Michael V`diebars, age 11, of Spokane, Wash., for his question:
How does a kitten purr?
Lots of reactors ask this question every week. So once in a while Andy must answer it. Maybe you are one of the many who asked how your cat or kitten purrs. If so, please do not feel sad or mad. You are smart enough to ask one prize winning question and so you are smart enough to ask another and another. There is no limit to the number of questions you can ask Andy. And, Who knows? One of them may be the one selected.
In the meantime, if you really wanted to know the answer to this popular question, read on. If it was the prize you wanted, please try again.
A kitten purrs with a little vibrating machine in her throat. When this purrer is working at full tilt, the kittens body seams to vibrate all over. And the soft noise it makes is the sweetest found in nature. Perhaps this is because its message is so chock full of warm affection.
House cats, lynxes, tigers and pumas are all able to purr. And to do so, these animals are all fitted with an extra set of vocal cords. The purring is done when the normal vocal cords relax and air vibrates against these special voiceless vocal cords.
Like ourselves, the cat has a voice box, or larynx, and a normal sot of vocal cords. Your voice is made by air blowing against your vocal cords. The air is your breath coming from your lungs as you breath out. This is why you cannot talk while breathinro in. Membranes in the larynx turn the vibrations into sound. The sound is formed into words by muscles in the throat, the tongue and cavitios in the mouth.
The cat's extra vocal cords are in her larynx above the true vocal cords. She can, as you know, do a very complete sob of relaxing herself. When happy, she relaxes even her normal vocal cords. Then as she breathes the air vibrates against the voiceless, vocal cords with a feathery buzz.
Puss cannot purr and talk at the same time. When she wishes to say a word or two, the normal vocal cords tense into action and the purring stops. A cat stops. Any cat can use her normal vocal equipment to say meow, or mew or howl like a banshee. Some cats can say arauh and Andy has a cat who often uses the word wah‑wah. It is not always easy to translate these catty words, but there is no mistaking the meaning of the purr. Without a doubt it means, I love you, I love you and I am very glad that you love me.
Andy figures that about half his friends own cats or kittens. Your cat may be distant and aloof, wild and scrappy or a furry bundle of affection. This all depends on how you treat her while she is growing up. As a pet she is an excellent investment. Like most pets, for every ounce of love you invest in her she returns about 100 ounces. She also rids the house of mice, rats and other rodent pests and she is usually happy to get rid of visiting snakes.