(no subject)

[camwyn]

One of my cat books says something to the effect of 'cats purr when they're scared or in pain too and IT'S MYSTEEEEEEEEEEEERIOUS *wiggly fingers*'. I think I have figured out what's going on, though. If you've ever watched a certain episode of Seinfeld you'll know what I mean when I say that the purring is the cat's way of saying "Serenity now, serenity now, serenity now". When it works, it's good, and when it's used in time of fear or pain, it means one wrong move and you'll be drawing back a bloody stump.

.... I had some trouble getting to sleep last night. my apologies if that didn't make sense.

Comments

[bastets-place.livejournal.com]

My cat purrs like that - I have never seen anything like it before.
Her body language screamed "Mommy, take me home, mommy?!" My thought was that the purring noise is my cat's way of trying to manipulate "mommy" - in this case, me. Cats seem to purr when they nurse, get patted, and otherwise get what they want.

I wondered if it was possible that there were some connection there.

[camwyn]

I'll always remember seeing it when I had to pick up Shula and Tiki from being temporarily boarded at the local groomer's. Tiki was okay but Shula was in a full-fledged panic, both from the strange place and from being washed by a stranger, and he clung to anyone who would pick him up and purred like a lawnmower.

[aduial-peredhel.livejournal.com]

Kuro purrs all the time it seems. Mom thought there was something wrong with him because he wouldn't stop. Now he just purrs when he's eating or being petted.

He did purr when I went to pick him up after his neutering...in between hissing at the technicians. :3

[chanter1944]

Having known a kitty who purred and acted all adorable just before switching personalities and actively trying to take a chunk out of my hand, I believe it. Absolutely beautiful orange and white Maine coon, but holy cow could she turn on a dime.

I've also known a few kitties who purred up a storm for any reason at all, and sometimes no reason at all. Granted four of them were bottle-babies, four were rescues from various kinds of icky situations and one... well, Endora was the sweetest cat I'd ever met.

[duane-kc.livejournal.com]

As someone who has been owned by cats for many years, this makes perfect sense to me.

[crispengray.livejournal.com]

I think you're absolutely right. Purrs also help humans lower blood pressure, too, so it's not just for fuzzbuckets that purring works.

[chaos-wrangler.livejournal.com]

This makes sense. I've seen cats purr and do the angry/threatened tail-thrash at the same time. Unfortunately it looks like double-happy to people who only know tail-wagging from dogs, and then they're surprised when the claws come out.