Conference misery::feline_v1

    There have been more articles written on the ability to purr than
    virtually any other single cat action.  I have read learned papers
    on the hyoid bone structure, on upper chest cavity resonance, and
    vocal box anomalies.  I've heard indications that little cats can
    purr, but larger ones (e.g., lions, tigers) aren't supposed to be
    able to.  I've even read about _why_ cats purr.
    
    I've listened to soft little purrs and purrs of great magnitude.
    
    My conclusion -- the purr is magic.  And very enchANTING, AT THAT.
    
    STEVE KALLIS, JR.
    

    If you are searching for contentment, just put your ear on your
    cat's rib cage when she is purring....AH!....
    
    I don't know they do it, either, but it is a sweet sound!

    I recently read something in a science magazine that said
    researchers now think cats purr to get attention or affection.
    It's a signal to the mother cat.  Purring does not necessarily
    mean the cat is happy, which explains why my cats frequently purr
    when shots are being administered to them at the vets office.
    I always wondered about that.  
    

    re .3:
    
    Purring _usually_ means a cat's happy, but it doesn't have to. 
    Cats purr when they've been in pain and it eases, for one. Any vet
    will tell you more.
    
    However, it is a noble sound.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

    Cats purr because they are love generators...
    
    -Jim-

    Thanks for all the answers. We'll keep on listening if he'll keep
    on purring.

    	Two interesting facts.
    
    	Cats are "large" or "small" not based on their size but rather,
    Small cats purr, large cats roar.
    
    	Cats are not born knowing how to purr but it apparently is
    instinctive.  We are currently bottle raising 4 kittens.  (they
    were 4-5 oz. with eyes and ears closed when we were suckered...
    ur... uh... I mean convinced to take them.)  We figure they were
    about 5 days when we got them, they are now about 9 days and in
    the last two days they have all learned how to purr.  We almost
    missed it at first cause they weren't real smooth, sort of put..
    put...purrr...put..put  (we thought they were burping!).  Now they 
    are all Purrrrrrrrrrrrring.
    
    tlh
    

    Nebula, who is little (by comparison; she is 11 lbs) RUMBLES, but
    JFCL, who is big (11+) purrs softly.  I like both!
    
    Neither one of them (both vet-shredders) purrs at the vet's - they
    SCREAM at the vet's (we refer to their carrying boxes, which are
    almost exclusively used for trips to the vet, as the "crying boxes").

    Something I came across in a newsletter is worth passing on:
    
      "Cornell University is conducting research into the purring of
    cats.  A cat purrs by contracting the muscles of the larynx and
    the diaphram at very high frequencies.  These contractions channel
    the air the cat is breathing to create a very low vibrating sound.
    the phenomena, [sic] Cornell says, is normal behavior, however,
    it occurs only in social situations.  `A cat left alone does not
    purr.'  First observed among kittens while they are nursing, purring
    is a form of social communication.  `Practiced only with other cats
    or human beings.'  There is ione exception.  Interestingly enough,
    some dying cats purr excessively.
      "We wonder if cats experience the same euphoric out of body
    experiences that people have reported over and over in situations
    where they have medically died and then come back to life." 
    
                                 -- the newsletter, _Magickal Days_
    

    The contraction of the muscles in the larynx and the subsequent vibrations
    are only part of the story as to how cats purr.
    
    Evidently these vibrations actually start vibrations of certain
    blood vessels in the neck and it is this "vibrating blood" that creates
    the sound we all know and love called purring.
                 

    I like to put my ear on Nebula's back when she is purring
    (RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE! Neb has a loud purr, which was even more
    pronounced when she was a kitten, compared to The Fickle, who is
    much more lady-like).  Neb, being half Siamese, frequently meows
    while she is purring, which amuses us (unless we are trying to sleep...).

    
    	I wonder how the vet checks the heartbeat of a cat if the cat
    	is purring?
    
    	Jane.
    

    
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    re: 337.12
    >
    >I wonder how the vet checks the heartbeat of a cat if the cat
    >is purring?
    >
    
    Mine covers their nose until they get annoyed enough to stop for
    a second....
    
    Debbie
    

    re: 12

    Your cat purrs at the vet????
    
    Deb

    Honey purrs at the vet all the time, but my vet calls it his
    "fear purr".  Cats can also purr when they are anxious or scared.
    She seems to be able to listen in, purrs and all!

    I have one who consistently purrs so hard while being examined by
    the vet that we have given up all hope of listening to his heart!
    I even tried pinching him (not hard of course) -- motormouth rumbled
    all the harder!!
    
