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.
Oh my goodness, Ruth. That is so true that it should be set to music! You have got to get a copy of Garrison Keillor and Frederica vonStade’s “Cat Songs.” You will “split a rib” listening to it, after leaving that comment. ๐
I won’t really write a meow song. Just was an idea that sounded cool, but I’ll leave it for someone with ability to give it a shot (or not). I do think being able to hear all these meows we are merely describing IS a valid idea, however, and was really my point.
I’m trying to stop writing anymore music because I’m like my grandma with her chairs at this point. Years ago, my grandma was bored, having outlived most of her friends and having more physical energy and stamina than even people half her age, she started buying and refurbishing furniture and then giving it to people when it wouldn’t all fit in her house. After my mom received her fourth chair from Grandma she said, “She needs to stop.” So it is with my musical output which just keeps coming, but like Grandma’s chairs, mostly sucks. They weren’t all worth refurbishing and since she always worked very fast, many weren’t exactly high quality restorations.
After Carl Schalk tore one of my pieces apart at a conference for Lutheran church workers he said, “That’s ok, you’ll get better. You should have seen some of the things I wrote at first.” Except that was nearly two decades ago and it’s just not happening for me the way he said it would, and I have the pile of rejection letters from publishers to prove it. Like Grandma with her chairs it’s time to just stop. Just because something could be done doesn’t mean it should be done.
She can hiss loud enough. Ask Mandy. Ruth, did you forget to take your medication or did you take a double dose of your medication ๐ Either way, you need to share.
Maybe she does have a problem with her larynx. Or maybe she just needs time. Monty went from no meows or a silent or very faint meow to being very vocal.
My sister would swap you Coral for her cat Kobe. He is only quiet when he’s on the nip. I think all the meowing is asking for more nip, the little junkie.
I think PoC readers should record their cats meowing and Michael could create a sort of auditory collage of all the different meows. I’m thinking it could be set to music with a different set of cat meows for each verse and a chorus that would somehow compliment the meows. It could be the meow song. Sometimes I get these crazy ideas and I should just stop, but I don’t. The music could even accompany the meows. What key does Monty meow in? My friend Wendy has perfect pitch– she could figure it out. After she stopped laughing at me.
Laura says Coral is in the bathroom looking up at her and trying to meow. She knows someone has been talking about her. One of my friends said she doesn’t meow because she’s never had to ask for anything.
Elisa, this is second hand information via a cat lover friend, from long ago.
Her cat (rescued as a stray while very young) didn’t meow either, ever. What she had been told (don’t know source) was that kittens who are separated from their mother at a very young age don’t meow. I can’t vouch for the accuracy of this, but it does make some sense biologically.