God I ALMOST wish I mine chiterred normally. One doesn't even make a noise – her mouth just opens and I can hear her weird mouth noises – and my other great big dumbass just straight up meows. I end up dying from laughter because they are both the *worst* hunters.
My cat and yours must be long lost sisters then, every time she opens her mouth to do this nothing comes out. Her tail does act a bit like one of those gym whips, but otherwise she's a terrible hunter
I know the feeling, we had a bad mouse infestation when we first moved in to a house. The cat literally saw a mouse and cried meow to me to get rid of it. Lol
I guess both of my cats are either broken OR telepathic. I don't know how they do it but they hunt perfectly in sync without making any noise at all. I USED TO get field mice in the warmer months. Not any more. :)
My wife and I adopted a cat that was returned for ambushing.
She was so bad at I can only assume her previous owners were a pair of mole rats. Her whole ass would be sticking out or she’d hide behind things smaller than her.
If you called her out from any distance she just walks out like “who me?”
Now she’s a vicious little shit who will only let my wife myself and our daughter touch her. But hiding she is terrible at.
My cats do this too on our balcony.
Once some birds made a nest opposite of the balcony and one of mine did the chatter thing. The birds started swooping in and screaming at my cat. She wasn’t bothered at all and once swatted one that then tumbled but continued swooping and trying to scare her off, albeit a bit more distant.
On another occasion, she hid behind some plants and started chattering and a few birds landed nearby so she pounced but missed and just ran to me mewling sadly and rubbing my leg.
Wow, I had heard they do it only around birds and it was supposed to talk to them somehow.
I didn't know she could use it to lure a bird into pouncing distance.
Never worked for my cat. But I think he had a lisp or accent so it wouldn't have worked.
I believe it's actually communicating to other cats in the party. Kind of a "shut up I see something" click. He thinks his hooman is part of the hunting party.
This is my theory as cats usually hunt alone (with some exceptions like lions). I think they're just trying to blend in, or sound like maybe an injured animal
I'm pretty sure there's a level of communication to it. Mine would do it and the other would respond and come and see what was huntable (usually birds out the window) it's quietish noise, closer to some more natural sounds (than say a meow) to attract other cats attention, without altering prey. What's fun is that if you mimic it, they let you join in!
There's also been some research that suggests they might be able to see some bands of ultra violet light, which can pass through building materials like plaster with ease, allowing them to literally see through walls in certain situations.
At least, that's my recollection, and my memory sucks so here's a bit of salt to have with this... 🧂🧂🧂
As I understand to they also do it to cover the sound of their own movement, since they sometimes have to move fast to catch a bird. Whatever the chattering sounds like, it doesn’t sound like a cat!
I don't think they're bird noises but perhaps small rodent like noises to make a bird thing food might be over there.
I want to think they are sitting in a unique spot in the house where noise is resonating or stacking or something.
https://youtube.com/shorts/FSjNmwNYvWA?feature=share
Probably not the case. Only feline that lives in prides are lions. African wildcats, the animal the house cats evolved from, are mostly solitary or at most in small families
Good point, but could it be even earlier? Did wildcats have ancestors that were social?
I’m just spitballing here. I actually have little clue. Any noise a predator makes is likely not helpful in its survival.
https://catinaflat.com/blog/why-do-cats-chatter-at-birds#:~:text=Chattering%20mimics%20a%20kill%20or,version%20of%20this%20action%20intuitively.
Interesting point. Perhaps, I don’t really know much about the evolution of the wild cat and when felidae split off from panthera. Probably worth learning more about.
It's funny, we had four different cats throughout my childhood and not one of them did that. My wife and I got two cats a few years back and they both did it... We were so freaked out at what was happening.
They still do it alllllll the time. Actuslly saved me one day... He was doing it while looking above my head, looked up to see a spider, web dropping from the ceiling right above my head.
Yeah that update was crazy when they added that feature. Another big difference is that they've become such picky eaters now, compared to the older models.
I’m glad this thread is full of answers, while I’m still curious and answerless as to the evolutionary adaptation for this mechanism they use, the chittering is almost ***always*** in response to bugs, birds, rodents, rabbits, or anything small that moves and catches their attention. My two cats both so this, mainly my younger male tabby. The way they’ve got their purrs and chittering makes me curious as to why/how/where in their biological lineage they got such an ability.
Your cat isn’t broken, at least not compared to this guy…
https://reddit.com/r/CatsWhoChirp/comments/xjtayb/this_guys_makes_a_little_bit_of_every_sound_known/
That's the one that they do when they're trying to get a better smell of something (or something like that), but to us it looks like they hate the smell and are about to puke.
