shorthair” refers to a non-purebred cat (usually) that has short hair. The name for the American Shorthair – a breed of cat – was at one time “domestic shorthair”. I am sure I have made things worse. 😉