Moderator u/boxster_ walked us through the story behind r/Catswhoyell (or CWY). They told Bored Panda that the idea to create the community started after a conversation on a post where they realized there “was no place for talkative kitties like my own to be posted.”

“There were many chatty cats on other subs, but no ‘home’ for them. It started out small, and somewhere in the first year, I started adding new moderators. One of the goals we decided on at the beginning was that we always wanted CWY to be a welcoming community that felt like it was a small place,” the founder shared with us.

“This meant being active about removing rude messages towards other users. I don't think any of us expected it to reach 650k members!” they were incredibly happy about the success that the sub has seen over the years.

However, that’s not to say that there weren’t some tough challenges to face along the way. “We've had a few periods of time where moderating got tough due to issues with users. One funny incident was when a user repeatedly mod-mailed rude messages about ‘everyone hating’ our flairs, all of which are jokes or puns. Our mod team checks in occasionally about adding new mods when traffic increases, and that's been very helpful. The only time we've done it on short notice was March 2020,” u/boxster_ said.

“As time went on, we decided we also wanted to focus on adoptable cats posted by rescues. We pin rescue cat posts as they come in, and add location flairs. At this time we know of about 3 cats who have been adopted by a subreddit member if I recall correctly,” the founder of r/Catswhoyell shared the great news.

“Many of our mods are involved in foster and rescue, or have been in the past, so this is my favorite thing about our sub. I'm also proud because I've seen the stereotype of the quiet and aloof cat shift in the past few years, at least on Reddit. It's been an unintentional campaign for cats with big purrsonalities.”

The founder shared a bit about their own cat whom they adopted. “I never expected the scraggly rescue cat I took home to be so talkative, despite growing up around cats, and even studying cat behavior,” they told Bored Panda.

“One thing about my sweet boy, and also something that makes my mother think I'm nuts, is that I believe he has a little name for me. He has a little two-part meow that he screeches when I come home. He has a way of telling me it's dinner, or that I've stayed up too late (and once recently, gone to bed too early). Sometimes, it can be a little annoying, but at the end of the day, I always have someone to talk to.”

The mod said that it’s best to think of cats meowing as a bit like languages and accents. “While there's a general mood you can hear in a cat's meow, there are also kitties who meow by the beat of their own paws,” they said that there’s some overlap between how cats communicate by meows, but there’s also a lot of room for individual self-expression among felines.

“One of my best friends had a cat named Bella. We also called him German Cat. Bella earned his nickname by having the angriest and loudest voice a kitty could have. Bella was also the sweetest and cuddliest boy you could meet, he was just speaking the kitty version of German,” u/boxster_ said.

“At the end of the day knowing your cat and looking for context clues is the best way to understand what they mean. I know that if my cat yells at me at 8:15 pm, that means he wants dinner a few minutes early. I know that if my lights are on and it's past midnight, he would like me to get myself in bed already so he can lay on my head and lick my hair,” they said.

“Every cat is unique. Some cats may only make sounds when angry or hurt, some cats will only be quiet if asleep, and others will be something else entirely.”

The r/Catswhoyell subreddit recently celebrated its fifth birthday. Since being founded in 2018, the sub has grown to house over 684k members and counting. The group allows photos and videos of cats yelling, however, it frowns upon pics of yawning felines.

“No full-on yawns allowed without shame. No yell-shaming. All yells no matter their shape, size or volume are good and valid. Silent yells too. Yawn pictures will be removed, but video yawns with sound are permitted,” the group’s team of dedicated moderators explains.

Meanwhile, redditors are encouraged to post original photos. Nobody should claim that a cat is theirs if it isn’t. It’s unethical! If you are posting about someone else’s cat, make sure that you share the source, otherwise, your post may get removed. What’s more, the subreddit supports rescuing cats from shelters, so anyone who bought a cat from a breeder shouldn’t share photos.

In the meantime, if you’re planning on posting photos of cats who yell that are adoptable, feel free to post the organization’s info in the comments. However, the online community does not allow internet users to advertise private adoptions, breeders, Craigslist, or disreputable sources.

Many subreddits have their quirks, and r/Catswhoyell is no different. It has a very amusing (or is that ameowsing?) guide to using flairs for its numerous feline-loving members. For instance, you should add the ‘Human Conversationalist’ flair to your post if it’s about a human talking to a cat and the pet meowing back. However, that’s not to be confused with the ‘Human Conmeowsationalist’ tag which is meant for humans meowing at cats who, in turn, meow back.

Some other interesting flairs include ‘Baby Cat’ (“Mew mew mewmew mewmewmew: all things baby cats!”), ‘Ol’ Yeller’ (everything related to senior cats), ‘Scream Team’ (two or more cats yelling), and ‘Aw Lawd They Yellin’’ (“Cat is rather rotund. And yelling. Always yelling,” the mods explain). 

Among the other creative flairs, you’ll find ‘Scraggly Yell’ (“Git me mah smokes!”), angry cattos get the ‘Calm down, dear kitty! Tag’, yawns that are also yells are assigned ‘A yawn and a yell!’, and ‘Certified Yell’ flairs are meant for the most distinguished, epic, and worthy of yells.

As it turns out, when it comes to adult cats, meowing, for them, is far from their preferred way to communicate with others of its kind.

“Unlike many other pets, cats evolved as solitary hunters so their communications skills are less developed than with group-living species, such as dogs,” PDSA Vet Anna Ewers Clark explained to Bored Panda during an earlier interview.

Kittens will meow in order to communicate with their cat moms and they develop this ability even if they’re isolated from their parents and siblings. However, once they become adults, many of them will stop meowing. "Sometimes, they will hiss or yowl at each other (usually in defense or during a fight) but the primary way of communicating with other cats once they’re grown is through body language,” the vet told us. However, adult cats will meow to talk to us.

"As we tend to pay our cats attention when they meow, this encourages them to chat to us and many cats learn that certain meows and sounds will get a specific response from their human. For example, meowing in our ear in the morning often leads to breakfast; few owners can sleep through a persistent cat shouting! This means that they keep meowing at us while we’re in bed hoping we’ll get the message that it’s time to get up. This can be thought of like an owner-cat ‘language’ with cats using their voices to explain what they need,” the vet said.

"Although there will be cat meows that will are unique to each individual (and sometimes specific to each owner), some noises cats make can be common across all cats. Trills and chirrups are usually a cat greeting and will often be accompanied by the ‘tail up’ signal which is a welcoming gesture," the PDSA representative told Bored Panda earlier.

"Hissing, yowling and snarling are most commonly heard as part of an attack or defense when your cat feels threatened. If your cat is making any of these noises, it’s important to try to figure out what’s upsetting them and try to stop or prevent it,” she said.

"A relaxed, happy purr is an indication that your cat is satisfied with life. This might be when they’re curled up on your lap or stealing the fluffy blankets. However, purring can also indicate pain or severe stress so always look at your cat’s body language and think about whether you’d expect them to be relaxed in their current surroundings,” she explained.

“Kittens will still meow even if they grow up away from their own kind. In fact, if kittens are brought up being cared for entirely by people, this can actually mean they’re more talkative as they have learned that humans respond to them and give them food or attention when they meow. However, if kittens don’t grow up around people, only around other cats, they may stop meowing when they’re older."

Let us know which of these cat pics made you the happiest! And tell us all about how your cat communicates with you.

For some more cats who love yelling and meowing, take a peek at Bored Panda's previous features here, here, and here.