Cats talk in 'human' with new Meowlingual

Mainichi.co.jp ^ | July 16, 2003

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

The developers of the Bowlingual dog translator device have continued their quest to bridge an understanding between different species with the introduction of Meowlingual, which they claim translates cat cries into human language.

Cat lovers can use Meowlingual as if it was an interviewer's mike to automatically interpret what their beloved pets are saying, according to officials of Takara Co.

The gadget, priced at 8,800 yen per unit, will hit Japanese markets in November. About 300,000 Bowlinguals have been sold in Japan since its launch last year.

It went on sale in South Korea in late May and will be made available in the United States in August.

The dog translator was awarded the 2002 Ig Nobel Peace Prize for promoting harmony between the species by the US humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research. (

[Catspaw]

When I told my Siamese about this she said, and I quote:

Meeaowww yeooow yow yuwl yrlowel YEEEEOOOOWWW YEEEEOOOOW MURLEEEEOW

This translates to "if you can't figure out what I'm saying to you, no translator is going to help...oh, and get me some tuna and SNAP IT UP."

[BlueLancer]

On Saturday, just before we started working on a new room addition, we found a kitten on our doorstep. There was no mother in sight and no indication of why she would have abandoned her kitten in such an open and kitten-unfriendly location. The kitten appears to be fairly healthy, with her eyes opened, and doing a pretty good routine of walking/crawling around. From everything that I've gleaned from the Web, I would estimate her age at about three weeks, maybe a little more because she's beginning to walk around with less and less wobbliness each time I take her out of the box to play with her (although, by the "book", she appears to be a little underweight, coming in at right about 8 ounces).

My wife is pretty much on-the-spot about its care and treatment (she says it's just like taking care of a baby), but, as I have absolutely NO experience with unweaned infant pets, I was hoping that one of you outstanding Freepers could help me along with some questions that I have.

We started feeding her infant animal formula (something called KMR, I think) out of a nursing bottle that we bought at the pet store. She's taking the formula pretty well, and licking spilled formula off our fingers. Again, according to the "book", it's about time to start weaning her away from liquids only and to semi-solid food. We also bought something called "Second Stage Weaning Formula", which appears to be a gruel-like substance for the kitten to lick off a saucer, with the gruel being thinned or thickened by the addition of more or less water, increasing the substance as the kitten ages. Do you have any idea of about how long this process takes or how difficult it will be to get the kitten to move on to eating this way?

The other thing that I've worried about is that, in the five days that we've had her, the kitten has urinated after almost every feeding but not had a bowel movement. We've done what the "book" talked about, stimulating her anus and genitals with a warm water-soaked cottonball, and she's done her business while being held with its feet in a litterbox. The "book" says that kittens begin to void on their own at about three weeks. Also, the little jewel urinated on me while I was playing with her on my chest, without the stimulation, about an hour after eating. The last two days, she usually urinates without assistance in the litterbox after a feeding. I'm assuming that there won't be much solid waste until the time that she begins to eat at least semi-solid foods, but could there be a blockage problem? Everything I read cautions me about diarrhea, but I haven't seen anything like that yet. Does it sound to you like we're on track for litterbox training?

Do you have any suggestions or hints about how I can make the litterbox training easier or faster? Of all of the things that my wife is concerned about, this comes in at number two ... (ha/ha, number two ... get it?). Anyway, we have a spare linoleum-floored bathroom with a door where we can keep her once she gets too big to keep in a box and where she can feed and use the litterbox on her own. So, right now, we don't have to worry about "mistakes". But my wife is .. to be blunt .. a clean-freak and will absolutely go mental if too many "mistakes" happen on her carpets. So, I would really appreciate any hints that you can give me that would make this whole thing easier. The other thing that bothers me is that, the few times that we've put the little thing into the litterbox, she immediately began trying to eat the litter. It's clay-based (not clumping), so I don't know if I should be panicky about this or not. The only thing the "book" tells me is that clumping-litter should not be used.

The kitten appears to be healthy ... clear eyes, nice fur, no fleas that we can find, alert. She sleeps pretty easily after feedings and, when hungry, isn't bashful about yelling for the guard to let her out of confinement. She's licking thin gruel off a saucer, as well as additional feeding from a bottle. When satiated, she is quite content to cuddle up quietly on my chest, where, after doing a fast recon of the area, she will fall asleep purring. When placed on the floor, she will raise herself high on tiptoe, scout the area, and then run/crawl off in whatever direction she orients on. So, she seems healthy and happy enough, but I'm quite paranoid of doing something wrong. Our eight-year female died just before Christmas from bowel/stomach cancer and I don't think I could go through that again.

