My cat purrs all the time
By marie2052
@marie2052 (3691)
United States
March 10, 2012 8:43am CST
Ever since I gave mawmaw away Tink is always purring now.
I visited mawmaw at her new home, and she was laying in the lady's lap fast asleep.
I pet her and she barely opened her eyes.
She is completely happy and I am greatful to the lady when I had the 2 cat fight problems.
But I got to thinking what makes a cat purr?
We know its when they are extremely happy.
Anyway went on a search and here is what I found.
We cannot purr, so we are interested in how cats can do it. It turns out that domestic cats, some wild cats like pumas and mountain lions (in general, any big cat that cannot roar) and even raccoons are all able to purr. Humans happen to smile and laugh when they are happy, and dogs wag their tails. So it is not unusual for an animal to have a physical reaction to happiness. Cats show happiness by purring. They may also purr when startled or upset.
It turns out that cats have special wiring! The wiring travels from the brain to the muscles in the voice box, and this wiring is able to vibrate the muscles so that they act as a valve for air flowing past the voice box. The muscles work both during inhalation and exhalation, which creates the impression that cats can purr continuously. The air passes through the valve, which opens and closes rapidly to create the purring sound.
Does your cat purr all the time? Mawmaw never did and when she did it was a very light soft purr.
Tink is loud at his purring.
1 person likes this
2 responses
@cerebellum (3863)
• United States
11 Mar 12
She must be very happy to have you all to herself! Some cats want all of your attention and it sounds like she's one. I bet it made you feel good that Mawmaw seems so content in her new home and that she is being well cared for!
@marie2052 (3691)
• United States
14 Mar 12
Yea it was a hard decision but with them deciding to fight every night around midnight in the bedroom and my poor husband gets up at 4am, I had to make some decisions.
I am glad it all turned out well.
Tink is now spoilt happy LOL
@mrbytes (37)
• Denmark
10 Mar 12
Cats do not only purr to happiness, it is true that they purr when they are very happy, or comfortable. But they do also purr when giving birth, when they are taken care of their young, when they are dying, in fact cats purr a lot, at least this is true for domestic cats, One of my cats purr a lot, although my other cat is not that much of purrer he does purr occasionally when he is very comfortable, I think it is a bit of a personality thing with cats how much they purr, like some humans laugh easily and some almost never laugh.
At least my cats are very different in that aspect (although this could also be explained by the fact that they are very different races of cats.)
