I had a phone call while at work the other day. I get to work before Paul, and he rang from home, very concerned about Falstaff. Falstaff was making funny noises, and Paul not being an expert in cats was worried. For some reason, instead of asking what noise Falstaff was making, I enquired as to where the cat was, and what he was doing. Falstaff was safely on the bedroom windowsill watching the birds. The penny then dropped straight away as to what was wrong with our cat.

I don't know if any of you have seen the film Mars Attacks, in which the Martians make a very distinctive noise, sort of like Ack-Ack-Ack. If you have seen the film, it is very easy to imitate and gets very annoying after a while. Anyway, I asked Paul if Falstaff's worrying noise sounded like "Ack-Ack-Ack" (doing the impression down the phone, while in the open-plan office, and hoping no-one will notice the mad woman on the phone). "Yes" he replied, "how did you know?", he sounded very surprised. I then revealed that I had read about such a noise, that cats do when watching the birds, and it used to be called chattering, and that is it nothing to worry about. Paul was quite relieved at this, and very surprised that I could imitate the noise exactly without having heard Falstaff making it.

Both our cats make this noise, but Shylock will use it on flies as well as birds, especially if a fly is really bothering him by flying out of reach. Shylock is also a better Martian imitator than Falstaff.

Copyright © Rachel Craddock
May 20, 2005