Talking to your pets when you play with them

Pumpkinseeds

I always talk to my cats when I play with them. Well 'do the voices' which are a kind of baby talk mixed with evil genius/Bond villain for some strange reason. Anyway they seem to love it and they go mental jumping around pouncing on toys. I had to interrupt a session with the Da Bird toy yesterday and as they were having a great time I asked my husband to take over.

After about 10 minutes of silence Mr Pumpkinseeds came downstairs to say that they weren't doing anything, apparently Felix was on the bed swatting at it half heartedly and Jasper had gone to bed in another room. I asked him if he did 'the voices' and he looked at me as though I were nuts.

So are there any other nut cases out there who talk to their pets when they play with them and if so do you think your pets enjoy it?

blueturnip

Ah I do this all the time!!

Although not necessarily while playing with them, I tend to have "conversations" with them!

If the cat is meowing I will ask it what's wrong, how can I help it, or ask it if it's just looking for attention. Also, I may ask it how it's day has been and then ask 'oh, and then what happened?'...

KTRIC

blueturnip wrote: »

If the cat is meowing I will ask it what's wrong, how can I help it, or ask it if it's just looking for attention. Also, I may ask it how it's day has been and then ask 'oh, and then what happened?'...

I used to do this as well and they'd answer back, well in cat talk

I think in their little heads we're actually conversing.

Pumpkinseeds

Yeah I tend to ask them whats wrong when they're meeping at me, not as much as I used to though as it usually ends up with one of them stretching up as high as possible at the fridge door to show me where the cooked chicken lives or herding me to the cupboard where their wet food is stored:)

blueturnip

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Yeah I tend to ask them whats wrong when they're meeping at me, not as much as I used to though as it usually ends up with one of them stretching up as high as possible at the fridge door to show me where the cooked chicken lives or herding me to the cupboard where their wet food is stored:)

Ah yes, this is usually the case! Looking pointedly at where the food is and then to the empty bowl!

*Sometimes* though, one of them I reckon is just having a conversation with me... Or at least I like to think so!

Pumpkinseeds

Yeah sometimes it's like they're telling you all their news. Felix is chatty Jazzy not so much.

jimf

my wife has often asked who was in the garage with me when i say tom very original name for a neutered cat who arrived 3 years ago as a kitten in the engine of my car the usual answer is will you keep it down what if the neighbours hear you

and you know what i dont care if the neighbours hear me were the best of buddies me and tom

Pumpkinseeds

I love our cats to bits, as for the neighbours,I couldn't care less what they think.

westies4ever

everyday, when i get home I ask my dogs how their day went and what they got up to. They're both pretty chatty. I also do the silly voices when playing with them. they love it!

kinkygirl

Hubby and I talk to our two fur kids (JR x) all the time. For some reason, that even I don't understand, I talk to the girl in a Cork accent and the baby boy in a Yorkshire accent!

Tranceypoo

We talk to our 2 dogs, 1 cat all the time, we give them all their own voices (dogs have posh English accents no idea why, cat has a sort of generic South East Asian accent due to her love of giving a Thai massage to the older dog), we have numerous conversations with them and even 'as them', we've managed not to do it in front of any visitors we might have so far, but it's only a matter of time before our madness is revealed.

Whispered

We do, Miller had a lord of the manor type voice. The dogs voices aren't quite as flattering. Harley is given a slightly mopey innocent voice, a bit like Eyeore but not as depressed. Phoe's voice is like Snotser Galligan.

cuckoo

Before I have a chat with the cats about how our days went I have to sing each of them their special songs - they each have their own tune, with a lyric mostly made up of their names, interspered with 'beautiful' and 'gorgeous' and 'tuna'.

There's also a special tone for talking to them when playing with toys (a hybrid of racing commentary and David Attenborough nature programs). And when I'm brushing them I do a hairdressers voice ("anywhere nice for your holidays? want a magazine?").

While I know that they don't really understand what I'm saying, they do recognise the different tones and enjoy the attention. I enjoy being silly and having fun with them too, so it's a win win.

KingIsabella

I think if my dog ever replies shell do so in a low, mumbled cork accent....


and her first words will be..."whats the story girl?"

boodlesdoodles

I ask my dog how his day went while we're at work. Both me and the OH have full conversations with him. I often answer for him when the OH is talking to him. I'm pretty sure the neighbours think we're strange!

