Why are some cats more vocal than others?

Question

To put this in my perspective.

I have three cats at home. They are silent, hardly ever meow but will occasionally purr if you stroke them in the right spot. They will also occasionally rub on you but not very often.

The two cats we have in work however are very vocal (and cute) but are not shy of vocalising themselves for attention amoungst other things (headbutting, rubbing on you etc.)

Is this just a different type of personality? Have the work cats been brought up with less attention and thus have learned that vocalising themselves is more likely to get a response?

Two of mine are siamese whereas the other is a siamese x feral.
The work ones I'm unsure of but they are both sisters.

trond hansen · Answer

It is part personality and partly experiences. If a cat talks a lot, you will talk back; this makes the cat talk even more, so it is a self-enforcing behaviour.
A cat that suddenly gets more vocal can be a sign of medical problems, like pain, or neurological problems like senility or eyesight/hearing problems.
Some cats starts to talk more as they get older, other cats talk less; in general, cats adapt to their caretakers.
If you talk to your cat it will answer; some cats have a lot to say, like my cat Electra: if she had been outside in the snow or rain, I think I got fired multiple times :)

StephenS · Answer

Meowing and other such behavior is to get attention and is part instinct, part experience
The cats at your workplace are presumably used to humans ignoring them most of the time because they're working, so when they want attention, they have to ask for it — and presumably have learned that it works. So, they will keep doing it.
Your cats at home get attention when you're home and not when you're not. They may still meow if you ignore them or forget to feed them, but the connection isn't as strong, so they won't do it much otherwise.

Why are some cats more vocal than others?

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