If anybody that I pinged knows of someone who has some knowledge of kittens that I neglected to ping, please pass this along ... it would be greatly appreciated.

[hellinahandcart]

We never started giving the kittens solid food that early, but you've got no choice.

Just keep it really thin for now. I'm concerned about the kitty not pooping in five days. There should have been something (normally the mother cat would "take care" of that until the kittens start eating more than mother's milk). Maybe you should call a vet.

It's no trouble box-training a kitten. Put them in the box imediately after feeding them and manually drag one of their front paws through the litter in a "digging" motion. They will understand this. I box-trained a two year old stray who'd never seen a littler box in his life, just by showing him a pan filled with clean litter and scratching through it a couple of times with my forefinger. The cat got a look on his face like "OH, okay, that's what it's for..." and hopped right in.

Cats really don't enjoy making accidents around the house. With one exception. If the kitten is male, you need to get it neutered early on, so it doesn't develop the habit of spraying. That can make your life miserable.

[Catspaw]

We've done what the "book" talked about, stimulating her anus and genitals with a warm water-soaked cottonball, and she's done her business while being held with its feet in a litterbox.

Also gently rub her abdomen with the cottonball (up & down, circles), then rub her anus & genitals. Mom will lick the young kittens' tummies to get the "process" started, stimulating the intestines and colon to get what's put in on one end comes out the other.

Is her abdomen distended? Is is hard? If it is, get her to the vet. If not, keep doing what you're doing. You may want to check with a vet, though, just to make sure she's healthy and you're doing things right.

Three weeks is a little young for the litter box. The litters we've had (with other cats, not the current one) don't start using the box until they're 4 or so weeks old--they did this by following mom (they thought it was great fun, especially when the litter started flying). I didn't start the babies on soft solids until they were about 3 1/2 to 4 weeks old.

Also make sure that when she's fed she has something to knead--a towel, a piece of polar fleece, sweatshirt fleece. Kittens knead mom to express the milk, and now you're mom.

[Sofa King]

Well she doesn't do anything that she knows she's not supposed to anymore, and she only knew that she wasn't supposed to do it because I slapped her.

[hellinahandcart]

A kitten that young is not going to have full bladder control, any more than a human toddler, but it's important for both to learn where the toilet is located. Sounds like you're doing fine there.

[4mycountry]

I have no experience with kittens this young but if the problem persists, I suggest seeing a vet.

In the mean time, try looking at this site. It has great info that you may find very helpful.

[jriemer]

American Shorthair Mick seems to be indifferent to a prototype of Meowlingual, a cat-shaped translator that supposedly translates a cat's meows and purrs into human phrases, during a news conference in Tokyo by Japan's toymaker Takara Co. Thursday, July 17, 2003. Takara that sold 300,000 dog's bark-translators called Bowlingual plans to sell Meowlingual in Japan in November. The cat translation device will likely sell for 8,800 yen (US$74), slightly cheaper than the 14,800 yen (US$125) Bowlingual. (APPhoto/Katsumi Kasahara)

[tiamat]

First , congratulations on your new "baby" !

Sounds to me like you are doing everything right and kitty should be able to use the litter box with no problem.
Cats are cleanly animals, like to "bury" the mess, and so long as you keep the box reasonably clean, she will use it without trouble.

WARNING: if you let the box get too dirty between cleanings, she may "go" where she isn't supposed to as "protest" .

Good luck!

Tia

[BlueLancer]

No, I don't think that will be a problem. Between my own neatness and my wife's maniacal cleanliness, I rake the litterbox daily, removing solids and stirring the remainder of the litter around so it is more able to absorb the liquids.

If I didn't .. and the cat decided to do its business elsewhere because of it .. I would be the one using the litterbox.

[tiamat]

LOL!

or at least sleeping in the "dog house"!

tia

[MrsEmmaPeel]

One of our cats was found by a neighbor before she was properly weened. She was so small, we ended up feeding her through an eye dropper. Like yours, she wanted to pee everywhere. And like yours, we thought she hadn't had a poop and we were concerned. The only problem was, she WAS pooping - under the bed. She was such a tiny little thing and her poops very tiny too. But she took to the little box within a couple weeks and has only had one accident since then (she's now 15 years old), and that was because her sister was playing in the box, and she needed to use it. Because of that, we got more litter boxes.

