26 Chapter 3Vocalizations of kittens and nursing females
Kittens
During the first few days of a kitten’s life its vocalizations are limited to a defensive
spit and a distress call, which is emitted whenever the kitten is cold, hungry, isolated
or trapped.
The occasions when the distress call is used, and its intensity and frequency,
change as the kitten matures. For example, as the kitten’s ability to regulate its own
body temperature increases, its use of the call when cold decreases. Unwelcome
restraint or being ‘trapped’ produces a high rate of distress calling up to around 6 weeks
of age, whereas use of the distress call to indicate isolation tends to increase over the
first 3 weeks before gradually decreasing. This could be due to the kitten becoming
more aware of its mother and littermates during the first few weeks after birth, and
therefore experiencing greater distress and anxiety when separated from them, before
developing sufficient confidence and independence to be able to cope with separation.
But it has also been found that the intensity of the distress call is greater the further
away the kitten is from the nest (Mermet et al., 2008). The increased use of the call
might therefore also be associated with the kitten’s increased physical ability, allowing
it to stray further from the nest.
Overall use of the distress call starts to decrease at around 2–3 months of age
and has usually stopped completely by the time the kitten is 5 months old (Bradshaw
et al., 2012).
Purring starts within a few days of birth and occurs mainly whilst suckling, which
is possibly a way of signalling to the mother that the kitten is getting sufficient milk and
to encourage continued nursing.
Aggressive vocalizations, including the defensive hiss, and the human-directed
meow develop later, usually during or soon after weaning (Bradshaw et al., 2012).
Nursing females
Most queens call to their kittens if they move away from the nest and produce a
‘chirrup’ or ‘brrp’ sound when close to or approaching their kittens. Szenczi et al.
(2016) found that kittens respond more often and more positively to these sounds
made by their own mother than to the same sounds made by another nursing queen,
indicating that kittens are able to recognize their own mother’s voice.
Both mothers and kittens purr during nursing and the mother cat will also often
purr whilst grooming her kittens. Some mothers purr continuously whilst they are
with their kittens (Lawrence, 1980; Deag et al., 2000).
Visual Signalling
Cats use a wide range of facial expressions and body language but their visual signal-
ling repertoire is nowhere near as varied or as complex as that of dogs. This is due in
part to the musculature and resulting physical limitations of feline facial movements