If You Want to Know Your Cat, It’s Not Their Meow You Should Be Listening To

I like to think that all the cats in my life have very distinct meows that I could pick apart. The family cat I grew up with has a deep, throaty voice (anyone who’s had a Siamese knows what I’m talking about), while my current kitty has a clear, but firm, chime. I’m sure other cat parents out there also think they can recognize their cats by their particular vocalizations, but a new study published in Scientific Reports shows that it’s actually purrs that tell us more about a cat’s unique personality.

Researchers from Germany’s Museum für Naturkunde Berlin and Italy’s University of Naples Federico II initially hypothesized that meows, which cats primarily direct towards humans, would show stronger signals of individuality. They collected recordings of 276 meows from 14 cats and 557 purrs from 21 cats. These cats came from individual households, as well as local shelters, and included purebreds and mixed breeds. Using an automated speech recognition system, the researchers ran the noises to see if a computer could identify individual cats based only on the sounds. 

Surprisingly, the computer did a much better job identifying purrs than meows. The program matched meows to cats with a 63.2 percent accuracy — but when it came to purrs, the accuracy jumped to a surprising 84.6 percent.

The researchers theorized that because meows evolved with domestication, cats tend to adjust their meows depending on context. They’ll meow louder with some people and sound gentler to others. It’s a great way for cats to get their points across, but it means that the noises are more varied — and not as identifiable.

“Humans pay particular attention to meowing because cats mainly use these sounds towards us,” study author Dr. Danilo Russo said in a statement. “But after we closely examined the acoustic structure, the uniform purr turned out to be the better means of identifying different individuals.”

Young kittens begin to purr before they ever learn how to “talk” with humans. It’s a vocalization that occurs in the wild, even among species like cheetahs, lynxes, and bobcats. It makes sense that purrs, which came before any human influence, have stayed individualized and distinct, instead of specifically adjusting to communicate with people. 

It goes even further, though. The researchers found pretty good evidence that every individual cat has their own distinct purr — like an adorable feline fingerprint.

“Each cat in our study had its own characteristic purr,” study co-author Anja Schild of the Freie Universität Berlin said in a statement. “Purring often occurs in relaxed situations, such as when petting or in close contact with a trusted person. It also serves to communicate between cat mother and kitten shortly after birth.”

So, in a hypothetical situation where you’re blindfolded and asked to identify your cat among many, don’t listen to the meows. Meowing is a great way for a cat to communicate what they want and what they don’t want. But if you’re trying to zero in on which cat is yours, you’ll want to pay attention to the sweet, cozy sound of your kitty’s purr.