Wibbs

I've always talked to the dogs in my life. Not in a babyish way either which is probably madder. :D Well babyish when they were pups but as they matured so did the talk. Given there's a collie in Austria IIRC that can understand something like 200 words, I figure even the most crosseyed dribbly of dogs can get the gist of some of what you're saying. They've all picked up on my emotional state to varying degrees. One in particular was very tuned into my mood and would act very differently if I was happy compared to when I might have been down about something. In the latter case if I was mopey he'd get very protective of me when we were out walking.

A mate had a cat and he was equally tuned into her moods. Eerily so. She went through a major bad patch in her life and the cat, normally a major go walkabout for days dude, stuck to her like glue. He'd even follow her on walks FFS. She'd unload all her woes on the moggy and he'd sit their like a silent therapist. Mewing the odd time. Damn cool cat he was. Lived to a great old age too.

Pumpkinseeds

I'm always surprised when people describe cats as cold,selfish and solitary animals. I've always found the opposite to be true. Our chaps are very intune to us. They're always delighted to see us and they are very affectionate, though they do like to do their own thing, they know when somethings wrong and they'll follow us about like dogs.

We have to bribe Felix with a piece of cooked chicken when we leave the house, otherwise he'd come with us. My husband had been off work with a nastychest infection that he's just gotten over. He had a really awful cough and Felix has been getting on to his lap kneading away purring and reversing up his chest at least a dozen times a day, his pupils are massive when he does this. He's never been like that before. He loves to sit on my husbands lap but this is ridiculous:D

I am pie

Our puppy has been trained in Spanish, but I chat to her in English and Spanish depending on how tired I am....bilingual ....able to misbehave in either language.

jimf

after reading all posts here mine included im convinced were all nuts we need a holiday or maybe even to get out more ha ha

SillyMangoX

If I make a ktccccchhhhh noise at Cream he goes loopy, and when Peach is hyper she gets this certain look in her eyes and if I say BOO she runs up the wall

mirekb

I chat away to my three dogs all the time but the cutest one is the JRT - he grumbles and mumbles back to me like a funny little old man!

Boombastic

I was actually thinking about this yesterday. I was out hanging clothes on the line and having a full blown conversation with my dog, (sometimes he's italian ) It stuck me that if my neighbours happened to be out in their they might find it strange

mymo

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I love our cats to bits, as for the neighbours,I couldn't care less what they think.

I'm lucky one neighbour does the same with her dog, the others talk to the dogs like they are people me: "morning jimmy" jimmy: "morning *mymo*, how are you today Oliver and miss tiffi" dogs wagg in appreciation. (He always refers to Tiffi as miss Tiffi cos she's a lady!)


We talk to animals all the time, Oliver has a very deep voice and is very cheeky, Tiffi is very posh and higher pitched, cats vary depending on mood, mainly their convo's are more a list of demands, or the occasional chat about heir day.

Pumpkinseeds

God only knows what the neighbours think if they here some of the stuff I come out with in play sessions. 'whose mummies little monster? is just the tip of the iceberg:D I've always talked to animals as though I'm talking to a child, don't know why, but they're happy with it. The neighbours on both sides of us don't like animals and I've never liked or trusted anyone who doesn't like animals, so their opinion doesn't count:p

Pumpkinseeds

jimf wrote: »

after reading all posts here mine included im convinced were all nuts we need a holiday or maybe even to get out more ha ha

Thing is though if we were to go away on holiday we'd worry sick about them:)

jimf

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

Thing is though if we were to go away on holiday we'd worry sick about them:)

i was wondering how long it would take for somebody to post back with that answer

so no holidays then unless ryanair do special rates for cats/dogs ???????
probably free flights 50eu surcharge for havin 4 legs

mymo

Aer Arann took pets, and were lovely about it, they even let you go to the pet in the flight once the seatbelt light went off. (At least they did on Waterford London route)
Sadly they're gone now

Pumpkinseeds

jimf wrote: »

i was wondering how long it would take for somebody to post back with that answer

so no holidays then unless ryanair do special rates for cats/dogs ???????
probably free flights 50eu surcharge for havin 4 legs

On the rare occassions that we do get away, we come back to the sad eyed 'how could you leave us?' and being ignored for a couple of hours. Thats despite the fact that my brother, whom they love, stays in the house and pet sits them. I still get paranoid when I'm away in case somethings happened and my brother hasn't told me.

