Research overview: the feline vocal repertoire across cat-cat and cat-human contexts

Cats produce a varied set of vocalizations, and this overview surveys the repertoire and how its use differs between conspecific and human-directed communication. It covers categories such as murmurs including the purr and trill, vowel-pattern calls like the meow, and high-intensity sounds including hisses, growls and yowls used in agonistic and sexual contexts. The survey notes that some sounds, especially the meow, are deployed far more toward humans than toward other cats, while others dominate cat-cat encounters. It examines how context, arousal and the social relationship shape vocal output, and how studying the repertoire informs both welfare assessment and understanding of how domestication redirected certain calls toward people. The result is a structured picture of the acoustic channel in feline communication.