Why do Oriental Shorthairs honk?

Oriental Shorthair meow-honk
Oriental Shorthair meow-honk. Screenshot plus words added.
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Oriental Shorthairs honk because it is a slightly strange version of the feline meow. Let’s call it a meow-honk. All cats have their own version of this classic cat sound. In the video below the owner of three Oriental Shorthair cats says that “Teddy loves to honk to get his point across”. I’ve watched the video and Teddy is not genuinely honking in my opinion. If that’s what you describe as a honk then there is clearly a big difference in what people consider to be a honk. This is an individualized meow. The point to make is that domestic cats have a wide range of meows. It is wide enough to include this so-called honk. Each cat is an individual with their own individual characters and their own voices. They make different sounds and even within one breed such as the Oriental Shorthair individual cats will make different sounds.

It is certainly possible that a higher percentage of Oriental Shorthairs make this particular meow described as a honk than your average domestic cat but nonetheless it is no more than a rather particular and charming meow. It’s actually quite muted and polite. A true honk is the cry of a wild goose. I can see the similarity but I can also see the difference. The biggest difference is that this slightly odd meow is so much more muted and undemanding than a goose’s cocky honk.

If videos remain on a website long enough they disappear or stop working eventually because things change and the original video will normally stop working for a variety of reasons one of which is that YouTube change the embed code. If that has happened I am sorry.

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