What's does this cat sound mean!

[willowdragon]

A few days ago my cat was happily grooming herself when all of a sudden her ears picked up something mine didn't, she sat up straight and let out an almighty sound I've never heard before. It was like an "Aah-OOh", deep and more like a wolf howl. It lasted about a minute, and she hasn't done it since.

I've looked up different sounds cats make and listened to various videos. It didn't sound like a mating call from what I can tell, and wasn't a distress call. It sounded a little bit like she was shouting "hello" but all the videos I've found on that sound very different too. Honestly the noise was a bit ominous.

Doesn't anyone know what she might have been calling for?

[Ruth B]

The only one I can think of that i have heard that sounded similar is what I refer to as a 'call to arms' cry. When I was young we had a large black cat, named Sam, adopt us. He was neutered as an adult and always remained rather territorial. While he was more than happy to defend his territory, he also didn't object to having help, so whenever an invader was around he would howl, it was bad enough that he was nicknamed the 'Cat of the Baskervilles' for it. I have also heard several other cats do something similar, again when there were intruders about, but never to the level that Sam managed. It probably is more of a warning to other cats to let them know they are there, but all, even Sam, tended to stop when we turned up to help chase any intruder away.

Maybe yours heard another cat yowling somewhere and was just warning them not to come closer.

[alanc]

Sounds similar to Tilly's ARRROOOOOOH cry, which means "Let me out of this basket, I don't want to go to the vet!"