A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2004 ? for cat lovers

I know there are many cat lovers on these forums, so I wanted to ask you if you've ever had or heard of a cat who was mute?

It seems that our sweet Salem, who is now about 4 months old, is mute -
the only time we ever heard a sound out of her, aside from her ever present LOUD purring , was at the first vet's visit when she let out a brief scream when getting a shot. Other than that, we have never heard her meow, but she does want to - she looks at us right in the face and makes the motions of meowing - with open mouth and jaw moving BUT NOTHING COMES OUT!!!
It's just so sad to see her do this.

When I asked the vet, he joking said
"she just doesn't have anything to say..."
but that's not true - she makes all the motions of meowing!
She can hear perfectly, and is playful and very affectionate.
She was VERY sick a few days after we brought her home - she had a terrible URI for several weeks - could that have done some damage to her vocal chords?

We can't get a serious answer from the vet, which of course leads us to think that he has no idea. Anyone here know about this condition in cats?

Sweet Salem


Halloween Salem


Pensive Salem

Sorry Lynne...haven't a clue....I have seen other cats do that though. Maybe a phone call to another vet is in order. Sometimes they will answer ?'s like that over the phone. "sometimes"!

Ahhhh Salem is so adorable. He looks so much like my BABY when he was small...now he is a humungo, heavy weight with the longest body, tail, and legs. He doesn't look fat but oh boy you pick him up and you sure feel the muscle wt. Where did my little baby go!!!! ....but he is a big lover.

Thank you so much for posting the pics of Salem

Salem is adorable!! I have 2 black cats now and a few black and white ones. The mother cat(Ojona)-black and white does that sometimes. And no-nothing is wrong that I am aware of. When she wants to be heard she makes herself heard!! Believe me!! I would say that she is being dainty and "ladylike"? No accounting for cat behavior! hehehe One of my black ones-the youngest is a male and demands to be petted almost constantly, but he will bite you while you pet him if you aren't doing it just the way he wants!! hehehe :p My mother cat's oldest baby (Sleepy) is now a very large black and white dominant male. All he has ever done is lay around sleeping--but at night he hunts, chases females (of course) and fights!! A lot of the male cats around here are afraid of him. All my cats are fighters. They have started to gang up on one of their own--Midnight (my other all black cat) and have beat him up enough that he limps now. Poor baby!! I saw his mother and Sleepy (the large male I just mentioned) chase poor Midnight into the underbrush out back this morning!! And not in a playful way--this was after both jumping him and rolling about snarling for a bit!!

Hey, I knew someone whose cat meowed like that. Also, that same cat had an extra toe on each foot, according to this girl. Anyway, the cat was perfectly fine aside from that.

Seems to me like if the cat makes a meowing face to you, and you respond, then the meowing did what it was supposed to do. Also lack of a meow is unlikely to be much of a life problem for a cat, especially if it's an inside cat.

BTW, he/she is really cute!

Thanks for all the responses!

Salem, a female, might indeed have a problem not making crying sounds. We've already had 2 instances where she was in potential trouble and we didn't know it because she doesn't speak. The first was a few weeks ago. I had put a pot of water on to boil, and had to go down to the basement for just a minute. My 14 year old (Salem is supposed to be HER cat) was sitting in the familyroom next to the kitchen. When I got back into the kitchen, Salem was standing on the stovetop smelling the boiling water, with her feet dangerously close to the burner. Thankfully she did not get burned, but if she had, we wouldn't have known it until we found her hiding. :rolleyes: She must have snuck in there when company came, and didn't have the voice to tell anyone where she was. Thankfully I found her before she used our shoes for a litterbox!!! Poor baby...

I love hearing about all your kitties!
Catlover, I forget... how many do you have now?

Doreen, how are your babies doing?

Bonnie, sounds like you have your hands full!
Salem keeps bothering Amber, who growls and screams at her to get away, but so far has not hurt her, and Roxie doesn't want any part of it - she just watches from the sidelines - smart!

GeeGee, my son has a kitten at college who has some extra toes too. Oliver has HUGE thumbs that stick out like a chimp's, and can grab things very well with his front paws - weird looking though!

Lynne,
My daughter had a cat exactly like that.....it never made a sound, but made the motions with it's mouth of meowing.
(We had to read her lips!)

I always just assumed she was mute, because like you say, she would try hard to meow, but nothing would ever come out.

It was the quietest cat we ever had.

Cindy

I have a kitty living in my house (foster mommy) who didn't make a peep until he was about 5. They actually named him "Mu-tard" becase he never spoke and acted pretty stupid at times. One day he started meowing and hasn't stopped since. They called him Mutey but after he started meowing again, we just call him Mr. Mew.