Pumpkinseeds

mymo wrote: »

Aer Arann took pets, and were lovely about it, they even let you go to the pet in the flight once the seatbelt light went off. (At least they did on Waterford London route)
Sadly they're gone now

Its amazing the difference in pet air travel between Ireland and America. Here pets seem to have to go in the cargo hold,whereas in the US provided that they are in an appropriate carrier, they can be under the passenger seat.

jimf

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

On the rare occassions that we do get away, we come back to the sad eyed 'how could you leave us?' and being ignored for a couple of hours. Thats despite the fact that my brother, whom they love, stays in the house and pet sits them. I still get paranoid when I'm away in case somethings happened and my brother hasn't told me.

its the other way around with me if we go away tom goes into care the 5 dogs stay at home my brother looks after them when we get back and i pick him up he has to be on my lap in the car on the way back home and will not leave me out of his sight for the rest of that day and refuses to sit in the car for weeks in case im bringing him back jaysus he has this special way of making me feel guilty he should be somebody wifes lol only jokin before the the mods get callin in as for the springers they think their on holidays as well my brother spoils em rotten his daughter adores them

baby and crumble

At least talking to cats and dogs is seen as vaguely normal. Most people think I'm completely bonkers for the conversations I have with Isabella (Syrian hamster). When I come in and she's awake, or I hear her moving around I immediately start yapping away "oh you're up are you? Wanna come out?" To which she'll usually come over to the door with her pleading eyes...

I've noticed recently too she seems to want to hang out near me a lot. I was quite upset about something the other night and she was over to the side of her cage nearest me, watching me like a hawk. And if she gets into her ball she follows me around the house, and she'll come when she's called! Mad little thing.

Denise90

baby and crumble wrote: »

At least talking to cats and dogs is seen as vaguely normal. Most people think I'm completely bonkers for the conversations I have with Isabella (Syrian hamster). When I come in and she's awake, or I hear her moving around I immediately start yapping away "oh you're up are you? Wanna come out?" To which she'll usually come over to the door with her pleading eyes....

If people think you're bonkers for that then I need to be locked up.

I will happily talk to my Axolotls, who live in water.. and have no ears.

At least now we have a puppy so I can just pretend I was talking to her if people hear me

Gael23

Do this a lot and he has a way of answering which you just grow to understand. Unfortunately, he's nearly totally deaf now so can't do it so much anymore.

Dublin21

Myself and the OH do this constantly to our two kitties.

We love them to bits but i let a shout out when i seen our older kitty (which has a bit of a weight prob) at the leftovers of our dinner one night.
I told him 'that's bold' and he literally ran off 'whimpering'....

When my other half picks up the younger kitty to 'talk' to him about something hes done 'wrong' he will literally turn his head and give him the silent treatment!
Hes even put his paw on his mouth and turned away... So funny.

I know many of us talk to them like kids but the similarity between them their behavior is amazing!

(Btw we aren't always telling them off!!!)

Pumpkinseeds

Hee hee, apparently they turn away if they don't feel comfortable with a situation, makes sense. We have a scraps bowl which we use for leftovers for the birds, just veggies etc go into it. A couple of times I've found Jasper licking butter from mashed potato. He will also check the sink on the off chance that there might be some mayo on a plate or piece of cutlery. He always looks so guilty when caught.

Dublin21

Oh god the sink! Its like a fecking pick and mix sometimes for our older kitten!
Starting to see how he got a little overweight in the first place! He seems to hate us now for cutting back on his food, poor thing.

We were preparing chicken for dinner one night, had a few of the breasts laid out in the tray.
Our younger kitten Satch (who is absolutely mental for raw chicken) somehow got in without us seeing him, and when we caught him he had a full chicken breast hanging from his tiny mouth (he was only about 3 months at the time)...

He just Looked like he was thinking 'Uh Oh!'

I don't understand how anyone Wouldn't talk to animals! Theirs or not!

Im sitting in work laughing my head off thinking about what we've said to them.
In fact I honestly don't remember ever laughing as much as i have since getting the two of them!

