I used to have a semi-outdoor cat. She could come and go from the basement through a cat door. That little shit knew where my bedroom was and every morning she would climb up on the shelf as high as possible and meow loudly as if to say, "Hey! Hey Dumbass! Are you gonna feed me or what!? Heeeeyyyy!"

yeah that's because the little ones mean "hii" and the big ones mean "HELLO???!!"

And the "I don't like being in a car and I don't want to be put in the MRI machine" meow.

Heard a lot of those yesterday =/

And the "i need pets so bad out of nowhere that I'm in a crisis" meow.

As a cat person, I find most explanations of cat behaviour generalised and ingomplete; scientific or not. My Siamese cat yells at me when I have not met my side of our obligations.

Consistency is important for children and animals.

• We get up at sunrise, so he will nuzzle or meow to be let in if he's locked out of my room.
• We get wet food at 7am, and if I'm late he will not be impressed and yell until we are in the kitchen. However, if I'm on time, he will sit on the counter and say a quick meow to let me know he's ready and a good boy.
• He will bring his toys to me when it's time to play, if I don't notice he'll let me know.
• When there's something outside and I come watch he'll look at me and do a little chirp, approving my presence and proud of what he's found
• And when we get home he greets us with the back and forward calling and a nuzzle.

There's much more nonverbal communication than verbal. Everyone knows when their cat is scared or excited, but with a good relationship you can tell when they're anxious or in pain. Cat's know human non-verbal communicotion; they know when you're sad, it just depends on the cat if they'll cuddle or knock you're nick-nacks off a shelf.

It can be both. I think it really depends on the specific cat and person. My cat "barks" for needs, "whines" when he loses us, and meows for attention or to get vocalization back. I think attentive cat owners probably know their cat and because it's adaptive behavior it's not the same across the board.

I always interpret it as "I NEED"

"demand" isn't spelled as r-e-q-u-e-s-t.

Meowing is very common among cats. Go look up videos on YouTube where people attach GoPros to their outdoor cats and see them interact with other cats in the neighborhood.

Yeah, you're gonna wanna eat some catfood, chug a beer and huff some glue. It'll make you feel really sick and then put you right out.

and sometimes this sounds like a crying baby.

That's one fuckin nice kitty right there.