Junior is somewhere around a year old now. He’s always been a very quiet cat. Scamp is even quieter. I guess when you live in the wild, you learn not to make too much noise. The only time we see Scamp talk is when she is chattering at the birds. When Junior was a kitten, she would call to him very softly, but we had to be close by to hear her. He would squeak back. As Scamp demanded he gain independence he would call, but she wouldn’t answer. When she didn’t answer, he would go silent and generally either make the decision to follow her or stay put–quietly. For the most part, unless he is looking for us (generally at 5:30 in the morning when he mistakenly thinks it is time for us to get up) he has never been a talker.

About a week ago, he discovered that he can answer back when we ask how he’s doing! “Me-squeak.” It’s not a meow, because his voice is a little rusty. Sounds more like a half a bark or a bird chirp. Just today, he learned that if the door is closed and he squeaks next to it, I will get up and open it. All of our other cats were early adapters at using their voice to ask for food, to ask that doors be opened or to just complain and chatter. Junior is still pretty quiet, but he will now greet us–about…oh, maybe a quarter of the time, by voice. Sometimes his mouth opens and no sound comes out and he has to try again, but I expect that he might learn to talk a little more, especially if we respond.

He still spends quite a bit of time outdoors. We’ll see if that changes if it ever cools down. Scamp has learned that treat time is first thing in the morning–and she’s been making it a point to stop by more often then. She has her “treat” spot where she sits quietly and waits, informing us, without voice, that she knows it is treat time. They communicate, but they have their own way of doing it. I bet they feel the same way about us. “Talk, talk, noise, noise. Why don’t they ever rub noses???”

They’re both good kitties. Very polite and well-mannered, almost always.