My cat's vocal cords were damaged from her time as a stray .... she's practically a dog.
We have one of those, too. Vet's vbest guess was she was grabbed by the throat, and thrown out of a car. Broke her little meow.
Starving, about the size of a 6 or week kitten, but had 4 month old teeth. That was going on 14 years ago.
She still "mmm-yeps" instead o "MEOWing".