Listening to a cute little kitten purring is extremely satisfying, as we often assume it means they are happy. However, according to experts, besides contentment, a cat’s purring can also convey various other emotions.
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While it is more common to hear a cat purr when they are cozy in your lap and receiving head scratches, cats also purr at the veterinarian, when they are alone, when they are dying, or after being threatened by another animal.
A mother cat will purr when her babies are nursing. A cat’s purrs can also have a hidden meow within them, a cry that even people who don’t spend much time around cats can pick up on.
One of the reasons why your furry friend may purr even when in danger has to do with healing. Research has found that when a cat is purring, it is not only calming itself but also healing with vibrational frequencies (between 25 and 150 Hz) that are often used in medical treatments to control pain and heal all sorts of ailments, from fractured bones to swelling and shortness of breath.
In their natural environment, cats spend a lot of time lounging, waiting to hunt, so purring can stimulate their bones to prevent them from becoming weak or brittle.
In fact, purr-like vibration devices have been patented for potential use in therapy, and some researchers have proposed attaching vibrating plates to astronauts’ feet during long space flights to retain bone density.
Such reasons for purring are by no means exclusive. “Every behavior depends on history, context, and expectation,” explained Tony Buffington, a cat expert and veterinarian at Ohio State University, to WIRED.
“Therefore, it is naive to think that cats can only purr for one reason. It’s like thinking that people can only laugh for one reason,” he added.
And indeed, humans can laugh out of joy, a desire to appear polite, when surprised, in discomfort, or irony, and only the context will tell an observer what is truly happening.