I remember a child-hood friend of mine who had a 17 year old cat. (I didn't believe it either but if you saw how scraggly this cat was, you'd believe it!) He was aparently silent for 15 of those 17 years. He started meowing (LOUDLY) about the time he lost his hearing. Figures.

lynne, i have seen mute cats. and deaf dogs. and blind both. happens... poodles get cataracts bad... dalmations go deaf (or are born that way)

and there are cats who just never quite get the hang of making the meow sound. not sure why.

but... salem is such a cutie and i'm glad you ahve stuck with her through all the "rough stuff".

Lynne, Salem is a real cutie and if he seems happy (which he certainly does in those pictures) I wouldn't worry about him not talking yet, he is still very young and from the stories here he may or may not ever "talk".

But, have you ever wondered what your little kitties are doing when you're not home










My personal favorite

Those photos are great!

You know, I imagine even if Salem never talks, she'll still find a way to let you know what's what. One of mine very rarely meows. When he gets stuck in a kitchen cabinet, which happens frequently, he never yowls, but he scratches at the door.

Another of mine, bless his heart, has cataracts resulting from diabetes, and we're having this wierd problem with him. Just in the last month or so, he has started peeing and pooping on the floor. Before he does it he'll pace around and yowl, but if you put him in the litter box, he'll jump right out and start the yowling again, even if it's a perfectly clean box. We even got him a box that is ONLY his, and put in in out bedroom where the other cats can't get to it (That's where he likes to lounge, so we shut the other cats out). He'll use that one sometimes, but he still has at least one "accident" a day. I don't think it's a behavioral issue, because nothing new is going on. If he had started it when we had the baby a year ago, or when we got our most recent kitten six months ago, I'd understand it, but this, I just don't get. I asked the vet, and he said the blindness doesn't affect it, because he should be able to find the box by smell, but I don't think his sense of smell is working right either, because if you put a plate of food one foot in front of him, he can't find it. He goes around in circles. You have to practically push his face into the food for him to find it. I don't know what to do, because with a one-year-old toddling around and a cat who keeps going on the floor, we've already had a couple of CLOSE CALLS. Advice?

A seventeen-year-old cat isn't that uncommon really, especially for an inside cat. It's very old, but not impossible. I think a healthy indoor cat can be expected to live well into the late teens. For an outside cat, though, it's something like HALF of that.

Lynne...I have 5 cats still....and with this rain...very ornery kitties

Snot never made a sound until she was a year old. She would also go through the motions. I don't think that Thumbs or Coho showed her how to Meow.......but she definately knows how to purr! When we first got her, you could point to her from across the room and she'd start up. Now you have to just touch her.

Hey Geegee....I have 2 cats with too many toes. Thumbs has 22 toes in total, 6 toes on each front foot, 5 on each back. Snot has 6 on each front foot, 6 on one back foot and 5 on the other back foot. Its from inbreeding. They are called Polydactyl cats....or Hemmingway Cats. I htink the record is 26 or 28 toes! There is a picture of one of Thumbs' front feet in my webshots under "the kids". Jenn\'s Page

He did have a bacterial infection, but he's on his second round of antibiotics for it. Thing is, he's pooping on the floor too, and I don't think that would account for the poop. Everything else, he's okay. Gotta take him back to vet this week to have his blood sugar tests done again.

Sigh.... with what I've spent on these cats, I could be driving a Mercedes 'stead of a 10 year old Buick. Good thing for them they're so fuzzy and lovable.

Pix of two of the babies:
This is "Little Man"

And this is our newest addition, flower:

OMG, flower is sooooo cute!!! I just love itty bitty kitties!! They are the most adorable! I love my cats. They don't look so much like kittens anymore, but the bigger they get, the more attached to ME they get. I love being the center of attention with the cats. Well, except for when I'm trying to type, and they'll climb up in front of my keyboard and plop down and start "pluffing" my stomach with thier claws. I can't see the keyboard, the monitor, and the use of my hands is limited.

Meg

Those photos were really great have sent them to friends of mine, l cant believe the one in the toilet also the coathangers
This is an example of why we EVERY PENNY.

Doreen.

my cat jackass (no not the curse word) has a "pooting" problem....everytime i give him kisses or hug him and cuddle with him he "cuts the cheese"! i guess it's the wiskas cat food! my dad named him jackass because he kicks like a donkey and he runs kicking his back legs like a donkey! he's so kute!