this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2023
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My cat knows exactly what it wants when it yells at me. I just had to learn how to speak cat.
The meowing is just to get my attention. Once walk over to him, he'll walk over to the place he wants me to go. At that point I have to figure out what he wants me to do there, but it's usually food dish/water dish/couch for lap sitting.
One of my cats will sit on my lap but only if I put the special sitting pillow on top of myself. She will scream until it is done.
This is exactly why I usually say it means "Something's wrong" instead of "I want something" because the cat is perfectly capable of occupying un-pillowed laps, it just chooses not to.
I suppose in that respect, it does mean "I yearn!" but I've taken it to mean "Something's wrong!", with the nuance being that he'll want his food bowl filled even if he's not hungry or me on the couch even if he doesn't immediately want a lap.