Obey Your Cat Overlords...

awww... did anyone who has a cat ever question it? Now this study shows that cats DO control or manipulate their owners.

If you've ever wondered who's in control, you or your cat, a new study points to the obvious. It's your cat.

Household cats exercise this control with a certain type of urgent-sounding, high-pitched meow, according to the findings.

This meow is actually a purr mixed with a high-pitched cry. While people usually think of cat purring as a sign of happiness, some cats make this purr-cry sound when they want to be fed. The study showed that humans find these mixed calls annoying and difficult to ignore...

...Setting up the experiments wasn't easy. While the felines used purr-cries around their familiar owners, they were not eager to make the same cries in front of strangers.  [LiveScience.com ]

My own cat has a vast repertoire of sounds from a chirp/chittering that means "I'm going to get you, bird!" to a purr which means "pet me more!" to a cry that means "I need attention NOW" to one that means "I want FRESH water and MORE food" Considering she was a fairly silent kitten, I have to assume that this increasing vocal activity is a sign of extreme intelligence... and this monkey-think is darn well gonna do what her cat says. Kali is aptly named... and she has claws.