Whispered

I was opening up the kennel one morning, before our public opening times. I was singing my normal "good morning" song to the visitors. One line was "Ooooh scooby, you've done a pooooo, I'll have to clean up after youuuuuuuu". Spun around to get a poo bag, and scoobys owner was standing there laughing at me

Pumpkinseeds

I give ours a half a raw chicken breast each when I'm cooking it. I don't really have a choice, as they flank either side of me waiting. Jazzy will do a little dance waiting impatiently for his while felix will 'rest' his claws in my knee to remind me that he's waiting:)

JustAThought

I'll throw a line of conversation at the dog to keep her busy from time to time when I'm doing somEthing. But my parents have now noticed that when I'm over at my parents & we're talking ( my parents & I!) that the dog will join in with a line of barking every now & then!! V funny to see!!!

Bid08

boodlesdoodles wrote: »

I ask my dog how his day went while we're at work. Both me and the OH have full conversations with him. I often answer for him when the OH is talking to him. I'm pretty sure the neighbours think we're strange!

ha I would do that aswell, or if one of my dogs looks strangely at us I will interpret what he is thinking and would like to say

also if my partner is out and one of them misbehaves I would say 'wait till your dad gets home, you'll be in trouble then'

SillyMangoX

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

I give ours a half a raw chicken breast each when I'm cooking it. I don't really have a choice, as they flank either side of me waiting. Jazzy will do a little dance waiting impatiently for his while felix will 'rest' his claws in my knee to remind me that he's waiting:)

Oh the claws in the knee... My legs actually have permanent scars from peach doing that! No matter what I have, she has to stand up to get a look in case it's something she might like. Usually I offer it to her and she will sniff it and walk away disgusted, the funniest was when I had a lemon, she hissed at it and ran! But if I have something really smelly and delicious that they can smell from a distance like tuna I will have a cat clawing each knee:( I don't mind cream doing it so much as he just stands against me ( I always say he's like a little toddler putting up their hands to be picked up!) but peach just goes to town, I think she likes to hear me scream.. Occasionally she just uses me as a scratching post even if I have nothing for her!

Boombastic

If I ask my dog something in a serious tone, he will move his head sideways and then bark back at me in answer , he also likes to 'sing' along to this song :pac:

Come day, go day
Wish in my heart it were Sunday
Drinking buttermilk thru the week
Whiskey on a Sunday :pac:

username123

This is the best thread ever - Im normal!!!

Ive always talked to my pets, and other peoples pets. I havent got a pet right now but I posted here recently about the neighbours cat coming to visit and I converse with her all the time. Mostly in a special voice, lot of "you ARE a good girl", and for "I kniaow" in response to MIAOW.

I used to have a springer spaniel who would sing along with me in the car if I played music, so there we would be, her on the back seat, trying to push her nose through the head rest, howling at the top of her lungs, me laughing and singing along. She was also a great one for "where is it!!!" and thus a scampery game of looking all over the place would begin. She knew loads of words, you had to refer to a walk as a W, a sausage as an S and the vet as The Man - but she got to know the abbreviations over time so we went back to the real words!

Its nice talking to your animal pals.

Pumpkinseeds

SillyMangoX wrote: »

Oh the claws in the knee... My legs actually have permanent scars from peach doing that! No matter what I have, she has to stand up to get a look in case it's something she might like. Usually I offer it to her and she will sniff it and walk away disgusted, the funniest was when I had a lemon, she hissed at it and ran! But if I have something really smelly and delicious that they can smell from a distance like tuna I will have a cat clawing each knee:( I don't mind cream doing it so much as he just stands against me ( I always say he's like a little toddler putting up their hands to be picked up!) but peach just goes to town, I think she likes to hear me scream.. Occasionally she just uses me as a scratching post even if I have nothing for her!

If Jazzy doesn't like the flavour of food he will try to bury it, kick out a back leg and shake it as if covering poop, his way of saying 'you expect me to eat this filth?':D

chriity139

i talk to my pets non stop

Chuck Stone

I see a little pussy cata at the door
scalamousch, scalamousch
will you do the fandango!

(I heard myself quietly singing this to meself as I approached me Ma's front door to be greeted by Ruby.)

:pac: