My cat was barking?!

[Guestbrittney]

Last night my cat made several barking noises.... he never opened his mouth while making them but they came out as yelps or barks. he wasnt choking or coughing anything up in fact he was wiggling his butt in the air like he does when he wants to play. whats he doing?? (hes about 14 weeks old)

[Traci]

Impossible to tell from your description....to play it safe, get him checked by your vet right away. With the mouth being closed at the time, it's impossible to say.....don't wait on this.

[Squrrrl]

My cat runs sideways and does a little chirpy sorta yelpy sound when he wants to play...

if youre worried go to the vet but it is probably jsut him trying to talk to you.

[Guestbrittney]

Squr... thats exactly what my cat does. walks sideways jumps wiggles around and arches his back which is what he was doing when he was making those noises. Hes done this twice and hes not acting sick or anything. My other question (which sounds dumb sorry never really been a cat person :/ ) is ive had my kitten since he was very first weened from his mom and since then hes been around dogs, could he have mimicked those sounds from hearing my dogs all the time?

[Haz]

Not exactly a reply my cat who is now about 18 months old is very quiet and friends have recently mentioned this bring it to my attention . He is a happy indoor cat ,very loving his belly is turned up for stroking each day, but he simply does not purr and does not cry , when he wants my attention he comes up and rubs against me, or wants to rub noses, on an odd occasion there is what only be called a squeak. This is my first cat so I have never thought of this before I do not know if this is usual or should I investigate, he was an abandoned tabby which I adopted 12 months ago.

[Traci]

Haz, it could be normal for him in particular, he also may not have found his own reason for vocalizing yet. My Curry, when I adopted him, didn't purr for almost 8 months, but eventually did. Some cats simply do not vocalize as we would expect them to.

However, to play it safe, if you've NEVER heard him meow or purr, I would ask your vet about it and maybe get an exam (if you haven't within the last 8-12 months). Assuming he is not deaf, you want to rule that out. Most deaf cats do vocalize and loudly I might add, but some cats don't vocalize at all. Just a rule out, you would probably have determined if he was deaf by now.