    Jan

    Your cats PURR at the vet??  Mine scream, growl, try to hide, try to get
    away, or scratch the vet: it took me, the vet, and an assistant
    to tuck Nebula into the "body bag" to have her blood test for FeLV:
    she was EXTREMELY ANNOYED by the whole procedure, and splayed herself
    out, all claws ready, so as to not fit into the bag (the "body bag"
    was a velcro-fastened cylinder with two front flaps, so that open
    front leg can be extracted after you manage to get kitty inside,
    so you can take a blood sample).   Fickle took the "bag" a bit better,
    but often pisses all over the vet's counter.  Nebula hates to have
    her stool sample taken and will usually cry when that is going on,
    and then leave the vet a free additional stool sample all over the
    counter!  They definitely don't purr at the vet's!!

The taxonomic division in the cat family is not between purring cats and
roaring cats, but between meowing cats (genus Felis) and roaring cats
(genus Panthera).  Both genera can purr.  I heard a lioness purring in a zoo
once.  It sounds like an old car with a hole in its muffler.

--PSW

    Several of my cats have purred at the vets.  Especially true of
    my Siamese ones ...
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.
    

    My cats NEVER purr at the vet's or even in the car on the way to
    the vet's.  They purr constantly at home.   
    
    SHL

    If you think housecats can't roar, you never took The Fickle to
    the vet!  Then again, she can just barely peep when she tries to
    meow (quite unlike her half-Siamese cohort: Nebula meows most of
    the time she is awake).

    	We have one of each kind and most in the middle.
    
    	4 of our cats just sit there and take it.  
    
    	Sammy purrs, all the time.  At the vet's, at home, it doesn't
    matter.  
    
    	As far a roaring, that's Pippin.  He's got us all terrified
    even when he's in the bag and we've got three people handling him.
    Every vet he's ever been seen by has been suitably impressed.  We
    finally figured out what sound he makes at the vet's...  He screams
    like a cougar.  
    
    tlh
    

This is what Dr Desmond Morris, author of "Catwatching" and world 
famous zoologist says about purring...

"A purring cat is a contented cat.  But repeated observation has 
revealed that cats in great pain, injured, in labour and even 
dying often purr loud and long.  Purring signals a friendly 
social mood, and it can be given as a signal to, say, a vet from 
an injured cat indicating the need for friendship, or as a signal 
to an owner, saying thank you for friendship given.

Purring first occurs when kittens are only a week old.  It acts 
then as a signal to the mother that all is well and that the milk 
supply is successfully reaching its destination.  She can lie 
there, listening to the grateful purrs, and knows without looking 
up that nothing has gone amiss.  She in turn purrs to her kittens 
as they feed, telling them that she too is in a relaxed, 
co-operative mood.

An important distinction between small cats, like our domestic 
species, and the big cats, is that lions and tigers cannot purr 
properly.  The tiger will greet you with a friendly 'one-way 
purr' - a sort of juddering splutter - but it cannot produce the 
two-way purr of the domestic cat."

Cathy (from Geneva Switzerland)

    My female kitty purrs the most - also purrs at vet when getting
    shots.  Not sure if scared purr or not.  When underway in the car
    in the cage both kitties meow pitifully. (Definitly NOT purring).
    
    Male kitty most often purrs when being combed (and there weren't
    any tangles) or in the middle of the night in my ear when he
    decides to sleep on me like a fur collar.
    
    \sjm

    
    
    	There was an article in a recent cat fancy which posed this
        question. Some of the theories are,
    
    	1. The purr is a vibration caused by the excess of blood rushing
           through the cats jugular vain.
    
    	2. The purr is a vibration of certain cavity walls in the 
           cats nasal passages.
    
     	3. The purr is an involintary action of the vocal chords.
    
    	I seriously thought about the first two and came up with some
        ideas.
    
    	#1 If theory 1 is correct why would cats purr when they are
           completely relaxed and the heart rate is decreased.
    
    	#2 If theory 2 is correct why then do they still purr when the
           nasal passages are blocked. I had a cat who had sever nose
           bleeds and the vet had to block both nostrils.
           He breathed fine through his mouth but still purred.
    
    	I feel #3 is a good theory. If you listen closely to a purr
        it seems to wave in volume almost rythmicly to the cats breathing
        whether it's through the nose or mouth.
        If you gently press on the leather of the cats nose you'll notice
        it stops momentarily. This is because the cat stops breathing
        instantaniously and catches it's breath, sort of like when you
        get a strong gust of wind in your face and have to catch your
        breath again.
    	
        If I had to believe in one I'd say theory #3 is most feasable,
        but to truly discover how or why cats purr would almost take
        away a sort of magic they posses. I guess my 6 year old nephew
       said it best. When asked why cats purr he said, "THEY JUST DO".
    
    			Joe Lore