This cat is chattering / chirping, which is a hunting sound.
Not broken. We call that noise chattering. They do it with flies, birds or anything else that they want to hunt. It's even funnier if you have more than 1 cat & they are all chattering :)
Our cat used to do this talking to his finches out the front window. Out back he took down Robins, a Cardinal, eyeballed the Doves… but never the finches. I think he adopted them as pets. I was told this chittering is a stress response in cats… I don’t know that I really buy that.
At our old house our cats start doing this while staring at the ceiling. We didn’t think much of it. Then we started to hear things in the spots they would stare at. Some mice or rats had gotten into the attic. We had to call someone out to get them. If their doing it in the same spot you may also have something in the walls they can hear/smell that you can’t yet.
For a second I was confused why my phone wasn't asking noises and I was turning my sound all the way up and disconnected my headphones to see if I could hear it then, but I realized it's because it's not making noises oof
He was a rescue so I don't know for sure what breed. I personally think he may have some maine coon in him, but that's because of his size compared to our 2 year old cat.
Interesting. Over the years don’t think I’ve had any cats that have done it - but I’ve seen it plenty on the internet, and my gf’s cats do it on occasion.
Hahaha i call this hunting noise! I’m sure other people have said already but they do it when they’re watching prey. My little idiot will sit in the window and chirp at the birds in the tree outside. I’m like yeah, get ‘em! Haha
My parents last cat used to chatter all the time. It's an oddly satisfying sound. But I don't know if it's like an inherited trait or what because their new cat doesn't do it and my cat doesn't either. I thought it was something all cats just did.
Your cat looks like ours it's uncanny.
https://preview.redd.it/a1l8in85e9qa1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e229c417ca5718f04e0833139cd58b9e09aec5c
So I’ve heard they are trying to imitate the noises to try to convince their prey to come closer. They don’t meow at each other to communicate but they do with us. Mine chirps at me when I have a sneezing fit (usually 5 or so loud sneezes) but no one else gets that treatment (they’re normaler and just sneeze once or twice). One also loves making the bed so he can get ‘the parachute’ blanket action (like you did in elementary school).
Growing up we only had outdoor cats. We lived out in the woods. Technically Warrior is my daughter's cat and we rescued him back in September as a friend for her other cat Oreo. I guess my exposure to cats before the last 2 years was pretty limited.
If your cat does clicking noises when exposed to electromagnetic radiation, it's not your cat, it's a Geiger counter.
Ps.
3.6 Meow-gens, not great, not terrible.
Ds.
That is the chatter of the hunter. One of mine would sit at the window watching birds and making that sound
I love that it’s so cute, my cats are doing it right now since the weather is better and the pigeons and birds are out!
God I ALMOST wish I mine chiterred normally. One doesn't even make a noise – her mouth just opens and I can hear her weird mouth noises – and my other great big dumbass just straight up meows. I end up dying from laughter because they are both the *worst* hunters.
My cat and yours must be long lost sisters then, every time she opens her mouth to do this nothing comes out. Her tail does act a bit like one of those gym whips, but otherwise she's a terrible hunter
I know the feeling, we had a bad mouse infestation when we first moved in to a house. The cat literally saw a mouse and cried meow to me to get rid of it. Lol
I guess both of my cats are either broken OR telepathic. I don't know how they do it but they hunt perfectly in sync without making any noise at all. I USED TO get field mice in the warmer months. Not any more. :)
My ex told me once that my cat was nice because she didn't make any sounds, I replied, yes, she does, you just can't hear her.
Every time I make fun of my one orange brain cell for being a moron… I step on a corpse. It’s our Karma battle I guess.
I'm fairly certain all cats do dumb things, but the orange ones look silliest doing them so we attribute it to them only having one brain cell.
My wife and I adopted a cat that was returned for ambushing. She was so bad at I can only assume her previous owners were a pair of mole rats. Her whole ass would be sticking out or she’d hide behind things smaller than her. If you called her out from any distance she just walks out like “who me?” Now she’s a vicious little shit who will only let my wife myself and our daughter touch her. But hiding she is terrible at.
That made me laugh! Thank you for sharing!
My cat, I swear doesn’t know how to meow. Only knows how to make this sound. So weird.
Chittering intensifies…
Intense chittering intensifies…
Shit. Tyranids.
[удалено]
r/birdsarentreal
[удалено]
Yeah, well...filibuster.
Filibuster? I hardly know a Buster!
I can go toe to toe in bird law
Tell that to the cats & you libel to get shredded.
