The Secret Life of Cats by Suzanne Shotz: Book Review

 

The Secret Language of Cats is something…well, a bit different. The title says it all — a scientific exploration of the sounds our feline friends make, how they make them and what they (might) mean by it. The author, Susanne Schötz, is a lecturer in phonetics and the book relies on real (if small-scale) research.

If I’m honest, a lot of the technical side went way over my head, even though I have a nodding acquaintance with the discipline of phonetics (by which I mean I know my labials from my bilabials and can demonstrate a glottal stop). But what might have been a dull and dry piece of writing is more than saved by the author’s cats. Five domestic felines and a selection of others passing through all contrived, as cats always do, to steal the show. 

The book looks at the very many sounds that cats make and is supported by web links which didn’t show up in the ARC I received, so it’s hard to judge how effective they might actually be. And I think it would require a lot of interest and effort to get the best out of this book. There are extensive appendices so that if you aren’t familiar with phonetics you can look them up and try and work out how the vocalisations she describes might actually sound, but there are very many subtle variations and it isn’t easy to pick them all up.

That said, I have a suspicion that the best of this book, if it’s used with the associated resources and with a suitably co-operative cat (mine doesn’t say much, except at night, and remained resolutely silent throughout my reading), would be very rewarding indeed. Schötz demonstrated how her cats use the same sounds in different ways, such as how we can listen for the subtle differences between the purrs a cat makes when it’s comfortable and those it makes when it’s in pain, and how cats vocalise in their territorial battles as a way to avoid confrontation. 

It’s probably the ideal book for cat owners with a grasp of phonetics and a more subtle ear than I have, but I learned a lot from the author’s cats and I already listen to my own cat — a notorious non-purrer and night-howler — in a different way. I enjoyed it far more than I thought I would when I began reading it.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQ Stories for allowing me an advance copy of this book.