# Chirping?



## rketto (Aug 22, 2010)

One of my kittens makes an odd chirping sound when she's running around/playing. It's almost like a trill but it's higher-pitched and really sounds like a bird twittering or something. I've never heard this before, anyone know what it means?


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Happy and excited? Our kitties can make a wide range of vocalizations that mean different things. We have a multi-cat home and I spend a LOT of time with them so I've been able to observe a wide diversity of noises and behaviors associated with those vocalizations and can interpret them fairly accurately when I hear them ... and also identify which cat is making the noise and what has probably triggered the noise, even if I can't see _(if I'm in a different room)_ the cats.


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## faithless (Dec 4, 2009)

My gal trills quite a bit. In her case I interpret it as general contentment and curious chatting while she's checking things out. If she's discontent she meows (sort of).


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## faithless (Dec 4, 2009)

'Trill!': 'Look a beetle'
'Trill!': 'Never mind, false alarm, it wasnt a beetle.'
'Trill!': 'Whats that over there? Theres something over in the corner!'
'Trill!': 'Oh it was just a shadow'
'Trill!':'Did you just hear something? I think it was the neighbors dog'
'Trill!': 'Yeah, no question. Theyre getting ready to open the door and come down the stairs'
'Trill!': 'Whats that smell? Can you smell that too? Is that your feet?'


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## Lymsleia (Mar 19, 2010)

We had a cat named liccorice who would do a while clicking type sound. Like she was trying to meow but got so excited that she just stuttered. She only did it when she spotted a fly in the house. And then another cat named whoopy. He had the funniest meow ever. It goa Ka-ka-cheooowww Like hes coughing up a loogie at you. And then lumpy. He was my first cat ever. He got very crotchidy in his old age. Very achey joints and just very short tempered with the other cats. When hed hiss Hed start high then his hiss would get softer but then out of nowhere he would make a clunking sound. HISSSSS-KLUNK! It was hilarious but you felt bad at the same time. I wouldnt worry though. My point is that every cat is different just like people. And they all make their own sounds.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

_Lymsleia_, that "clicking" sound is one that cats make when they spot prey out of reach. I can actually bring my cats running out of a dead sleep if I imitate the sound at a window if I see a bird or squirrel outside or a fly inside. Don't really know why they do it, it may be genetic but it's definitely a learned behavior as well. I remember watching a program on Animal Planet and there were a group of tree-dwelling monkeys (don't rememember the name or whether they were African or South American), but they made the identical clicking/chattering cat sound when spotting something that caught their interest and the rest of the monkeys would gather to see what it is. Maybe it's a cooperative hunting signal. Tho cats are generally known as "solitary hunters", they will hunt as a group too. I know if one of my cats does it, the other will come running to see what it is. I noticed this before when I had more cats than just the two I have now.


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## faithless (Dec 4, 2009)

> _Lymsleia_, that "clicking" sound is one that cats make when they spot prey out of reach. I can actually bring my cats running out of a dead sleep if I imitate the sound at a window if I see a bird or squirrel outside or a fly inside.


yeah, she'll come running if I do that.


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## Huge2 (Jan 28, 2008)

It means she needs the following
A selection of high quality free-range raw meats 3 times a day
A £400 12ft cat tree
250 acres of danger-free grassland to run around in
A few hundred cardboard boxes to sit in.


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## Leanne2112 (Aug 13, 2010)

Timmy does this when he's looking out the window and see birds or butterflies, it's like a mixture of a puppy's bark and a chirp, really cute!!!


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## mimitabby (Apr 20, 2010)

I just read an article in the NYTimes about Ocelots imitating baby monkeys while hunting!!!! freaked out the monkeys, let me tell you.


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## lizaloo152 (Aug 18, 2010)

My Bailey makes this chirping/trill sound all the time but i have not heard Izzy the other kitten do it at all. I remember other cats doing the chattering/clicking sound which was always while watching birds or insects.


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## swatkat (Aug 21, 2010)

kenji does that when he plays with his feather toy that he loves a lot he thinks it is a real birdie.


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## Janis (Aug 26, 2010)

Yes, I've always been able to call the cats by mimicking the chatter sound. But I never use it unless I really do see something really interesting that I think they would like to enjoy too. Bird, chipmunk, bunny, squirrel, whatever. At least I know what I'm saying when I make that sound. When I chirp or meow otherwise, I often wonder what they think I'm really saying.


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