Young kittens can be exhausting. They get into anything and are fascinating with everything. One of the best tricks we used was buying a simple 12 inch square mirror tile at the hardware store. We proped up the tile against a wall. She would look at this kitten in the mirror, become so puzzled and immediately run behind the mirror to find her. She would do that for hours and hours. Best kitten monitoring toy I know.

If she does something wrong, never resort to physical punishment. Tone of voice to convey anger means more than a slap. If the kitten is really misbehaving, do what her mother would have done: pick it up by the scruff of the neck. The kitten will immediately go limp. Don't shake it, just hold it and with a strong voice say: "Don't do that." That will reinforce the message very clearly. When you discipline a cat, make sure its exactly at the moment they've done something wrong. In other words, if you're catching her peeing or about to pee, pick her up by the scruff of the neck and walk her to the box. If you've discovered that she's already peed on the carpet, then discplining her will have no effect, because she will not be able to associate peeing with "bad", she'll simply learn that you're off your rocker and will learn not to pay attention to you.

[BlueLancer]

"...she'll simply learn that you're off your rocker and will learn not to pay attention to you."

That shouldn't take much of a lesson. My last cat caught on to that so quickly, I assumed it was genetic knowledge and instinct.

[SoothingDave]

Well, just this last six months or so we put her on the "Geriatric Old Kitty" diet ... which seemed to deal with the constipation. Will be interesting of she goes for the pumpkin this year.....

Cats do need, at times, some roughage. Outdoor cats will eat grass. It is suggested that if you have an indoor-only cat that you plant some grass in a pot and make it available to the cat.

I let my cat out, so I can't vouch for this, but I have read it numerous times.

SD

[tiamat]

Hi Dave!

Jade goes out a little, and yes, nibbles grass.

We are pleased with the new food.... cured the constipation, and she had beguan throwing up and losing weight. ( REALLY scared me!) That's stopped too, and she is regaining weight.

I'v heard the "grass in a pot " trick before, and it's a good one. i grow herbs in pots in the winter and notice that they get "chewed".

Tia

[Thinkin' Gal]

I've never owned a cat, but the cat people here have cheerfully helped you out. I don't know what the routine vet care is for a cat, but as a matter of course, I would have any new addition checked out thoroughly. I can, however, answer this question for you:

we found a kitten on our doorstep. There was no mother in sight and no indication of why she would have abandoned her kitten in such an open and kitten-unfriendly location.

The answer is in the rest of your wonderful post, as you detail your loving concern and care for this helpless little kitty. The kitten was not left in a "kitten-unfriendly location"... she was left on your doorstep!

Our eight-year female died just before Christmas

The new kitten was meant to be on your doorstep. Congratulations on the new arrival! :-)

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

The kitten was not left in a "kitten-unfriendly location"... she was left on your doorstep

If *that* didn't just give me a "warm fuzzy" all over!

I'm going to have a good day.

<^..^>

[MotleyGirl70]

You and your wife are very kind for taking in this kitten.

Three weeks is very, very young to be away from mom. I'm worried about her not nursing. That is very young. You may want to go to a vet and just see what they suggest.

You really have to stop potty problems RIGHT AWAY. A hard tap on the nose is what I suggest. Both my cats, Motley and Kumar had problems with this. Motley was terrible. I finally had to rub her face in her pee so she would understand. I almost had to get rid of her I couldn't take it anymore. The problem was solved and she is the best cat in the world. The little one was using my speakers as a scratching post. I put an end to that and she is the best and never scratched them again since she was a kitten 11 years ago.

A bit of soft punishment doesn't hurt. It's hard to do, I know, but they will learn from it. They want attention and don't know any better. It's up to you set the rules, teach them and make them understand what is acceptable behavior.

Also, don't over feed your cat. I have friends who have really fat cats. Like chubbers and it's sad because they can't move and play because they are so chunky.

This kitten is still young enough where I believe you can still "train" it.

Buy good cat food. I buy Iams. It's expensive, but it's for the health of my cats. DO NOT BUY FRISKIES!(there is ash in it).

Please don't give up on this little kitten, a little time and patience will help. And I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your cat that passed away.

I can't even think of my life without my two cats. They really mean the world to me.

I really wish you the best and I hope it all works out. Please keep me up-to-date and post a picture of the kitten if you can. By the way, what is his name?

[Jim Cane]

Mmmmmm....cat.

The other white meat.

[BlueLancer]

"By the way, what is his name?"

We're reasonably sure it's a "she".
We're calling her "Mitzi" ...
...as in "Itsy-bitsy-Mitzi".