Why do cats purr?
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Answer: It soothes them, and the vibration may even help their bodies heal
It soothes them, and the vibration may even help their bodies heal ✓ — Correct! Purring is a comfort behaviour: kittens purr while nursing, mothers purr to calm them, and adult cats purr when content, when they want something, and sometimes when hurt or frightened. The hum sits at roughly 25 to 150 vibrations a second, a range that in laboratory studies encourages bone and tissue repair, which is why some researchers suspect purring doubles as self-healing.
It is simply the sound of air passing through their nose — Wrong. Purring is produced in the voice box: the muscles of the larynx twitch rapidly, opening and closing the vocal cords so that air passing in and out hums. Breathing through the nose is silent; the purr is an active vibration.
It marks their territory for other cats — Wrong. Cats mark territory with scent from glands on their cheeks and paws, with scratching and with urine, not with sound. Purring is quiet and aimed at themselves and their companions, not at rivals.
More Animal Behavior questions
- Why use a wand toy instead of your fingers for a kitten to chase?
- Why is a sturdy scratching post a better starting point than punishment when a cat scratches the sofa?
- When providing two litter trays for one cat, why put them in separate quiet places?
- Why offer a quiet hiding box instead of pulling a newly adopted cat out from under a chair?
- Why can the same soft barn-owl feathers that mute flight make rainy hunting worse?
- Why is silent flight useful even if a mouse never hears the owl coming?