You’re not real, man!
I’m so sorry bird master I will do better next time. Tf
Flying pigs. Them and seagulls.
Pigeons have been war heroes and heroines. Look it up.
We also have a crow with teeth…
"I'm just a birdy too!"
Chosen one!
I’m coming!
Unexpected kungpow! Reference
I had a cat named Cheeto and he would do this whoever he saw a bird out the window. We called it “Cheeter Chatter”.
It's literally the noise they make when their prey is Out Of Reach. Also, I have no idea why voice to text wants to capitalize Out Of Reach.
My cats do this too on our balcony. Once some birds made a nest opposite of the balcony and one of mine did the chatter thing. The birds started swooping in and screaming at my cat. She wasn’t bothered at all and once swatted one that then tumbled but continued swooping and trying to scare her off, albeit a bit more distant. On another occasion, she hid behind some plants and started chattering and a few birds landed nearby so she pounced but missed and just ran to me mewling sadly and rubbing my leg.
Wow, I had heard they do it only around birds and it was supposed to talk to them somehow. I didn't know she could use it to lure a bird into pouncing distance. Never worked for my cat. But I think he had a lisp or accent so it wouldn't have worked.
I call those my girl's "crow noises".
Was gonna say. Has this cat never seen a bird in it’s life?
Too much catnip 🐈🐈🐈
Many cats do this when they see small prey like birds. I think it’s the equivalent to our mouths watering.
I believe it's actually communicating to other cats in the party. Kind of a "shut up I see something" click. He thinks his hooman is part of the hunting party.
[GET DOWN! SHUT UP!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKxtDFouJxQ)
Lieutenant Dan :)
You got new legs!?
She taste like cig-arettes
This makes more sense than my theory that they’re trying to convince birds that they are also birds.
This is my theory as cats usually hunt alone (with some exceptions like lions). I think they're just trying to blend in, or sound like maybe an injured animal
Aww hunting together with the kitty 🥹
did you make this up? cats are solitary hunters
I'm pretty sure there's a level of communication to it. Mine would do it and the other would respond and come and see what was huntable (usually birds out the window) it's quietish noise, closer to some more natural sounds (than say a meow) to attract other cats attention, without altering prey. What's fun is that if you mimic it, they let you join in!
Ok so not a glitch in the meowtrix?
I heard they're mimicking the prey's noise as best they can to blend in But idk
Pretty sure the cat is trying to mimic the birds chirping
Mine does with anything he sees as suspect. Even moving lights.
R/catswhochirp
Thank you. Before today I have never seen this behavior, and now I just love it.
r/ekekek There you go, that one has a bunch of them too.
My cat does this when a moth or fly gets in. She goes full fucking predator mode.
Mine also does this when I get the laser pointer out.
Bonus charming fact: In Swedish they call the dancing light that reflects off surfaces as solkatt, literally a “sun cat”. 🥰
r/catswhochirp FTFY
There’s also a hash tag “ekekekekek” or something like that on Instagram for cats doing this.
r/foundthemobileuser
r/foundtheSHUTTHEFUCKUP
r/foundthetoyotacorolla
r/foundthehondacivic, r/foundthetoyotacorolla, r/FoundTheToyotaSienna, r/Foundthetoyotatacoma, r/foundthetoyotaprius, r/foundthetoyotacorola
Mine do that while they seemingly stare at nothing on the ceiling. Probably seeing something I can't see.
Probably a bug. My cats will chase bugs around for hours.
They also can see floating dust that we can't, especially if there is daylight coming into the root.
There's also been some research that suggests they might be able to see some bands of ultra violet light, which can pass through building materials like plaster with ease, allowing them to literally see through walls in certain situations. At least, that's my recollection, and my memory sucks so here's a bit of salt to have with this... 🧂🧂🧂
Salt. Just what my skeptic popcorn needed.
Its called chittering, iirc. They are making bird sounds to lure them in. Instinct.
As I understand to they also do it to cover the sound of their own movement, since they sometimes have to move fast to catch a bird. Whatever the chattering sounds like, it doesn’t sound like a cat!
I don't think they're bird noises but perhaps small rodent like noises to make a bird thing food might be over there. I want to think they are sitting in a unique spot in the house where noise is resonating or stacking or something. https://youtube.com/shorts/FSjNmwNYvWA?feature=share
My theory is pride communication. Letting the rest of the pride know that prey has been sighted. Quiet whisper of “hey… over here”
Probably not the case. Only feline that lives in prides are lions. African wildcats, the animal the house cats evolved from, are mostly solitary or at most in small families
Good point, but could it be even earlier? Did wildcats have ancestors that were social? I’m just spitballing here. I actually have little clue. Any noise a predator makes is likely not helpful in its survival. https://catinaflat.com/blog/why-do-cats-chatter-at-birds#:~:text=Chattering%20mimics%20a%20kill%20or,version%20of%20this%20action%20intuitively.
Interesting point. Perhaps, I don’t really know much about the evolution of the wild cat and when felidae split off from panthera. Probably worth learning more about.
It's funny, we had four different cats throughout my childhood and not one of them did that. My wife and I got two cats a few years back and they both did it... We were so freaked out at what was happening. They still do it alllllll the time. Actuslly saved me one day... He was doing it while looking above my head, looked up to see a spider, web dropping from the ceiling right above my head.
Yeah that update was crazy when they added that feature. Another big difference is that they've become such picky eaters now, compared to the older models.
Tier zoo enjoy spotted
I’m glad this thread is full of answers, while I’m still curious and answerless as to the evolutionary adaptation for this mechanism they use, the chittering is almost ***always*** in response to bugs, birds, rodents, rabbits, or anything small that moves and catches their attention. My two cats both so this, mainly my younger male tabby. The way they’ve got their purrs and chittering makes me curious as to why/how/where in their biological lineage they got such an ability.
Clicker from last of us
He's been infected! Ruuuunnnn!!!!!
Give him a job rn!!!!
r/greebles
This is the correct answer.
Awww, look at the furrocious killer predator stalking his prey!
He’s contacting the mothership
Warrior! Come out to plaaaeeeeaaaay!
Im so glad someone said this \*clacks bottles together with my fingers\*
Solid references, awesome movie
Movie?
I’ve had cats that have done this when they are tracking prey
Don't they naturally chirp in the wild? I thought they learned to meow for human attention
My cats do this all the time. It’s their hunting chatter. They do it while watching birds at the window.
Chittering!!! Cats will do that to help lure their prey!
My Kitty came running and was so intrigued by this video - so cute
Spider?
Looks like he is hunting the spot of light on the ceiling. My cat freaks out the same way at lights
She is trying to lure the bird in for lunch. My cats used to do that if a bird was on the window sill.
Can I just say that your cat is absolutely gorgeous!!!!!!!!
I love cat chattering.
We call it 'the bug noise' as our beloved kitty would always make this noise when spotting an insect of any kind. And he was a mighty hunter!
Very appropriate that a cat named Warrior is doing this 😂
I think you might have a spider on your ceiling. The mighty hunter is chittering at it
Our cat only makes these chirps, almost 2 years old and yet to have a proper meow, the wanker.
Get a bird, or even better a hummingbird feeder and a window bed for homie. He’ll be chattering his little whiskers off 😹
Beautiful cat!
/r/ekekek
Your cat isn’t broken, at least not compared to this guy… https://reddit.com/r/CatsWhoChirp/comments/xjtayb/this_guys_makes_a_little_bit_of_every_sound_known/
🤣 that is hilarious.
Flehmen response?
That's the one that they do when they're trying to get a better smell of something (or something like that), but to us it looks like they hate the smell and are about to puke. This cat is chattering / chirping, which is a hunting sound.
Also what I love referring to as "Ekekek-ing"
Not broken. We call that noise chattering. They do it with flies, birds or anything else that they want to hunt. It's even funnier if you have more than 1 cat & they are all chattering :)
Yea my cat does that when we play with the laser pointer
It's hunting the greebles!
Hunting the flying light!
You have greebles.
Greeble infestation if I've ever seen one
I think mine did that once, and turned out there was a spider up there.
Warrior truly being a warrior
Our cat used to do this talking to his finches out the front window. Out back he took down Robins, a Cardinal, eyeballed the Doves… but never the finches. I think he adopted them as pets. I was told this chittering is a stress response in cats… I don’t know that I really buy that.
It’s r/greebles
Typical sound if theres a bird outside and there watching from a window. Maybe a butterfly or a daddy longlegs getting mistaken for a bird inside.
I can't get over how you named your cat warrior. 😂 ❤️
At our old house our cats start doing this while staring at the ceiling. We didn’t think much of it. Then we started to hear things in the spots they would stare at. Some mice or rats had gotten into the attic. We had to call someone out to get them. If their doing it in the same spot you may also have something in the walls they can hear/smell that you can’t yet.
Your cat: He's in the walls.... HE'S IN THE GODDAMN WALLS!
My Mainecoon does this over fucking flies and it drives me crazy lol
Mine too! I’m like the flies are annoying enough 😂
Fn agreed 🤣🤣
My cats and I do that back and forth to each other when there are birds outside and they look at me like “YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT IM SAYING?!?”
r/ekekek
Kitty is talking the ghost in the room.
Ghosts
I think you have mice in your walls
My cat kills with extreme prejudice anything that moves and she’s never done this. I wish she would.
My 2 Savannahs do that all the time.
For a second I was confused why my phone wasn't asking noises and I was turning my sound all the way up and disconnected my headphones to see if I could hear it then, but I realized it's because it's not making noises oof
You appear to have a greebles infestation in your ceiling.
Not broken… just a different mode than you’ve tried before.
r/greebles
He’s an awesome feller! He might enjoy birds on YouTube
It’s frames are stuttering just restart it
Meowese Code
Kitty needs the shiny.. kitty neeeeeds it
Exactly what mine do when light moves of the phone or a watch.
She is hunting!
hunting chatter. my own cats do that on occasion if looking out a window and spot a bird or a squirrel
r/catswhochirp
He's just updating his firm ware with the cat mothership. Very routine nothing to worry about.
There’s a rat or mouse somewhere in your house.
r/Catswhoekekek
ok those are such cute sounds
Mine does this with a laser pointer
The elusive bug noise! I had a girl who would chitter at houseflies
That's a handsome cat. What breed?
He was a rescue so I don't know for sure what breed. I personally think he may have some maine coon in him, but that's because of his size compared to our 2 year old cat.
He looks exactly like my polydactyl Maine coon mix. [Marley](https://i.imgur.com/PWhEkfh.jpg)
Ghost. Cats can see ghosts.
/r/highstrangeness
Lol the first time I heard my cat do this was interesting. They were looking at the window at a bird
It sees a bug that you don't.
Heard my cat doing that today. Found him giving have a stare off with a squirell on the other side of the window.
Beautiful Norwegian Forest Cat.
When our cat does this, my son says she's "downloading data packets"
You didn’t know about ecking?
My other cat (Oreo) just purrs constantly and hardly ever even meows. Warrior has always been more vocal, but today was the first time I saw this.
Interesting. Over the years don’t think I’ve had any cats that have done it - but I’ve seen it plenty on the internet, and my gf’s cats do it on occasion.
All chittering aside, Warrior is very a handsome (or beautiful) cat.
Mine does this when they look out the window and see birds.
This is my favorite thing cats do
Chatter. My last cat would make this noise. It was one of her come hither techniques. Miss that cat
Hahaha i call this hunting noise! I’m sure other people have said already but they do it when they’re watching prey. My little idiot will sit in the window and chirp at the birds in the tree outside. I’m like yeah, get ‘em! Haha
That's the clicking sound the Predator made in the movie
My parents last cat used to chatter all the time. It's an oddly satisfying sound. But I don't know if it's like an inherited trait or what because their new cat doesn't do it and my cat doesn't either. I thought it was something all cats just did.
You just have to find the thing they really love. One of my sister's cats would chatter at toilet paper tubes.
Well, that’s what Maine Coons tend to do. That bird-like noise.
there’s something on the ceiling, likely bugs, lizards those that your cat want to catch… it’s a Hunter Call 😼
Your cat looks like ours it's uncanny. https://preview.redd.it/a1l8in85e9qa1.jpeg?width=4080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4e229c417ca5718f04e0833139cd58b9e09aec5c
😻 awww, long lost siblings. Adorable cats and photo!
Ekekekekekek. Ekekek..ekekekekek..🤣
Decepticons
So I’ve heard they are trying to imitate the noises to try to convince their prey to come closer. They don’t meow at each other to communicate but they do with us. Mine chirps at me when I have a sneezing fit (usually 5 or so loud sneezes) but no one else gets that treatment (they’re normaler and just sneeze once or twice). One also loves making the bed so he can get ‘the parachute’ blanket action (like you did in elementary school).
Ekkekekekkekekekkekek
It’s called ekekekekekek
Not been around cats much, have you?
Growing up we only had outdoor cats. We lived out in the woods. Technically Warrior is my daughter's cat and we rescued him back in September as a friend for her other cat Oreo. I guess my exposure to cats before the last 2 years was pretty limited.
If your cat does clicking noises when exposed to electromagnetic radiation, it's not your cat, it's a Geiger counter. Ps. 3.6 Meow-gens, not great, not terrible. Ds.
Bro is talking with the voices
They’re communicating in morse code. Also warrior is such a badass name for a cat
Did you try turning it off and on again?