Science has discovered that there is no purr, but the purr of cats. This uses vibrations to encourage you to respond to his needs, such as giving him his food in the morning…
It’s a contact that cat lovers especially like: having your cat against you and feeling it purr. If your pet generally vibrates because you pet it, it can also use purrs express other needsas explained in BBC Focus Science.
Purring to say he is hungry
A study published in 2023 found that domestic cats can subtly vary their purrs in case of starvation. “Here we report how domestic cats make subtle use of one of their most distinctive vocalizations, the spinTo request food to their human hosts, apparently exploiting human sensory biases to provide care”, the authors wrote. In other words, the animal softens you (not to mention manipulating you) to encourage you to fill his cup.
“When humans listened to the purrs recorded while cats were actively foraging for food with an amplitude similar to the purrs recorded in non-calling contexts, even people with no experience of owning cats rated the call purrs more urgent and less pleasant.”
In fact, researchers believe that when foraging for food, it contains cat litter a high-frequency componentsimilar to the cry of a human baby, as opposed to a lower purr when it e.g. ironed out.
“Incorporating a shout into a call that we normally associate with contentment is a fairly subtle way of eliciting a response—and solicitation spikes are probably more acceptable to humans than the meow manifesto”detailed the author of the study, Dr. Karen McComb.
And when he is bad
Cats can purr too in case of pain, injuries or when they are scared. By activating vibrations, they try to calm down.
“It is thought that in certain contexts cats may also purr in an attempt to self-soothe, which may help them feel calmer or relieve pain. In fact, we observe cats purring in situations where they are likely to feel stress or physical discomfort.”
Maybe in this case they too ask us for helptake in Focus on science Dr. Lauren Finka, cat welfare researcher at International Cat Care in the UK.
It would even be possible that these spinners contribute better recovery. According to a scientific article published in New Zealand Veterinary Journal and performed not on cats, but on mice, vibrations similar to a cat purring, between 20 Hz and 150 Hz, could promote bone growth and soft tissue healing.
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