A revealing sign that a meowzer is hiding in plain sight is in its name. Most cats are notorious for their purrfect vocals, and if you’re a cat owner, you need no reminding of that. So if you ever step foot in a bodega and hear a little “meow” coming from one of the million corners in there, you can be sure it’s directed at you. Because, according to Trudi Atkinson, clinical animal behaviorist and book author, the meows are directed at humans and are not coincidental.

We spoke to Atkinson to find out more about the complex mechanism of why and how cats meow, and we found out some very interesting things. First, “a meow is a vocalization that appears to be used primarily in human-directed communication and far less in communications between cats (although they do use lots of other vocalizations such as friendly chirrups and not so friendly growls when communicating with each other),” Atkinson explained.

She added that “the meow is therefore thought to be a product of domestication and socialization with people.”

Moreover, Atkinson explained that “when directed towards people, it is most often used as a greeting or as a form of attention and food soliciting, but it can also have other meanings, for example as an indication that the cat is not feeling well.”

“But a ‘meow’ is not a single distinct vocalization. The sounds made and the ‘meaning’ of each sound will be different for each cat, and it will also vary depending on the context and the ‘message’ that the cat is intending to convey,” she said. Incredibly, “it is thought that cats actually learn what sounds are most effective in getting what it wants, or the reaction it wants from its human caregivers,” Atkinson added.

Dog owners may find this interesting: Atkinson claims that this is very different from canine vocalizations. “Research carried out in 2005 found that most people can identify the meaning or intention of a dog’s bark ( i.e. a warning bark, a fear bark or a play bark, etc) even when they don’t know the dog and even when they can’t even see the dog.”

Meanwhile, “other research has found that this is not the case with a cat’s meow. The cat’s owner may be able to interpret their own cat’s meows, but other people will be far less able to. The same owners will also be far less able to interpret the meows of other cats.”

So to put it simply, most commonly, cats meow to communicate a greeting or to solicit food or attention from their human caregivers. However, it’s not entirely clear from whether a cat is meowing/yelling too much or too loud, that it may indicate something is wrong. “It can depend a lot on the individual cat and the cat/human relationship,” Atkinson said.

If you’re wondering if some cats are better ‘singers’ than others, Atkinson said that some cats are definitely more vocal than others. “Some breeds can be far more vocal than others, especially Siamese, Burmese and some of the other Oriental cats. But there can also be a lot of individual variation.” And yes, each cat has its own meowing voice, so we may as well sign up our furballs for the Cat XFactor!