What about cats who don't purr. I have a cat that never purrs; he did a bit as a kitten and then stopped almost immediately after being adopted from the pound. And no, we do not practice cat-abuse. Our last kitty lived to be 23!
I also know that cats normally purr when they are happy and also when they are quite distressed; not sure why the two opposing mechanisms. I did catch my cat purring once at the vet's many years ago. At any rate, my cat purrs in neither situation now--neither happy nor distressed. He also doesn't meow much. He squeaks and makes little grunting sounds with me--doesn't do it for anyone else, but then again, I'm "mommy." :) Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 tay...@sandiego.edu ---- Original message ---- >Date: Mon, 21 Sep 2009 13:08:21 -0500 >From: "Claudia Stanny" <csta...@uwf.edu> >Subject: [tips] annoying cat solicitation purr >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <tips@acsun.frostburg.edu> > > According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, > "Cats are able to control their humans by emitting a > high-pitched "solicitation" cry - embedded in a purr > - that is so annoying it can't be ignored" (Sept 18) > > > > http://www.lifesci.sussex.ac.uk/cmvcr/Domestic%20cats.html > > > > > > They go on to note that in busy households where > such purring is often overlooked, the cats resort to > overt meowing. You betcha. > > > > A colleague noted that this will be useful as a > great example of negative reinforcement in action. > > > > Claudia J. Stanny, Ph.D. > > Director, Center for University Teaching, Learning, > and Assessment > > Associate Professor, > Psychology > > University of West Florida > > Pensacola, FL 32514 - 5751 > > > > Phone: (850) 857-6355 or 473-7435 > > e-mail: csta...@uwf.edu > > > > CUTLA Web Site: http://uwf.edu/cutla/ > > Personal Web Pages: > http://uwf.edu/cstanny/website/index.htm > > > > --- > To make changes to your subscription contact: > > Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
