A sinking Titanic as a cat tower?
The CBC tells us that a U.K. house cat’s purr may be world’s loudest: “A British community college has recorded a house cat named Smokey whose lawnmower-like purr hit 73 decibels — 16 times louder than the average feline.”
The EPA has found that ambient sound levels above 70 decibels may result in “hearing loss, annoyance and activity interference”, but YMMV.
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16 comments
Ahah, now we know the truth, it wasn’t an iceberg that sank the Titanic, it was GIANT CATS! We have photographic proof now! Probably trying to get out of the water, heh.
Regarding “hearing loss, annoyance, and activity interference”, how did the EPA know about my cats when they feel it’s feeding time? :).
– Badtux the Cat-owned Penguin
and i had to move to a house with wood floors, ie better acoustics, before i could even hear my cats purring.
They were probably playing with the icebergs and saw something shinier – the ship.
There is definitely “annoyance and activity interference” when my crew decide it’s dinner time, plus “jumping on the keyboard” if the service is too slow.
Hipparchia, you make it sound like its a bad thing to have quiet cats.
good thing they are quiet, given how many i’ve got, but it is nice to listen to purring cats.
i still miss curmudgeon cat, whose purr wasn’t very loud, nor did he use it much, but he was a talker, with a huge voice and a huge vocabulary. littlest cat is filling that gap some, she’s a talker, and the loudest of the hooligan cats, and she’s expanding her vocabulary bit by bit.
Sox is my “talker”. Excise can talk but doesn’t. Dot only talks about making her dinner.
As I have mentioned, you need physical contact to know if Property is purring, but she has hissing down to a science – ask her brothers.
Boogie (pronounced boo-zhay) had the motor boat purr. When we took her to the vet, the vet gave up on trying to hear her heart and said, “she’s probably healthy.”
She wasn’t related to Hyacinth Bucket by any chance?
I have been remiss in not noting your 8 year run as the most popular cockroach in blogtopia™, John.
Esther talks loudly but seldom. Lily talks only right after Mama Stella leaves for work; she (Lily) is a real mama’s gal, and knows Stella won’t be back for hours. Lily has a fairly loud purr, audible across the room… I suppose every cat has some redeeming virtue, and that’s hers.
Like Hipparchia, you have good acoustics where you are now, so you can hear it. In an apartment it wouldn’t be half as loud,
Lily knows who is a soft touch, and a sucker when a treat is wanted.
We had a pair of big Siamese purebred siblings. They were usually very quiet even when purring. But when they decided to let go, we had the neighbors calling the cop’s because they thought we were strangling babies! They used to drive my old man nuts (which we kids thought was an excellent reason to make the cat’s yowl loudly)! 😈
when our first family cat died [after a very long life], we went to the pound to pick out another one. mom’s one rule was no siamese!
Siamese were bred to be temple guards, so they set off the “alarm” and will attack in groups.
TMF is only talkative when he’s hungry, and only if you set him off by “meowing” to him first, otherwise he keeps trying to grab your hand and lead you to the food bowl to feed him (or just stands there on your lap kneading and purring and drooling, expecting you to get the hint). Mencken complains about everything. “Meow, it’s too hot! Meow, it’s too cold! Meow, my feet are sore! Meow, my old bones ache! Meow, you’re not paying attention to me! Meow, I’m hungry! Meow, I don’t like my water, change it, slave! Meow, put me on your lap and pet me, you stupid penguin!” In fact, I originally got TMF to give Mencken a new target for his complaints. Unfortunately Mencken largely ignores TMF, except when he needs a warm ball of fur to bury his nose in on a cold day…
– Badtux the Cat-owned Penguin
If they have lived in a single cat setting for an extended period, they never learn to socialize with other cats. Koshka was like that, even after Dot and Sox arrived.
OTOH, it is, in theory, extra warmth when its cold. The trick is convincing them to share some of it.
Yes, extra warmth is Mencken’s sole use for TMF. Well, and as something else to complain to me about… “that overly friendly cat you brought home is bothering me again, meow!” (Usually followed by a howl from TMF as Mencken applies the Lightning Paw of Attitude Adjustment).
Unfortunately when you get a shelter cat there’s no telling what kind of background they have. TMF apparently was in a family with lots of kids and other pets, he’s very friendly and curious and eager to meet anybody who comes to the house. Mencken is like, “bah humbug”, except when he either complains that I’m not catering to his every need at the moment or lolls ridiculously on my lap while getting a tummy massage (he’s the only cat I’ve ever had that likes getting his tummy massaged, usually when a cat opens up his tummy for you to stroke, it’s a trap!). But they’re both sweet kittehs in their own ways and I’m glad I have them (or vice-versa).
Regarding sharing warmth, usually TMF is curled up against me when I wake up in the morning. Mencken does not deign to descend to such things, especially since he adopted his pillow throne atop the tall dresser (the pillow that used to be *my* pillow, until he colonized it)…
– Badtux the Cat-owned Penguin
Every cat is an individual, which makes them intriguing and annoying.