A new study suggests cats meow more frequently and loudly at male caregivers because men tend to speak less to them, prompting cats to work harder for attention. Researchers found this pattern across 31 cats in Turkey, though larger global studies are needed to confirm the behaviour.
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Ever feel like your cat “talks” more when a man walks into the room? Turns out, there might actually be science behind it. A new study suggests that cats tend to meow at men more often and louder than they do at women. And no, it’s not because they adore men more… it might be because men simply pay less attention.
Published in the journal Ethology, the study set out to observe real, unfiltered human–cat interactions rather than relying on owners’ self-reports. Led by Yasemin Salgirli Demirbas from Ankara University in Turkey, researchers monitored 31 cats and their caregivers in their own homes.
Each cat wore a tiny chest-mounted camera so scientists could analyse the first moments after their humans returned home. What stood out? Cats consistently greeted male caregivers with noticeably more meows, purrs, and chirps compared to female caregivers, regardless of the cat’s age, breed, sex, or the size of the household.
On average, the cats let out 4.3 meows in the first 100 seconds when a man walked in, while women got just 1.8 meows in the same time.
According to the study’s author: “Male caregivers might engage less frequently in verbal behaviours compared to female caregivers. This difference could prompt cats to use vocal signals more actively to elicit responses from male caregivers.”