Can Cats Talk? The Science Behind Meows, Purrs, and Human Manipulation

Subscribe and prepare to realize your cat has been training you this whole time.

In this Niche Scientists minisode of Wildly Curious, Katy Reiss and Laura Fawks Lapole dive into the fascinating research of Dr. Susanne Schötz, a phonetics professor at Lund University—and the scientist behind some of the most groundbreaking work on cat–human communication.

Her research explores how cats use meows, purrs, trills, and intonation to communicate with humans, how those sounds change based on emotion and context, and why domestic cats are far more vocal than their wild or feral relatives.

🐾 Why cats use short, high-pitched meows when happy or requesting
😾 Why vet-meows sound long, low, and dramatic (as they should)
🎵 How cats adjust melody and pitch specifically for their humans
🧠 What “solicitation purring” is—and why it mimics a human baby’s cry
🗣️ Why every cat–human pair develops its own unique dialect

The big takeaway? Cats aren’t just making noise. They’re fine-tuning a language to get what they want—and humans are surprisingly good at understanding it, especially if they’ve lived with cats before.

🎧 This episode is part of our Niche Scientists minisode series—short, weird, and full of research that makes you a better, more informed pet parent.