Cats meow more at their male owners than at their female owners, study reveals
Cats are independent, cunning and sometimes hostile creatures, and new research has found that they meow more often at male owners than at female owners.
Greeting Vocalizations in Domestic Cats Are More Frequent With Male Caregivers - Demirbaş - Ethology - Wiley Online Library
Cats adjust their communication strategy by meowing more when greeting men
https://phys.org/news/2025-12-cats-adjust-communication-strategy-meowing.html
Previous studies of human-cat greetings have relied on interviews with owners rather than rigorous scientific analysis. To gain a deeper understanding of interspecies interactions , a research team led by Yasemin Sargil Demirbas of Ankara University studied 31 cats and their owners in their home environments.
The study involved owners wearing a chest camera and recording their cats' behavior for a few minutes after they returned home. The researchers analyzed the first 100 seconds of the footage and tracked 22 specific behaviors, including meowing, rubbing their head against their legs, and yawning.
After analyzing hundreds of videos, the researchers found that cats meow more frequently when greeting male owners than when greeting female owners. The meows include not only 'meows' but also 'purrs.' Furthermore, this tendency for cats to meow more frequently toward male owners was observed regardless of the cat's age, breed, or gender. The research team's analysis found that cats meowed an average of 4.3 times per 100 seconds when greeting male owners, compared with just 1.8 times when greeting female owners.
The researchers believe that the reason cats react differently to men and women is because male owners tend to talk less to their cats and generally pay less attention to them. In other words, cats adjust their communication methods to get their owners' attention.
The research team wrote, 'Cats use vocal communication more frequently when greeting male owners. Male owners may be less verbal than female owners. This difference may encourage cats to use vocal signals more actively to elicit a response from their male owners.'
This study also revealed that cats use multiple communication methods when greeting their owners. They also employ friendly social behaviors, such as raising their tails and approaching their owners and rubbing their bodies against them, as well as coping behaviors, such as yawning, stretching, and scratching. The research team analyzed this and concluded that cats communicate in a complex way, combining a desire for connection with their owners when greeting them with stress-management behaviors that express relief at their owners' return.
However, it should be noted that this study was conducted in Turkey and the sample size was limited. Phys.org points out that 'further research across different countries and cultures is needed to determine whether sex differences in bird calls are truly universal.'
Comments on the social message board Hacker News included, ' A strong contender for the 2026 Ig Nobel Prize, ' ' Are male owners more aroused? Or are they just louder? ', ' What the cat is saying is, 'Beware of unshaven people, beware of unshaven people,' ' and ' Does the study say anything about how much male owners meow back? '
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