Cats purr when hungry .... Duh!

Happy or hungry? Cats can use their purrs to send either message, an acoustical study suggests

Excerpt:

A cat's purr normally says, "I'm happy." But a new study suggests some purrs send cat owners a much different message: "Feed me!"

Researchers found that purrs of hungry cats included a higher-pitched sound, somewhat like a cry or meow. They played recordings of these purrs from 10 cats to 50 human volunteers. Even people who'd never owned a cat found them to be more urgent and less pleasant than contented purrs from the same animals.

The wet food routine: Our cats at feeding time (when we get home from work!): Emily is generally in the den window as if looking for us to arrive. As we pull into the garage she darts into the kitchen. I'm normally the first one in the house as Kathee is getting the mail. As I disarm the alarm system, Emily darts from the kitchen to the Living Room. The other two (Blue and Daisy) assemble in the hallway. Kathee comes in the house and all three cats are in the kitchen. Blue stands stoically awaiting to be fed. Emily darts here and there all excited. Daisy runs around the kitchen island. Sometimes from the kitchen through the L/R and in from the other kitchen entrance (a large circle). When Daisy is near Blue she head butts his chest. It's quit a scene.

The weekend wet food routine: About the same except Emily starts meowing pitifully at about 2:30. Kathee will get up and move to the kitchen, other cats dash in there. Then same as the above.

The empty dry food dish routine: We wake up. Three cats looking at us ... "feed me". Kathee walks to the kitchen ... three cats follow closely behind her!