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Cats purr like a baby to manipulate humans

Cats have long been known to get what they want from their owner, and British researchers believe they have discovered how.

In a paper published today in the journal Current Biology, the researchers find that pet cats get human owners to feed them through an urgent cry they embed into their purr.

Lead author Dr Karen McComb, at the Centre for Mammal Vocal Communication Research at the University of Sussex, says parallels have previously been drawn between the cry of domestic cats and that of human babies.

"Our study indicates that such a cry, embedded within the naturally low-pitched purr, is dramatically emphasised by cats in the context of food solicitation and humans are highly sensitive to it," she says.

She also found the highest frequency that the embedded cry was measured at occurs at frequencies similar to those of a human infant's cry.

"The interesting thing here is that the cry is embedded in a vocalisation that we normally think of as pleasant, the purr," she says.

"So it sort of subliminally triggers a sense of urgency. We found men were as responsive to it as women, but then most men find it difficult to listen to baby cries I'd guess."

Less pleasant

For the study, the purrs of 10 cats were played back to 50 people, not all of whom were cat owners.

The participants consistently judged the purrs made when the cat was actively seeking food to be more urgent and less pleasant, says McComb.

When those purrs were manipulated to have the underlying cry removed, all participants found the calls less urgent.

But cat owners did identify the solicitation call more readily, indicating McComb believes that the "ability to identify these calls can be improved with learning".

The study also shows that the call is most commonly used in households where the cat has one-to-one contact with its owner.

"Cats will use whatever is most effective - and solicitation purring will be most effective when they have the owner's undivided attention - particularly when they have access to the bedroom in the mornings."

With the study inspired by her own cat "waking me in the morning with an insistent purr", McComb is not sure if the findings will translate to other domestic pets such as dogs and birds. But she is hoping to find out through further studies.

"I think most cat owners would agree that they like to have things their own way - and usually get it. More so than dogs I think, who are usually more subservient," she says.