[CAT] "It's not love your kitty wants, it's dinner"

[rfmcdonald]

Thanks to Andrew Barton for pointing me to this Associated Press article.

A cat's purr normally says, "I'm happy." But a new study suggests some purrs send cat owners a different message: "Feed me!"

Researchers found that purrs of hungry cats included a higher-pitched sound, somewhat like a cry or meow. They played recordings of these purrs from 10 cats to 50 human volunteers. Even people who'd never owned a cat found them more urgent and less pleasant than contented purrs from the same animals.

These food-seeking purrs may exploit the way humans naturally respond to a baby's cry. Some cats apparently learn it's effective in getting a human to feed them. Karen McComb of the University of Sussex in England and co-authors present their work in today's issue of Current Biology.

CBC has more.

And no, I don't feed Shakespeare whenever he wants to be fed. I love him, but I also want him to be healthy.