Do cats meow more at men or women?

Does your pet cat act differently with some members of your family than it does towards others?

Well a new scientific study has suggested that cats tend to meow more at men, both in frequency and volume.

However it doesn't mean they prefer their male caregivers over female ones.

It's because male owners tend to talk less to their cats and are generally less attentive, meaning the cat needs to work harder to get their love and affection.

The study, recently released by the journal Ethology, wanted to better understand the interactions between humans and cats - beyond owners just telling researchers what their cats did.

A team of scientists, led by Yasemin Salgirli Demirbas from Ankara University in Turkey, studied 31 cats and the people who look after them at home.

A chest-mounted camera was attached to the cats, so that the researchers could study how they behaved in the first few minutes after their human returned home.

The thing that stood out to them most, was how cats gave more meows, purrs, and chirps when greeting male caregivers than female caregivers - which happened despite the cat's age, breed, sex, or even the size of the household.

On average, the cats produced 4.3 meows in the first 100 seconds when it came to greeting men, compared to just 1.8 meows with women.

The study's author said: "Male caregivers might engage less frequently in verbal behaviours compared to female caregivers.

"This difference could prompt cats to use vocal signals more actively to elicit responses from male caregivers."

The study also found that cats use a mix of friendly social, and stress-management related behaviours when greeting, showing that as well as a desire for connection there is also relief that their carer has returned.

However, as this study was only conducted in Turkey with a small sample size, it will need to be repeated in different countries and cultures to confirm if these behaviours are the same in cats all around the world.

Does your cat meow more at particular people in your household? Let us know in the comments below...